Renaisi-TSIP
About the report
Community businesses play a vital role in addressing social and economic needs within their places, often serving vulnerable populations, and contributing to the overall development of their communities. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic challenges presented significant obstacles for these businesses, including disruptions to operations, financial strains and heightened uncertainty.
In this context, Power to Change introduced Powering Up in November 2021, a programme offering targeted support to community businesses and their teams, enabling them to navigate challenges effectively and aiming to strengthen their capacity in a 12-month period. By providing access to specific technical expertise, professional development opportunities, and wellbeing support, the programme aimed to equip community businesses with the tools and resources needed to not only survive but thrive.
Each support package was tailored to address the unique circumstances and needs of each community business, ensuring that they received the most relevant and impactful assistance in order to meet their own individual objectives. The programme offered specialist support around two themes – digital transformation (Digital Cohort) and climate action and sustainability (Climate Cohort). These themes were chosen as focus areas to stimulate the supply side of the market and areas needing further research. The programme ended in summer 2024.
This final evaluation report presents the findings of Renaisi-TSIP’s evaluation, generated and iterated in close partnership with programme stakeholders. It provides an analysis of the impact of the programme to date, highlights key insights, and identifies emerging trends, challenges and learnings.