What Is a Community Interest Company and Why I Am Still Obsessed With Them After 14 Years

A Community Interest Company, or CIC, is a type of limited company with a community purpose at its heart. It has been a legal structure in the UK since 2005 and there are now over 30,000 of them registered across the country.

The reason so many people choose a CIC is that it sits right in the sweet spot between a charity and a limited company. Like a charity it can apply for grant funding — proper grants, the big ones, National Lottery, Arts Council, Heritage Fund, the lot. But like a limited company it can also trade, sell services and products, win contracts, charge for events, and operate as a proper social enterprise. It is entrepreneurial. It is flexible. It lets you build something financially sustainable around work you genuinely care about.

That combination is incredibly powerful and it is why CICs are popping up in every corner of the UK — youth clubs, foodbanks, arts studios, mental health services, street art galleries, community cafes, sports clubs, environmental projects. Every single one of them started with a person who had a passion and a vision for their community.

The One Thing You Absolutely Must Get Right

When you register your CIC you will be asked to choose between two structures and this decision matters enormously.

A CIC limited by shares is not what you want. I genuinely do not know why this option exists because it allows dividends to be paid to shareholders, which means grant funders will not touch it. You will be locked out of almost all grant funding straight away.

A standard limited company limited by guarantee without CIC status is equally pointless for this purpose. No asset lock, no community purpose requirement, no credibility with funders.

What you need is a CIC limited by guarantee. No shares. No dividends. Profits stay in the organisation and get reinvested into your community purpose. This is the structure that grant funders trust and the one that gives you access to the funding that can transform what you are building.

The Asset Lock — Why It Is Actually a Good Thing

One of the things that makes a CIC limited by guarantee different is the asset lock. This is a legal requirement that means your assets and profits must be used for community benefit. If the CIC is ever wound up, everything goes to another asset-locked organisation — another CIC, a charity — not into anyone's personal pocket.

I know that sounds restrictive but in practice it is one of the biggest advantages you have. It is exactly what gives funders the confidence to invest in you. It is proof that you are the real deal.

Directors — What You Need to Know

You can set up a CIC with just one director and in 2026 I actually recommend doing exactly that to begin with. But for grant funding you are going to need three directors and they need to be unrelated. That means different surnames and different addresses. Grant funders check this. If your directors look related it raises red flags.

Some funders will accept two directors but three is the standard. Get the right people around you — people who genuinely care about the community purpose — and it will strengthen every application you make.

The reason I say start with one director is that the government's digital ID verification process has made multi-director setup genuinely complicated. You cannot always know in advance whether someone's ID documents or credit file will cause issues with bank account opening. Start with one, get registered, get the bank account open, then bring your other directors on. It removes so much frustration.

The Advantages of a CIC — Why This Model Works

You can fundraise. You can run crowdfunders, accept donations, apply for grants from hundreds of funders across the UK.

You can get serious grant funding. Arts Council, National Lottery Community Fund, National Lottery Heritage Fund, BBC Children in Need, Sport England — all open to you.

You can still run it like a business. Sell services, sell products, win contracts, build income streams, pay yourself properly, build something that lasts.

You can do something completely unique. I have seen CICs that are wild swimming clubs, community record labels, heritage railways, urban farms, street art galleries. The CIC model does not box you in. It gives you a legal home for whatever brilliant, unusual, community-driven idea is in your head.

Why I Am Still Passionate About CICs After 14 Years

I did not plan to become the UK's go-to person for CIC setup and funding. I was a probation officer doing rap therapy with young people in prison — not exactly in the job description — and it worked. I won an award for it, left my job, set up Four Elements CIC, and spent the next decade doing music and media projects in communities, securing grant after grant from Arts Council England, BBC Children in Need, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the Community Fund. We ran projects in prisons, schools, and communities across the UK.

When people started asking me how I did it there was almost nothing out there to help them. No clear guides, no courses, no community. That gap is why I started CIC Tribe.

I still run my own CIC too. Abiri Art is a street art gallery — we do graffiti murals, we have just secured a building, and we are putting on events. It is unique, creative, and grant funded. That is exactly what a CIC can do for you.

Every day I meet community leaders who are working incredibly hard, filling gaps that public services cannot reach, solving problems in their own communities. In a country that needs it right now, CICs are communities stepping up. That is something worth being part of.

Ready to Start Your Own CIC?

If you have got a community idea and you want to turn it into something real — something funded, something structured, something sustainable — my course How to Set Up a CIC and Get Funded in 4 Months will walk you through every single step.

Over 1,000 community leaders across the UK have already made it happen. Come and join them. See our flag ship online course www.kexx.co.uk/ciccourse