About Us

The main aim of Sneinton Alchemy is to carry out activities which benefit the community and in particular:

TO SUPPORT THE RESILIENCE OF SNEINTON THROUGH UNDERTAKING PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES WHICH COMBINE SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFIT

The area in which Sneinton Alchemy operates (and creates benefit) is defined by our "Area of Benefit map" (see below).

Our typical activities will include the following:

To consult and engage the community within the area of benefit, to advocate for the needs of the community and to promote a sense of neighbourhood identity
To develop community facilities and assets and to ensure that local development and planning is sensitive to the needs of the community and the heritage of Sneinton and its residents
To promote and facilitate community economic development and enterprise support, training and skills development and the building of capacity
To get an idea of what we do in practice- please visit our 'what we do' page!

History of Sneinton Alchemy:

Local Alchemy was started as a pilot project in 2004, brainchild of the New Economics Foundation and EMDA. It is about creating a thriving local economy based on more effective local services, harnessing the potential of the community to understand local economics and foster an enterprising 'can do' attitude.

£80,000 was made available to fund community projects and new-start businesses in the area. The three year pilot ended in 2007, but rather than losing the progress of the group so far, the members decided to continue, promoting the group and its aims to residents of Sneinton.

Our current structure:

Sneinton Alchemy is a Social Enterprise, and has the legal set up of a Community Interest Company (CIC). This means that we can operate in an enterprising way like a company, but rather than being for private gain, the company benefits the community of Sneinton. This is achieved by a "community interest test" and "asset lock", which ensure that the CIC is established for community purposes and the assets and profits are dedicated to these purposes. Registration of a company as a CIC has to be approved by the CIC Regulator who also has a continuing monitoring and enforcement role.

This useful article sets out the clearly the differences between charities, CICs and normal companies- if you are wondering why Sneinton Alchemy decided to become a CIC, it should help.

We strongly believe in the idea that Sneinton Alchemy is run by the people of Sneinton for the benefit of their community, and so part of our constitution specifies that a majority of the Directors must be Sneinton residents.