Since its launch in January 2017, Impact Loans England has invested over £6m supporting 104 social enterprises.
The investments have been across the UK including Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bradford, Sunderland and York. Rural areas such as Hexham, Derbyshire and Cumbria have also benefitted from investment. 8% of those receiving investment were BME- led organisations, 45% of investees were new to social investment and 48% were women-led organisations.
Our key goal with the extended programme is to ensure that social investment reaches charities and social enterprises which have in the past found the process of applying challenging or off-putting. We want to reach social enterprises which are smaller in scale, BME and women-led, regional and unable to secure repayable finance through main stream sources. Our focus is on inclusion and impact. We have made a good start and believe we can achieve more.
Impact Loans England is available to organisations across England looking for unsecured repayable finance between £10k-£150k. The funding is available to organisations keen to do more of the good work they do – whether it’s buying equipment, hiring new talent, or progressing with business development plans.
One of the first recipients of Impact Loans England was Redcar- based social enterprise The Link, who received a loan of £40k. The Link provides mental health services to vulnerable young people.
Tina Jackson, founder of The Link, said:
We contacted Big Issue Invest in February 2017, it was the best thing we could have done. They have been brilliant not only helping us with finance but wider organisational support. Without support from BII our service would not be here. They have supported us through a difficult period and were the only organisation willing to do this with cash and support.
Big Issue Invest launched Impact Loans England, a lending scheme aimed at enabling social enterprises to access loan funding of between £10,000 and £150,000 in 2016.
Impact Loans England was designed for small to medium charities and social enterprises, many of which are accessing finance for the first time. The scheme builds on Big Issue Invest’s significant expertise in social enterprise investment, which since its launch in 2005 has seen the organisation directly invest in over 330 social businesses.
Access – The Foundation for Social Investment exists to help make charities and social enterprises in England more financially resilient and self-reliant so that they can sustain or increase their impact.
Access does this through two main strands. The first strand is the provision of blended finance and the Growth Fund is the first such finance programme. Made possible through grant funding from The National Lottery Community Fund and loan finance from Big Society Capital, it is focused on enabling the provision of the simple and affordable investment products that charities and social enterprises tell us they need. The second strand is Enterprise Development, through which a number of grant and support programmes are provided for charities and social enterprises who wish to develop earned income and start to investigate the possibility of accessing social investment.
The National Lottery Community Fund – We are the largest community funder in the UK – we’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland. Since June 2004, we have made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that have benefited millions of people.
We are passionate about funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups, right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.
For press enquiries call:
Press Office: 020 7211 1888
When people are in the lead, communities thrive 4
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500572
Big Society Capital
Big Society Capital improves the lives of people in the UK by connecting social investment to charities and social enterprises.
We know that investment can help charities and social enterprises achieve more. We believe the greatest chance to improve lives comes when investors and enterprises are both motivated by social mission.
Big Society Capital engages with investors, fund managers, charities and social enterprises to make it easier to use social investment. With their co-investors, they have made over £1.7bn of new capital available to organisations with a social
mission, through investments into fund managers and social banks.
Big Society Capital have a special focus on: providing homes for people in need; supporting communities to improve lives; and early action to prevent problems.
For over 30 years, the Big Issue has been committed to ending poverty in the UK. In 2024, our work is needed more than ever. Find out how you can support the Big Issue today.
