John Storer Charnwood

What John Storer Charnwood does

John Storer Charnwood (JSC) is an independent UK charitable organisation, registered charity no. 1087692 and company limited by guarantee no. 4155933, founded in 1966 and headquartered at John Storer House, Wards End, Loughborough. It operates two physical sites — John Storer House (a fully accessible community centre in Loughborough) and the Shepshed Volunteer Centre — delivering community services to residents of the Charnwood borough in Leicestershire. The organisation is marking its 60th anniversary in 2026 under the campaign banner "Blooming Together Since 1966."

The service portfolio spans community centre facilities (room hire, café, fundraising shop selling donated goods), community transport ("Dial A Ride" with cost-recovery charges), well-being activities for people with learning disabilities, dementia, or mental health issues, a befriending scheme, a social supermarket sub-brand ("Your Store"), a jigsaw library, a gardening scheme, a well-being garden, a therapeutic horticulture programme (THYME), a digital drop-in, and a community fridge. Training courses on safeguarding, first aid, confidentiality, and volunteer management are also offered to other voluntary and community sector organisations. The charity is volunteer-intensive, drawing on more than 140 volunteers to staff catering, transport, the help desk, fundraising, governance, and administration.

The business model is multi-stream and grant-dependent, with no disclosed financials. Revenue is generated through donations and grants (the dominant stream), one-off shop sales of donated goods (e.g., £2 jigsaws), cost-recovery community transport charges, room hire at John Storer House, café takings, and paid training courses. Distribution is entirely in-person across the two Charnwood sites, supported by a basic website, Facebook, and X (Twitter). There is no proprietary technology, API, or software product; the technology stack consists of standard website tools including a staff login portal and a Hallmaster room-booking calendar.

Name

John Storer Charnwood

Legal name

John Storer Charnwood

Website

https://johnstorercharnwood.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1966

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

John Storer Charnwood is an independent UK charity (founded 1966) operating John Storer House in Loughborough and the Shepshed Volunteer Centre, delivering community transport, well-being activities, room hire, training, and retail services to residents of the Charnwood borough.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Loughborough, England

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: The charity relies on donations and grant funding to support its charitable activities and community programmes.
2. Shop Sales: Fundraising shop selling new and pre-loved donated items, gift sets, hand knits, crockery, glassware, jewellery, woodcrafts, crocheted and sewn items, greeting cards, used books, CDs, DVDs and jigsaws.
3. Room Hire: Hiring out rooms at John Storer House community centre for events, meetings and activities.
4. Café Revenue: Café services generating revenue while providing refreshments to centre visitors.
5. Training Courses: Training courses offered to staff and volunteers of Voluntary and Community organisations, including safeguarding, first aid, and volunteer management courses.
6. Community Transport: Community transport service with charges to cover fuel costs, vehicle wear and admin charges for eligible users.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

John Storer Charnwood is an independent charity and company limited by guarantee, founded in 1966, that operates community hubs in the Charnwood area of Leicestershire. It runs John Storer House in Loughborough and the Shepshed Volunteer Centre, delivering well-being activities, community transport, room hire, a café, a fundraising shop, training courses, befriending, gardening help, a digital drop-in, a community fridge, and a social supermarket to local residents and voluntary/community sector organisations.

Product overview

John Storer Charnwood is an independent charity operating a portfolio of community services. The core offerings include John Storer House (JSH) in Loughborough as a fully accessible community centre, and the Shepshed Volunteer Centre providing local services. These facilities support room hire, well-being activities, community transport (Dial A Ride), café services, and the THYME therapeutic horticulture project. Additional services include 'Your Store' social supermarket, a fundraising shop, a jigsaw library, gardening scheme, befriending scheme, digital drop-in sessions, and a community fridge. The organisation also provides training courses for voluntary and community sector groups. The portfolio functions as a coordinated ecosystem of community support rather than a unified tech product platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• THYME: Therapeutic Horticulture for You, Me and Everyone - a wellbeing project involving gardening activities
• Your Store

Products and services

• John Storer House Community Centre
• Shepshed Volunteer Centre

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 140 volunteers providing thousands of hours of service annually

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Voluntary Action Leicestershire (VAL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for volunteering opportunities, advice and resources for charities, and platform for advertising volunteer roles. VAL provides support for organisations wishing to involve volunteers and advertises volunteer opportunities online.
• Charnwood Borough CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal authority partner supporting volunteering across the borough, providing access to small grants and voluntary sector support.
• CASE (Co-operative and Social Enterprise Development Agency)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides support for groups considering becoming a social enterprise and exploring cooperative structures.
• NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides help and guidance, resources for volunteer management, safeguarding guidance, and free downloadable information on writing volunteer role descriptions.
• Rotary Club of ShepshedminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDonated a summerhouse in 2021 to the wellbeing community garden at Shepshed Volunteer Centre.
• Charnwood VCS NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork for local organisations holding 2 events per year, facilitated by John Storer Charnwood.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Locality: UK-wide network supporting community anchors and voluntary organisations with training, resources and infrastructure. Closely comparable operating model of providing wrap-around support to local voluntary sector bodies.
• Community Matters: UK network for community centres and community development trusts. Directly comparable operating model of running accessible community hubs with room hire, activities and multi-purpose services.
• Royal Voluntary Service: National charity operating community centres, cafés, retail and well-being activities for older and vulnerable adults. Highly comparable multi-service community-hub model with volunteer-driven delivery.
• NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action): Membership body for local voluntary-sector infrastructure organisations across England. Comparable role of supporting, training and convening community organisations in a defined geography.
• Age UK Leicestershire & Rutland: Local charity serving older residents in the same Leicestershire geography with information, activities and community support services. Closest geographic peer in terms of catchment and beneficiary focus.

Broad incumbents

• Age UK: National charity providing community-based support services for older adults including activities, advice and befriending. Overlapping well-being and community-engagement programmes at substantially greater scale.
• British Red Cross: Large national charity delivering community transport, mobility aid, befriending and well-being services. Significant overlap in service lines (transport, isolation support) at much larger scale.

Others

• Citizens Advice: National advice charity operating local bureaux including in Charnwood. Adjacent community-services provider with overlapping outreach to vulnerable residents, though focused on advice rather than activities/transport.
• Sense: National disability charity delivering well-being, social and community activities for people with complex disabilities. Overlaps with JSC's well-being programmes for people with learning disabilities and dementia.

Emerging players

• Carers Trust: UK charity network supporting unpaid carers through local services, activities and respite. Partial overlap with befriending, well-being and support-for-vulnerable-adults services offered by JSC.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/johnstorercharnwood
• Facebookfacebook.com/johnstorercharnwood
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/john-storer-charnwood

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about John Storer Charnwood