Working in-person for charities “has become a privilege and a rarity” since the pandemic, a report by a company that runs a free community hub in London has found.

The PPL Hub, in Southwark, was opened last May by the social enterprise management consultancy PPL, offering free office space for charities and other not-for-profit organisations.

PPL said that since its launch, the PPL Hub has unlocked a “huge” £250,000 in financial value for the voluntary and community sector, from an initial investment of £80,000 from PPL’s social impact fund.

In its Making Space for Community report, PPL says feedback from charities using the space has highlighted “the universal importance of in-person working”.

“Most of the organisations that use the PPL Hub are either entirely or predominantly remotely-based – a working model that a number of interviewees highlighted has become even further entrenched since the Covid-19 pandemic as charities’ core, unrestricted budgets have been under pressure,” the report says.

“This has meant the ability to come together to work in person or hold in-person events has become a privilege and a rarity.”

One interviewee reflected that their charity’s Annual General Meeting, which they held at the PPL Hub, "had the highest attendance since Covid-19”, the report states.

PPL also cited Apps for Good, a charity offering free creative tech courses for children, which had used a meeting room at the Hub for a total of seven hours to hold team meetings and team strategy days, thereby saving £420.

In an interview, an Apps for Good team member told PPL they had an office in a co-working space prior to the pandemic “but have been fully remote-based since then as they cannot afford to pay for office space full-time currently”, the report stated. 

“They mentioned that being able to hold meetings and workshops in-person at the Hub has improved the team’s productivity and ability to deliver their work,” it added.

Apps for Good said: “The hub allows us to bring team members together to have face-to-face conversations and workshops that we simply cannot replicate online.”

PPL said its report indicates the Hub has a social return on investment of £1.53 for every £1 invested.

Claire Kennedy and Simon Morioka, joint chief executives of PPL, said: “Our aim is to highlight the benefits of what we are calling ‘asset-based philanthropy’. This model takes an asset – in this case a building – and translates it into a real, tangible cash benefit for voluntary sector organisations.

“The PPL Hub has unlocked £250,000 in financial value for voluntary and community organisations, and we believe this is just the beginning of a story about how we can all think differently about the social impact we can deliver, with assets we already have.”