The Big Lottery Fund is launching a £10m fund to help small charities and social enterprises attract social investment.
The fund, Big Potential, will launch this summer, and is part of the Big Lottery Fund’s (BIG) commitment to the development of the social investment market in England.
It will be delivered by Charity Bank and business support provider Exemplas and is BIG's largest commitment to the social investment market to date.
The programme will be aimed at charities and social enterprises at the beginning of their social investment journey and has been designed to complement a range of other similar initiatives, including the Cabinet Office’s £10m Investment and Contract Readiness Fund.
Patrick Crawford, chief executive of Charity Bank, said: “I am delighted that Charity Bank, as Exemplas’ partner, has been selected to deliver the Big Potential support programme.”
He added: “As a bank that lends only to VCSE organisations, we are well placed to provide advice to these organisations on how to strengthen their capacity and we know that there is significant demand for such advice. This support programme will improve the capacity and scale of smaller charities and social enterprises, helping the sector to thrive and deliver even greater social impact.”
This development of Big Potential addresses a current gap in investment readiness support identified by a report into the social investment market, commissioned by the Big Lottery Fund and carried out by ClearlySo and New Philanthropy Capital, which shaped the design of the fund.
Young Foundation grants
Separately, five migrant social enterprises have together won over £40,000 of business support form the Young Foundation, as part of an initiative supported by the Metropolitan Migration Foundation to grow the number of migrant social entrepreneurs in Lambeth and Nottingham.
The five organisations sharing the £40,000 worth of support include a boxing academy that focusses on tackling anti-social behaviour in Nottingham and a low-cost tutoring service in London bringing together university students from low-income backgrounds and primary school children in need of tutoring.
The five winners, selected from over 40 applicants from across the UK, have won procurement contracts with Metropolitan, one-to-one mentoring from Metropolitan staff, and the opportunity to showcase their work in a pop-up shop.
