Social purpose organisations are set to benefit from a new social investment fund from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). The Venturesome Impact Fund offers affordable, repayable finance to organisations across the UK.
This ‘evergreen’ fund will remain continuously open for applications and is cause universal, to enable impactful social purpose organisations to access finance to grow and improve their resilience.
The fund opens with £10m of philanthropic capital from CAF’s private clients, businesses and other foundations, with the goal to grow available funding to at least £20m.
Most social investments will be unsecured loans since many social purpose organisations do not have property assets that can be used as collateral and can struggle to access finance from banks. For smaller organisations that face additional income pressures, the fund can also offer blended finance packages that are part loan and part grant.
Since 2002, CAF has pioneered social investment, supporting more than 530 charities, social enterprises and community groups during that time.
The new Venturesome Impact Fund will provide:
- Mostly unsecured loans, standby facilities and blended finance packages (part loan/part grant), typically over a 3-5 year period with a regular repayment schedule.
- Total packages from £50k to £1m with a fixed interest rate of 5.5% p.a.2
- Blended finance packages for organisations with a turnover of less than £500k and will typically be a 70% loan/30% grant.
Ashling Cashmore, Head of Impact and Advisory at the Charities Aid Foundation said:
“As we mark our centenary this year, we are excited to launch our new ‘always-on’ social investment offering to provide what social purpose organisations say they need from social investment and address where there are currently gaps in the market.
“The Venturesome Impact Fund allows one pot of money to benefit many different organisations and causes throughout the UK. Helping them to grow and accelerate their impact will improve communities and individual lives, and have a positive influence on the environment.”