Grants & Support

Brilliant Co-ops is a one-year scheme to support cooperatives and co-op startup groups that work or live in the London Borough of Islington, or convert existing projects and businesses into co-ops.

For groups and existing co-ops or businesses that qualify, we can provide expert advisor support, a grant of between £500 and £5,000, or a mixture of the two.

Grants are currently closed, but read on to find out more about the scheme. We hope to run another round in the future, so do fill in the expression of interest and tell us about yourselves!

Advice

Each group or co-op can apply for up to 7 days advice from a cooperative advisor.

TRAINING

Our public programme of training and events is ongoing. Please see our events page for more details.

FUNDING

When our funding call is open, groups can apply for a grant up to £5,000 – depending on the groups capacity and development need.

WORKSPACE

Each successful group receives up to 10 days per month free access to SPACE4 cooperative workspace in Finsbury Park for the duration of their participation.

Who Can Apply?

Any group that operates or plans to operate a co-operative in Islington can apply to join the Brilliant Co-ops programme, at whatever stage they are in their co-op journey. The main thing is that you need to be able to show you are a group of people, that you have a sound idea for a co-op, and that you can make use of the advice and support on offer.

Existing co-ops can apply if they have a need for advice and support to help with their growth or overcome problems and barriers. Other businesses can also apply, if they are interested in converting to a co-op, or in joining together with other businesses to create one.

We would like to encourage groups to apply who plan to be trading entities, rather than simply charitable only receiving grant funding. Please see here for an overview of how we see the differences between cooperatives and other types of organisation.

Want to know more about Brilliant Coops?

If you have any questions, or would like to understand more about the programme before you apply, please email us at [email protected] or send an SMS message to 07444 106233.

Expression of Interest

Contact Name

Name of Your Group/Organisation

Email Address

Telephone Number

Your Group
Who are the members of your group? Tell us a bit about who’s in your group e.g. ‘We are 5 local women interested in setting up a cycling project for other women. We have experience in cycle repair and charity admin.’ (200 words max)

Idea or Business
If you have not yet started trading but you want to start a co-op, tell us about your co-op idea. If you are an existing co-op or trading business, please tell us what you do (200 words max)

What Support You Need?
Please tell us what kind of help and advice might be useful for starting your co-op, strengthening your co-op, or converting your business to a co-op ‘e.g. we need advice about business planning and governance structures’ (200 words max)

How did you hear about Cooperate Islington?

Email us:

[email protected]

Find us:

113-115 Fonthill Rd
Finsbury Park
London N4 3HH