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Quiz Night - International Year of The Co-operative Brains of Britain

by Andreia | Fri, 23/03/2012 - 13:25

Friday, June 29, 2012 at 7:45 PM (GMT)
Manchester, United Kingdom

A Night Out to find the 2012 Co-operative Brains of Britain
For Co-operatives Fortnight and the International Year of the Co-operatives we are putting on the second annual Co-operatives Challenge so your co-operative members can flex their cerebral muscles. The Quiz Challenge will seek a champion team who will be presented with a trophy and an attractive prize. Last year's launch event was a great success and won by a very knowledgeable team from FC United.

We are again looking for co-operatives keen to put on some entertainment, and others to donate prizes for an auction and raffle to raise funds for Co-operatives North West. If you can do either please contact Phil Frampton at phil@philframpton.co.uk asap.

This is intended to be a fun night and the Inspire café will be serving food and have a licensed bar. Entry is £10 per team with a maximum of 4 people in each. Co-operatives can enter as many teams as they wish.

To book 

 

FC United hits community share target

by Andreia | Fri, 23/03/2012 - 12:45

Supporters of fan-owned, co-operative football club FC United of Manchester are celebrating today after raising over £1.6m from a community share issue to help fund a new football ground and community sports facility in Moston, north Manchester.

Reaching the £1.6m target will help the club unlock the grant funding they need to meet the costs of the £4.6m project and enable building to start on the Moston site in the spring.

Speaking today, FC United general manager Andy Walsh, said: "Reaching our £1.6m target from the share issue is a fantastic achievement, especially in the current economic climate. We believe this is the largest amount ever raised by football supporters independently. Raising capital through community shares is a unique development in English football and has been recognised as offering a real alternative to the way football is run and financed."

FC United of Manchester has helped pioneer community shares, working closely with Co-ops UK. The share schemes are designed to enable cooperative organisations like FC United to raise finance from local communities to support expansion and development much more effectively than through traditional methods such as bank borrowing.

New £60,000 Community Challenge Prize now open to applications

by Andreia | Mon, 27/02/2012 - 13:17

The ‘Buy Better Together Challenge’ is encouraging more and more people to think collectively to combine their buying power.

The research, carried out by Co-operatives UK, the national trade body for co-operative enterprises, reveals that 17% of people already buy in bulk with others.

The community challenge prize, launched by Co-operatives UK and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) hopes to see this increase throughout 2012 by encouraging new models of community buying.

The ‘Buy Better Together Challenge’ is an exciting initiative to help inspire new models of community buying, stimulate enterprise and promote shared learning and both Co-operatives UK and BIS have contributed £30k to the prize fund.

Community buying, which involves groups of individuals combining their buying power to purchase goods or services together and get better deals from shops and other suppliers, can help businesses spread their overheads and in turn lowers costs for consumers.

The challenge is now open to applications from groups and organisations within the public, voluntary or business sectors, which focus on creating new or developing existing community buying schemes.

To give guidance to applicants there are three challenges. They are:

  • Challenge One: A project aimed at creating a platform, tool or vehicle to help individuals to come together and form a community buying group.
  • Challenge Two: A project aimed at enabling existing or new community groups to develop their purchasing power by working collectively. 
  • Challenge Three: A project aimed at businesses to empower their employees or consumers to group for community buying.

The ‘Buy Better Together Challenge’ £60k pot will go towards training and mentoring for stand out projects and includes £15k for the overall winner.

To find out more about the ‘Buy Better Together Challenge’ and to complete an application form, please visit www.bis.gov.uk/buying/.

New Pioneers Film

by Andreia | Thu, 15/12/2011 - 12:47

New Pioneers Film- a new 4 ½ minutes film using a combination of animated characters and archive images to trace the story of co-operation, starting with the Rochdale Pioneers. An excellent introduction to co-operativism, worth drawing to the attention of your local schools.

To watch the film click here