Re-frame Capital Mindsets & Narratives
Place Based & Community Capital reorients capital mindsets and narratives towards community ownership, participation, and long-term wellbeing.
What are capital mindset and narratives?
Capital mindsets and narratives are the beliefs and stories we hold about money, assets, and resources — what they are, who they belong to, and how they should be used. They shape whether we see communities as passive recipients of funding or as active owners, investors, and decision-makers.
These mindsets matter because they influence the systems we build, the policies we design, and the opportunities communities have. When we shift the narrative — from “communities can’t” to “communities can” — we open the door to new practices, partnerships, and possibilities that strengthen resilience, equity, and shared prosperity.
From “Communities Can’t” to “Communities Can”
So today, we invite you to pause and reflect: what capital mindset or narrative have you been holding — and how might you reframe it?
Here are some examples of how old assumptions can be transformed:
Community can’t generate sufficient income; they need funders to keep providing grants.
→ Communities can generate sustainable income and revenue through local enterprises, social businesses, and innovative funding models.
Community can’t develop businesses and enterprises to deliver services; they need others because they are assumed to be more efficient and lower cost.
→ Communities can develop businesses and enterprises that deliver essential services in ways that balance efficiency with equity, reinvestment, and long-term benefit.
Community can’t access funding locally; they must rely on external investors.
→ Communities can access capital through community loans, local investment funds, cooperative finance, crowdfunding, and sustainable partnerships.
Community won’t invest in their future; they don’t have the skills, appetite, or level of capital needed, they are too small to matter.
→ Communities can invest in their future — pooling resources, leveraging local savings, and attracting co-investment that multiplies their capital base.
Community can’t own and manage assets effectively; they need private organisations and the market because those are better determinants of value.
→ Communities can own and manage assets collectively and effectively — keeping value local while ensuring decisions reflect community priorities and wellbeing.
Community can’t govern assets effectively; they need boards of experts or external managers because communities are assumed to lack the skills.
→ Communities can govern assets with accountability, transparency, and inclusivity — often outperforming top-down governance in resilience and responsiveness.
Community can’t redistribute capital; they need centralised systems because redistribution is seen as something only others can manage.
→ Communities are redistributing capital through local foundations, cooperatives, and community trusts — ensuring benefits are shared fairly and reinvested where most needed.
What our collaborators are saying…
Communities can’t measure their own success.
→ Communities can define and measure wellbeing on their own terms, not just by GDP, but by belonging, resilience, and shared prosperity. (Allan Connolly)
