What are Development Trusts?
Development trusts are community organisations which:
- Are owned and managed by the local community
- Aim to achieve the sustainable regeneration of a community or address a range of economic, social, environmental and cultural issues within a community
- Are independent but seek to work in partnership with other private, public and third sector organisations
- Aim to reduce dependency on grant support by generating income through enterprise and the ownership of assets. All trading surpluses are principally reinvested in the organisation or the community.
What do they do?
Local people set up development trusts to tackle local issues and to improve the quality of life in their community. As a result, development trusts become involved in a very wide range of activities