School of Business
The Leicester Gazette
Organisation name: The Leicester Gazette
Established: 2023
Legal structure: Multi-Stakeholder Co-operative
Who we are
We are a member-funded, community-owned news outlet and publish investigations, news features and human-interest stories. Our journalism is fact-based and rigorous, and we prize good writing over clickbait and sensationalism. Local journalism has been devastated in recent years, with newsrooms stripped of their worth. The Leicester Gazette is a revolution against this broken industry. Our mission is to hold those in power accountable, push for change, and amplify the voices of marginalised communities.
The challenge
The Leicester Gazette was a new business that wanted assistance to consolidate, grow and develop additional services. The business finance model is built on membership, so development of this base was a key issue. The team were eager to explore diverse options and had an aim to move the newspaper to a printed format by year two; this was achieved with a 5,000-copy run in November 2025.
What was required
The Leicester Gazette wanted to develop an action plan to attract a wider and larger membership as membership is the financial basis of the newspaper. The organisation also wished to build a business plan to support a share offer to attract further finance into the newspaper.
- Business planning
- Membership survey
- Exploring & developing sustainable delivery models.
- Preparing a share offer
- Action planning
Membership doubled during the Growth Accelerator intervention. The share offer was successful, raising money to pay salaried staff for in-depth journalistic investigations. Members of Leicester Gazette won major national journalism awards
Growth acceleration through
Business modelling: Identifying and addressing the uniqueness of The Leicester Gazette’s co-operative community ownership structure and how best to utilise this to develop services and attract members.
Business planning: Devising methods of writing a strong plan that described the business to attract membership and investment. Outlining and building strategy to underpin growth and development.
Action planning: The organisation developed a precise action plan that was closely adhered to which allowed the business to plan and balance multiple priorities, whilst seeking new opportunities
“Participating in the Growth Accelerator project transformed the Leicester Gazette. The tailored resources and advice we gained allowed us to refine our business model and connect more effectively with our audience. The mentorship and networking opportunities opened doors we hadn't previously considered, leading to tangible growth and impact.” Rhys Everquill, Community Lead, Leicester Gazette
“While carrying out work experience with The Gazette, all staff were very welcoming and allowed me to bring my ideas to the table. I joined them at local events where I witnessed how The Gazette forms relationships with other businesses across Leicester.
During the weeks with The Gazette, I was supported to find stories, interview people and write two feature-length articles. The whole experience was invaluable." Jess Bourne, De Montfort University journalism student
