Plymouth
Encouraging enterprise connectivity for a more resilient and sustainable social purpose sector
Since 2018 The Rank Foundation has committed around £5m to the coastal city Plymouth.
We chose the city because of the warm collaboration between the city’s public, private and third sector organisations and because it already had a well-established social enterprise infrastructure. It was recognised as the UK’s first Social Enterprise City in 2013.
Building on these achievements, we sought to maximise development and resourcing opportunities for social enterprises so they could collaborate more effectively to address inequalities.
Plymouth Rank Network’s successes
Since 2018 we have supported nearly fifty social enterprises and community businesses that address Plymouth’s social, economic and health challenges.
Our place-based programme has strengthened a core group of social enterprises and community businesses. They are transforming physical spaces, improving lives, and strategically influencing economic policy.
There are numerous examples of leadership, enterprise and innovation that together provide much-needed services and opportunities, particularly in the communities of Stonehouse and Devonport.
RISE Match Trading
Running since 2019, the RISE Match Trading programme has been delivered by the School for Social Entrepreneurs. The programme has also been supported by Plymouth City Council’s Social Enterprise Investment Fund.
RISE is grant-funding matched to increased income from trading, pound-for-pound. All 30 participants have become active members of the local Rank Network.
Repayable grants
Coordinated by Real Ideas and supported by Iridescent Ideas, £225,000 in repayable grants has so far been allocated to five local organisations. Repayable grants have enabled smaller organisations to access funding not typically available to them.
Participatory grants
Participatory Grant Making (PGM) involves people with lived experience of an issue in the decisions about how grants to address the issue are awarded.
£1.5m of participatory grants have been awarded to initiatives aiming to combat Plymouth's most acute loneliness and social isolation challenges. This has been supported by Livewell Southwest which has contributed £0.5m of match funding.
Create Change Leadership Group
The Create Change Leadership Group drives inclusive growth. In 2023 it focused on how to maximise the collective efforts of organisations and businesses in Devonport to create change, particularly for children and young people. The Group has been instrumental in unlocking significant investment for the city’s inclusive growth agenda.
Magic Money: How Our Plymouth Repayable Grants Work
Meet Plymouth's Rank Network
The key to Plymouth’s success is the effective local network that encourages sharing, learning and collaboration.
We've supported the following organisations:
To find out more about Rank’s work in Plymouth, contact Phil Davies.
I started working with the Rank Foundation in the Autumn of 2018 as the Associate Director for Plymouth, just before the City’s place-based programme was launched. I had spent the previous thirty years working in education: the first half of which as a lecturer and eventually director in the university sector; and the second half of my career in the further education sector where I was Principal/CEO at City College Plymouth. I have an MA in European politics have spent short spells at both Harvard and Babson College in the US.
I find it impossible to single out one individual within the Rank Network. Every day I consider myself to be enormously privileged to work with colleagues from the local Rank Network. In particular, the inspirational leaders of social enterprises in Plymouth, along with their committed and passionate teams, continue to address many economic, social, and health challenges faced by the individuals and communities they serve so well.
