Social investment for charities and social enterprises

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:

• Unsecured loans
• Blended finance (part loan/part grant)
• Standby facilities (a pre-approved loan to draw on if it's needed)
• Bonds **

Our unrestricted investment can fund:

• Working capital/cashflow management
• Delivering products and/or services to new customers
• Building organisational resilience such as investing in improving impact measurement and reporting, designing and developing products or services, systems and processes, sales and marketing, hiring new staff, and purchasing assets

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:

• Has a clear charitable purpose and social impact. You don’t need to be a registered charity, but we can’t currently accept companies limited by shares unless they have an asset lock, a charitable mission lock accompanied by a dividends and profit sharing policy that restricts unreasonable private benefit. Community interest companies (CIC) limited by shares are eligible.
• Is incorporated and registered in the UK, but your activities can be anywhere in the world
• Has been trading for at least one year and can provide evidence either from donations or trading
• Has a minimum annual turnover of £75,000

Through social investment, we are unable to fund:

• Blended finance for organisations with a turnover of more than £500,000
• Stand-alone grant funding
• Refinancing of existing loans
• Property purchases for organisations with a track record of 3+ years and stable finances. If that sounds like your situation you may wish to explore a secured loan from CAF Bank
• Loan repayment from grants, where no growth in trading/earned income is demonstrated
• Charitable organisations that serve the general public but are not able to demonstrate that they are increasing access for underserved groups (e.g. sports clubs, schools and academics institutions, faith organisations)
• Loans for individuals i.e. PhD stdents and scholarships

• The scale and depth of the impact you can make on people or the environment
• Evidence that funding will make a difference in the community
• A plan showing how social investment could help you become more sustainable, create jobs and open up opportunities
• Evidence of strong governance, an appropriate legal structure, and a sustainable business model to repay the loan
• Receipt of regular impact and financial reporting whilst the loan is outstanding
• Demonstrate loan repayments can be made from growing trading income, and so building your organisation’s resilience

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.

• Delivering social impact is not central to your operating model and/or you can't prove that your organisation is solving a social problem. As a social impact investor, investing our donors' philanthropic capital, we need to show our investments are alleviating some of society’s most challenging issues.   
• Lack of recurring unrestricted surplus. Social investment is best suited to organisations who are growing their trading income.
• Inability to afford a loan, non-viable income streams or non-mitigable risks. Repayable finance is not always the right funding tool for an organisation. We will use our experience to identify models and teams that can grow using social investment, rather than be encumbered by it.  
• As a fund open to all impact areas across the UK, we may need to limit the amount of funding to one impact area, geography or structure to ensure the Fund remains viable. These factors will change from time to time and if we decline you on this basis, we will tell you as early as possible.