Submitted by John on 6 Nov 2020 - 10:30am
The funding is intended to enable social enterprises across England to create deep and lasting impact, build resilience and accelerate their growth.
Two levels of funding are available:
Grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 for ventures that have been operating for under 12 months.
Grants of between £10,000 and £500,000 for ventures that have been operating for over 12 months.
Who Can Apply
Applications are accepted from incorporated social purpose organisations, including the following:
- Charitable companies.
- Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs).
- Community Interest Companies (CICs).
- Community Benefit Societies (CBS/Registered Societies).
- Companies limited by guarantee (CLG).
- Companies limited by shares (CLS).
- Co-operative societies.
To be eligible organisations must:
- Be substantially reliant on trading income (eg, sales and delivery of contracts).
- Have an annual income of between £20,000 and £2.5 million.
- Have been registered with Companies House, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Charity Commission before 3 May 2020.
- Have been incorporated for at least six months on 3 November 2020.
In recognition of the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on these communities, the Fund particularly encourages applications from social entrepreneurs who identify as Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic background, and disabled people. The aim is for 50% of the funding to reach these typically underrepresented groups.
The Fund also aims to support those with direct experience of the social problems they are seeking to address, known as leaders with lived experience.
The funding is for asset or mission-locked ventures across England that are either of the following:
- An early stage social enterprise who can demonstrate potential for growth and impact and a resilient financial model.
- An established social venture with ambitions for deep or scalable impact, or with aspirations to tackle entrenched social issues in new ways.
- Organisations should be working to create deep and lasting impact in their community. This especially includes organisations who are:
- Supporting people who are high risk from the COVID-19, such as older people, disabled people, Black, Asian or minority ethnic communities or those pushed into crisis as a result of the pandemic. This could include immediate support or longer-term plans to support these communities.
- Facing increased demand for their services as a result of COVID-19, or the likelihood of increased demand soon.
- Established ventures who have ambitions for deep, scalable or systemic impact, or those whose aspirations are to tackle entrenched social issues through disruptive work.
Projects that can be funded include:
New emerging opportunities to grow impact (eg, services that have emerged during the pandemic).
Projects or infrastructure that will benefit social enterprises’ future resilience, recovery and growth.
Existing services, projects or models that are performing well, with the potential to accelerate growth and impact.
The funding must be spent before 31 March 2021.
The deadline for applications is 5pm on 13 November 2020.
Guidance notes and the online application form are available on the website of UnLtd.
https://www.unltd.org.uk/our-support/our/irf/
UnLtd
123 Whitecross Street
Islington
London
EC1Y 8JJ
Tel: 0207 566 1100
E-mail: awardapplications@unltd.org.uk
