Charities working to support the UK’s most deprived communities can apply for a share of a new £4m Cost-of-Living Fund from Social Investment Business and Access – The Foundation for Social Investment.
The investment specialists have announced a blended fund that will accompany loans from SIB’s Recovery Loan Fund, which the investor established in 2022 to make an existing government guarantee scheme, the Recovery Loan Scheme, more easily accessible to the social sector.
The new fund is open to charities and social enterprises supporting people impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and who are living in the 30 per cent most deprived areas of England, as defined by the Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Charities will only receive a grant if they are successful in applying for a recovery loan.
Successful applicants to the fund will receive a grant ranging from £10,000 to £250,000, the equivalent of between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of the value of the recovery loan received.
Grantees will have 12 months to spend the funds allocated to them.
Applicants must have a minimum turnover of £400,000 in the last financial year, and have a minimum of two years’ operating activity.
Interested parties can apply for the grant and loan on a first-come, first-served basis, through SIB’s online portal.
The funding will enable organisations to continue running existing products or services, increase the number of people they support, launch new products or services, and improve the quality of the products or services they offer.
Rob Benfield, director of grants and investments at Social Investment Business, said: “Charities and social enterprises were instrumental in supporting people in their communities through the pandemic. Once again, they are working on the front line of an emergency response and need rapid funding to increase the number of people they can support.
“The Cost-of-Living Fund will help to fulfil some of this need at a critical time as household food and energy costs remain high as we head into the winter.”
Greg Woolley, programme manager for Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, added: “The programme aims to get rapid finance to work to support impactful and enterprising charities and social enterprises addressing cost-of-living issues in communities, and we feel that the Recovery Loan Fund will be a great route to achieve that aim.”