Plunkett Foundation joins B4 to build connections and share expertise

Plunkett is a national charity that supports rural communities to set up and run a wide range of businesses in community ownership – such as a village shop, pub, woodland or farm. They do so to help communities safeguard a wide range of services that local people depend on; to stimulate the local economy; and to boost opportunities for employment, volunteering and training – especially so for people excluded from the labour market. 

Plunkett has helped establish over 750 community businesses across the UK, but is based here in Oxfordshire, where there team of 20 staff co-ordinate business advice, training, research and policy. Building partnerships across the public, private and co-operative sectors has been critical to the growth and resilience of the community business model. That’s why they are so pleased to be part of the B4 network. 

James Alcock, CEO of Plunkett Foundation is looking forward to attending his first B4 event. 

“Being based in Oxfordshire, we are excited about the new connections we’ll make and the conversations we will have with other businesses in the county. We are looking forward to being an active member and sharing experiences and expertise with others to strengthen our performance as a business and to help further both our own impact and the impact our community businesses have within their own locality. If anyone in the B4 network would like to find out more about what we do and explore how we might be able to collaborate in the future, please do get in touch.”

Richard Rosser welcomed Plunkett to the network. “We are so happy to have James, Harriet, Chris and the rest of the Plunkett team as part of the B4 community. It’s a real feather in our cap to be able to attract an organisation such as Plunkett to B4. The growing Platinum Membership is fast approaching our initial target of 50 Members and our ultimate aim is to have 100 purposeful and responsible organisations that not only collaborate with each other but that can also support and inspire the wider business community. There’s no doubt that Plunkett will help us to do that and more.”