Bringing solar energy to the community
How social investment helped reduce energy bills and carbon emissions for vulnerable households.
We help donors to give more impactfully and charities to build their resilience so they can do more of their life-changing work.
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DISCOVER OUR PERSONAL GIVING SOLUTIONSYou have the vision for making a difference. So do we. We help you plan how to give based on your goals.
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ExploreWe are a leading charity, working at the centre of the giving world. We help donors to give more impactfully and charities to build their resilience so they can do more of their life-changing work.
Find out more about CAFAffordable, repayable finance to grow your social impact
Social investment is the use of funds to achieve a social return as well as a financial one. We lend to charities and social enterprises from money donated by our generous funders. On repayment, we recycle those funds to help even more social organisations.
As we’re repaid, we use the same funds to lend to other organisations looking for affordable, flexible finance. This means that one pot of money can benefit many organisations and causes, multiplying the impact of those funds.
Through our Venturesome Impact Fund, we provide social investment for purpose driven organisations – charities, social enterprises and community groups – all over the UK. This is in line with our vision for a fair and sustainable future for all.
The fund offers flexible finance options designed to help your social organisation ease cashflow, develop new services or purchase assets – to grow your trading income which plays an important part in sustaining and scaling your social impact.
Ease your cashflow, develop new services, build capacity.
Grant funding usually restricts how you use the funds. Social investment doesn’t.
Most banks look to secure large loans on assets like property. We don’t.
We recycle the money you repay, lending it to other organisations who need our support.
Become more resilient and do more good for more people.
Getting ready for social investment can bring more discipline, rigour and transparency to your charity.
We want all purpose-driven organisations to be able to access affordable, flexible finance – particularly those who may not otherwise be able to access mainstream lending – so they can become stronger and more resilient. That’s why our fund is:
Most of our social investments are unsecured loans. This is often an attractive option for organisations that struggle to access finance from banks due to their lack of assets, such as property, to be used as collateral. In some circumstances, we will offer blended finance packages (part loan/part grant), which can help smaller organisations facing additional pressures.
We offer between £50,000 and £1 million, with a 5.5%* fixed interest rate that won’t change during the lifetime of the facility. Additional commitment and legal fees apply.
Our flexible investment types include:
Our unrestricted investment can fund:
Typically, our loans are between 3-5 years, but we can increase that up to 10 years under certain circumstances.
*Investments outside of a typical 3-5 year structure and/or without a regular payment schedule may attract a higher interest rate which will be determined on a case by case basis.
**If you are raising a bond to drive your social impact and fit our criteria we would be interested in hearing from you.
You may be eligible for social investment if your organisation:
Through social investment, we are unable to fund:
1. Complete the short enquiry form
2. If you’re eligible, we’ll schedule a call to review loan terms and address any questions
3. We’ll ask you to complete a full application form with further details including a cashflow forecast, management accounts, social impact report, and a business plan (if available)
4. Our due diligence process will include a call with your management and one of your board members
5. The application will be presented to our Impact Committee and we’ll let you know of the outcome
6. If successful, we’ll ask you to complete a background check form
7. We’ll then ask you to sign a legal contract, pay the upfront fees and share your board resolution with us
8. You’ll email us a drawdown request telling us when you would like to receive the investment
9. You’ll receive the amount requested in your organisation's bank account
The process typically takes 8 weeks from start to finish, but in periods of high volume it may take longer.
Complete our short enquiry form to start the process. You will need to have ready:
If you’re eligible, we’ll then send you a further application form to tell us more details about your organisation.
We’ve provided social investment since 2002, making us one of the first and most active social investment funds in the UK.
Our multi-disciplinary team are experts in social investment and here to support you in analysing your organisation, its impact and positioning itself for future growth.
Since 2002 we have lent more than £65 million to over 500 charities, social enterprises and community groups.
Our fund is cause universal, continuously open to applications and available for organisations all over the UK, including those with international projects.
“CAF's social investment support has been pivotal to our sustainability and success in making a huge difference to the most isolated communities in Birmingham. Because of CAF, we have been able to make a difference to over 40,000 individuals."
Our Repayable Finance Guide shows how charitable organisations like yours can make the most of borrowing, when and why to take on loans, and what lenders look for in an application.
We're here to help. Start the conversation to find out if social investment could be right for your organisation.
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