Charities and social enterprises
We work with charities and social enterprises to help them grow and deliver sustainable impact in their communities through the provision of affordable finance, business support and connections with local partners.
Delivering long-term impact
We create access to repayable finance and support to unlock areas such as:
- Housing
- Economic inclusion
- Environmental
- Transformation
- Community resilience
- Health & wellbeing
How our investment might work for you
Drawing on our experience, local knowledge and connections, we are able to support charities and social enterprises to access investment with confidence.
Building sustainable impact
We’ll work with you to design an investment package that balances the demands of your organisation with long-term, affordable and repayable finance.
Help make your vision a reality
We’ll create tailored investment to bring your ambitions to life, and then we’ll stay active as financial partners, helping you to deliver your vision.
Find new supporters and partners
We’ll connect you with our regional networks, creating introductions and finding ways to expand your base of mission-aligned customers, suppliers and supporters.
Get the tools and insight you need
We’ll guide you through the investment process, providing you with a mix of regional, commercial and impact insight that other lenders might not have.
What kind of investment is available?
The amount of investment we can offer will depend on the project type, as well as the experience of your leadership team. The terms of the investment will be designed on a case-by-case basis to give you optimum support and the greatest change of long-term success.
Our mission is to create a more diverse and inclusive economy by removing the barriers to funding and support that some businesses and social enterprises face. We undertake due diligence to ensure we are able to proceed with investment and we work closely with the potential investees throughout the process.
What you can expect
The following outlines some of the key features of our available funds.
Investment from £50k to £1m
Investments are tailored to your needs and ensure maximum long-term success. We will create a bespoke investment package with funds release all at once or when you need it most.
Blended finance
Investments are usually repayable loans, but certain funds can be invested for equity stake. Convertible Loan and Revenue Participation Notes are equity-like arrangements that link repayments to performance.
Flexible repayment schedules
To help you establish strong cash flows at key phases in your organisation’s growth, we can structure loans that are flexible, with capital and interest holidays or milestone-linked repayments.
Longer-term investment
Investment length significantly impacts repayments. We can arrange investments up to eight years and profile these for longer. This means helping you partner with a bank for example to find other money.
Affordable and accessible
We aim for our loans to be both affordable and accessible in comparison to the market for small business lending. Our rates on interest-bearing loans are generally between 4% and 10%.
Independent approval
Our Bristol-based Independent Advisory committee will review your proposal. They may request amendments or special conditions. We then seek final approval from the Financial Conduct Authority.
What is the process for seeking our investment?
If you are interested in finding out more about investment options, we follow a straightforward process, common to most investors.
We will want to know about:
- Your sound business idea, strategy and model
- Your measurable impact
- Your capacity to deliver on your idea
- Your commitment to the region
- Your readiness to take on repayable finance
We have a fairly simple process,
common to most investors:
There is a six-stage process, which includes onboarding, documentation review, independent review by our Bristol-based Independent Advisory committee, FCA approval and then legal agreements.
Our portfolio
Find out about some of the projects and organisations we have raised investment for.
