Community Shares Standard Mark

What is the Community Shares Standard Mark?

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The Standard Mark provides a framework for societies to develop high quality share offer documents with support from practitioners accredited by the Community Shares Unit at Co-operatives UK.

The Community Shares Standard Mark ensures that community share offers are clear, honest and transparent. They also ensure that investors are presented with all the facts they need to make an informed decision and these facts are supported by annual accounts and/or the business plan. 

Standards are overseen by the Co-operative and Community Capital Committee, a member group of Co-operatives UK with representatives from across the sector. 

Handbook

The Community Shares Unit provides detailed technical guidance on these best practice standards in our Community Shares Handbook. 

Practitioner Training

We run a training and accreditation scheme for practitioners to become licensed to award the Standard Mark and develop quality community share offers. Find out more.

Co-operative and Community Capital Committee

For more information on the governance and oversight of these standards, read more about our Co-operative and Community Capital Committee.