Self Service Area

Resources and Useful Links

There is a wealth of information and resources online to support organisations to develop and grow. Sometimes this can be confusing and it can be hard to know which resource is the best one to use. This page lists some of the main resources and sources of information that are a good place to start.

Click on the tabs below to see their content.

Supportive Organisations Social Enterprise Development Social Investment Support and Resources Social Impact Measurement Co-operatives UK Enterprise Nation

Supportive Organisations

The trade association for co-operatives in the UK: https://www.coop.co.uk/

One of the largest independent retailers in the UK: https://www.centralengland.coop/

The national body for social enterprises: https://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/

Voluntary Action Leicester: https://valonline.org.uk/advice-and-resources/

Social Enterprise Development

We like and use the Key Fund's online enterprise toolbox as it has lots of business support tools and resources as well as their latest news on social enterprise and social investment:
https://thekeyfund.co.uk/

Big Society Capital has produced a resources map that has links to lots of useful resources on all aspects of developing a business. This is also one of our favourite resources:
https://www.bigsocietycapital.com/

Social Investment Support and Resources

A good place to learn about social investment is the Good Finance website resource that will help you to navigate the world of social investment. Here you can find out what social investment is, types of social investment and who the social investors are. It has a good, quick diagnostic tool that will help you to identify if social investment is for you and some great resources on measuring social impact. It also has excellent case studies:
https://www.goodfinance.org.uk

Also, reference Big Potential Social Investment (a comprehensive, simple overview) https://www.bigpotential.org.uk/sites/default/files/slideshare/Social%20Investment%20Explained_Guide_SEUK-BIG.pdf

Social Impact Measurement

Good Finance has some good, useful guides and resources to help you measure and report on your social impact:
https://www.goodfinance.org.uk/resources

Inspiring Impact has lots of good, useful resources and tools on measuring impact and has recently been awarded Lottery funding to support the sector:
https://www.inspiringimpact.org/

Social Value UK are experts on social value and provide training and support in social return on investment. They have a database of SROI evaluations and manage a really useful platform called Global Value Exchange which has thousands of outcomes, indicators and valuations:
http://www.socialvalueuk.org/resources/global-value-exchange/

Co-operatives UK

Co-operatives UK, the national trade association for co-operatives, has a wealth of resources to help you decide if the co-operative model is best for you. It lists things to think about before starting up, provides assistance to existing co-ops and has a general library of support.
Co-ops UK Resources

Also, the 'Start a Co-op' page will provide further important information and assistance.

Enterprise Nation