If you are a community group or organisation, we offer a range of services to organisations like yours. We have experience working with community charities or groups who manage land, and funders. We want to support you to reimagine the way you use land through our packages below, with a key focus on listening and working with the communities in your area.
Shared Assets takes a collaborative, inclusive and iterative approach to our work, applying our expertise and experience as partners and critical friends, working with you and with your communities flexibly to achieve the respective ambitions and objectives of your project whatever the challenges or context.
We have unrivalled experience of working with communities on land and building projects and have worked alongside many communities to navigate what can sometimes be challenging, complex and unfamiliar processes relating to incorporation, asset ownership and management, and organisational development.
We listen deeply to understand communities contexts, needs and expertise. We respect their local knowledge and experience, and we work to build trust and mutual understanding.
Find out about our range of services below, to see how we could support you.
Purpose, Vision and Ways of Working Function
This package of services is designed for a group of people who are ready to consider establishing a formal group or organisation to work with or operate a land-based project. At this stage of your process, we will support you to ensure your formative steps are aligned with a clear purpose and vision, and we will help you reach decisions and clarity about how you will deliver your goals and work together.
Purpose, Vision and Ways of Working Package - Examples
We have worked with numerous groups to define purpose, vision and ways of working who have been in the process of establishing themselves. Some examples of this work are the support of groups to take on the management of community buildings, woodlands, and friends of parks groups.
Legal Structures and Governance Development or Review
Shared Assets can support your group in its early stages to set up a legal structure to allow you to deliver the purpose and vision you have established together. We will provide facilitation and support to help you understand the context and shape the most appropriate structure to support your activities and business plan. Our support will help you become legally established and registered whilst ensuring everyone within your group is clear about the responsibilities and processes throughout this important transition.
Legal Structures and Governance Development or Review
Legal Structure and Governance Development or Review
Recommended 5 days over 1-2 months.
Approx £2500 excluding VAT (but please contact us to discuss detailed pricing)
This package of support includes:
A legal model options development.
A legal model options appraisal.
Development of objects and powers. What are your objects and what powers do you have to define and achieve them? (This includes needs such as your legal purpose or charitable purpose.)
Supporting with incorporation.
Induction of new board members.
As an additional service we can offer coaching or mentoring.
Legal Structures and Governance Development or Review
Legal Structures and Governance Development or Review - Example Project
Ewanrigg Local Trust
In 2020 we worked with Ewanrigg Local Trust, a Big Local resident-led partnership in Cumbria to establish a new organisation to build a new facility within a local Health Centre from which to deliver community mental health support and signposting services. The work involved an options appraisal for the legal structure of the new organisation, its incorporation, and the development of lease and joint venture agreements with the Health Centre.
Scaling Up: Taking on New Assets, Buildings, or Land
Our Scaling Up package is designed for established organisations who are thinking about growing or diversifying their organisation or business: through taking on new land, building work, or diversifying activities on existing land.
We have experience in working with groups to think through the implications of organisational growth and new responsibilities, including how this will change the culture, what skills are needed, and how you will manage the process.
We also have produced a series of guides: ‘Scaling for Land-Based Social Enterprises’ which includes a set of case studies, a set of thought guides and a group decision-making toolkit.
Scaling uP: Taking on new assets, buildings or land
Scaling Up: Taking on New Assets, Buildings, or Land - Example Project
Friends of Horsenden Hill, Ealing.
We supported the friends group to consider how taking on greater responsibility for a mixed use farms site within the country park would impact on their existing activities, culture, and whether or not they needed to formalise their organisation and processes in order to scale up.
Business Model Development
We have supported organisations to develop their business plans to think about the different elements of their business, how different activities could create livelihoods and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the organisation. We aim to help you develop a business plan that aligns with your purpose and delivers wider community benefits.
We worked with MPower Kernow who are a social enterprise providing opportunities in STEM education using disused railway facilities. We supported them to develop a business model, feasibility study and business plan that incorporated training facilities, delivery of commercial railway and engineering services, and the sale of products designed and created on site.
Working with Consultants eg. planners, surveyors or solicitors
We can give you support in working with planning consultants, surveyors or solicitors: helping you to get the best value from technical experts.
Working with Consultants eg. planners, surveyors or solicitors - Example Project
Ewanrigg Local Trust
We supported Ewanrigg Local Trust to develop a new charitable organisation, with a purpose to deliver local community support drop-in and signposting services and to secure a building from which to run the service. We supported them to engage with solicitors in order to establish and incorporate the new organisation and to develop a joint venture agreement with a local delivery partner and a lease for a community building. We helped them to identify the advice they required, develop a clear brief and to understand and apply the advice they were provided with.
Access to Land: Securing Ownership or a Lease
We can help groups to identify land, engage with landowners, identify appropriate tenure (ownership, lease or licence), negotiate the sale or rent; including supporting community asset transfer processes.
Access to Land: Securing Ownership or a Lease - Example Project
Elvaston Country Park and Castle
We supported the establishment of an independent charity that will manage Elvaston Castle and Gardens through a long-term lease agreement with Derbyshire County Council. We supported the Council and the Trust to negotiate a process by which the management responsibilities for the estate would be transferred over time ensuring its stewardship and sustainability in the long term.
To discuss how we can support you through our services, please get in touch with us at hello@sharedassets.org.uk.
You can also head to our FAQs page to find out more.
Get in touch
We’re always keen to hear from people with interesting projects or doing similar work. Get in touch for a conversation about how we might collaborate.
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