Community Shares Booster Fund celebrates 10 years of kick-starting community regeneration – with new report and fund announcement

Almost 10 years ago, Future Wolverton was one of the first organisations to receive support from a pioneering new investment fund. Today, the community business is a local success story – having become a catalyst for the regeneration of Wolverton in Milton Keynes, rescuing historic buildings, creating new opportunities for local people and inspiring communities to take ownership of their future.

In 2019, it opened the doors of the Grade‑II listed Old School Wolverton to the local community. It has since transformed it into a thriving business – home to community enterprises and events, a popular wedding venue, a café, guest accommodation and learning programmes for young people.

Future Wolverton has also spearheaded town centre regeneration projects, establishing a monthly street market and shop which gives online traders a high street presence, as well as running free outdoor events and a Borrow Box scheme where residents can access equipment to use in nature.  

It began with a community share offer in 2017 to raise funds to restore the Old School building. Future Wolverton’s fundraising target was £120,000, which was reached with £70,000 invested by local people and £50,000 match investment from the Community Shares Booster Fund delivered by Co‑operatives UK.

The Booster Fund evolved from a pilot scheme established in 2016 with the aim of supporting community enterprises in raising finance through community share offers. This is a unique form of finance that enables people to invest directly in businesses that benefit their community and gives them a say in how the businesses are run.

Future Wolverton’s CEO Marie Osborne, said: “The Booster Fund investment was essential in us reaching our target. It gave people confidence that this was legitimate. Having Co‑operatives UK behind us was a really important marketing message, and every pound invested through the Booster encouraged local people to invest too.”

The organisation is now going from strength to strength, moving to larger premises in Wolverton’s historic Market Hall and launching a new community share offer to fund the building’s redevelopment.  

The Market Hall will enable them to offer more opportunities to local people and serve as an arts and culture hub for the community, giving local artists otherwise hard‑to‑find exhibition and studio space and performers affordable venue and rehearsal rooms.

“We’ve become the catalyst for people to take action to tackle the issues that needed addressing in their community, for people believing they can make change happen. Success breeds success.” 

New report details Booster Fund’s achievements 

Future Wolverton is just one of dozens of communities whose growth has been kick-started by the Community Shares Booster Fund over the past decade. 

A new report marking the Booster Fund’s tenth anniversary sets out how this pioneering investment programme has helped community businesses across England access millions of pounds of investment, rescue valued assets and create lasting social and economic impact.

The report reveals that fund manager Co-operatives UK has invested £5m in 98 community share offers, unlocking a further £20m from more than 26,000 community investors – which has enabled and empowered community businesses to set up and thrive. Additionally, the Booster Fund has awarded more than £1.25m in development grants to over 184 societies to prepare share offers. The report also found that: 

• For each £1 the Booster Fund invested, the community invested an additional £3.99
• 48% of investments went to the top 30% most deprived areas
• The Booster Fund has frequently been essential for the survival and success of community projects, de-risking early stages and providing credibility

New fund announcement  

Building on the success of the Booster Fund, Co‑operatives UK is proud to announce the creation of a new dedicated investment fund for community shares. Co‑operatives UK and its Community Shares Unit partners, Locality and Plunkett UK, have joined up with Community Shares ICOF (CSI) to move the Booster Fund investment function from Co‑operatives UK into CSI, a fund managed by Co-op and Community Finance. 

The new fund, to be launched later in 2026, will see the returns on Co‑operatives UK’s £5m community shares investments being re-invested in new share offers through CSI. Existing Co‑operatives UK investments will remain with the organisation for the time being – with only the return on investments moving to CSI for re-investment. 

The fund will also seek further and significant additional capitalisation to support and grow the community shares economy – and contribute towards the government manifesto commitment of doubling the size of the co‑operative economy.  

John Dawson, Head of Market Development at Co‑operatives UK, said: “Over the past decade, the Community Shares Booster Fund has become the ‘go‑to’ place for support in England with community shares. 

“Now we want to do more – and we know the appetite is there from communities. We are looking forward to continuing to boost community enterprise with the new fund and invite others to support us with these plans.”

Jo White, Chair of CSI, said: “We are delighted to agree on a joint vision to develop this new fund, to continue to grow this most impactful way of communities raising their own investment and building their own movement of invested members in community-based co‑operatives.” 

The report, Boosting Community Ownership: 10 years of the Community Shares Booster Fund can be viewed and downloaded here. To be notified when the new fund opens, sign up to the community shares mailing list >> 

The Community Shares Booster Fund has been led by Co‑operatives UK and delivered by a partnership including colleagues from Community Shares Unit partners Locality and Plunkett UK. It has also included Jim Brown, Co‑operative and Community Finance, Community Shares ICOF as well as funders Power to Change, Access – The Foundation for Social Investment and the Architectural Heritage Fund.