The Prince’s Regeneration Trust has received a £200,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund to develop a social investment fund to help organisations based in deprived areas restore at-risk community buildings.
A Prince's Regeneration Trust (PRT) spokesman said the charity believes there is a “growing number of investors seeking to use their capital to generate social impact as well as financial return”.
PRT is developing the social investment fund with support from the Royal Bank of Scotland in addition to the £200,000 development grant from BIG to set it up.
The fund will seek investment from wealthy investors, and other organisations such as charities or social investors.
It will invest in social enterprises based in deprived locations to enable them to acquire empty or neglected important local assets before they fall further into disrepair. These buildings will then be redeveloped in partnership with their local communities.
The fund will provide financial backing in the form of loans and possibly equity investment.
PRT has some experience in developing commercial partnerships with its social enterprise projects, brokering viable and practical solutions between private, public and third sector partners. To date PRT’s projects have attracted over £100m outside investment.
Commenting on its new fund, a spokesman said: “The fund will demonstrate how social enterprises undertaking such projects can make the transition from a purely grant based model to combine a range of funding sources including social investment. “
In the next six months PRT will develop its concept into a detailed business case for investors, demonstrating the financial viability of the fund, how its social impact will be assessed and how PRT will work in partnership with other organisations to maximise the fund’s effectiveness. PRT will share its learning from this development process to support the growth of the wider social investment market.
PRT’s work to establish the fund is supported by The Royal Bank of Scotland which has provided a full-time resource to the project since September 2013.
Ros Kerslake, chief executive of PRT, said, “The Prince’s Regeneration Trust has a strong track record of providing expert advice to communities seeking to unlock the potential of their much loved local buildings. The launch of our social enterprise fund will combine this support with direct financial investment, significantly increasing the likely success of these projects. We are very excited to be creating a strong proposition which will attract new sources of capital into the social investment market.”
The Prince’s Regeneration Trust supports and strengthens communities by rescuing and reusing important British buildings at risk of being lost forever through demolition or decay.
