is a mark of recognition that is awarded to community share offers that meet a national standard of good practice. This national standard is built using an assessment framework that was created to ensure that community share offers are clear, honest and transparent. 

is a building or piece of land that has been identified as valuable and is used for a positive social purpose to benefit the local community, These include village shops, pubs, community centres etc. 

is a measure of an organisations capacity to take on debt, and the amount of debt an organisation is able to borrow. 

is a term that is used to decide if your business can pay back its debts on time. It considers how much your loan and repayments would cost you in comparison to the income you generate, and determines your ability to repay debt. 

A Community Interest Company (CIC) is a type of limited company whose profits are reinvested in the mission of the organisation to benefit the community, instead of private shareholders. There are different types of CICs; they can be limited by guarantee or limited by shares. 

A CIC limited by guarantee is a company which has no share capital and cannot pay dividends. 

A CIC limited by shares has capital that is divided into shares for individuals to invest in.