Personal giving

From one-off donations to long-term giving, or designing your personal philanthropic strategy, we work together to help you realise your giving ambitions.

DISCOVER OUR PERSONAL GIVING SOLUTIONS

Corporate giving

You have the vision for making a difference. So do we. We help you plan how to give based on your goals.

DISCOVER OUR CORPORATE GIVING SOLUTIONS

Services for charities

Helping your charity or social enterprise become more resilient.

DISCOVER HOW WE SUPPORT CHARITIES

Insights

Discover the latest insights for donors and charitable organisations to help create a greater impact

Explore

About us

We 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 CAF
SERVICES FOR CHARITIES

Social investment for charities and social enterprises

Affordable, repayable finance to grow your social impact

What is social investment?


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.

Social investment at CAF

Social investment pioneers

We’ve provided social investment since 2002, making us one of the first and most active social investment funds in the UK.

Expert social investor

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.

Over £65 million deployed

Since 2002 we have lent more than £65 million to over 500 charities, social enterprises and community groups.

Always open

Our Venturesome Impact Fund is cause universal, continuously open to applications and available for organisations all over the UK, including those with international projects.

Grow your social impact with the Venturesome Impact Fund

Through our Venturesome Impact Fund, we provide social investment to eligible 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.

We believe all purpose-driven organisations should be able to access affordable, flexible finance - particularly those who may not otherwise be able to access mainstream lending - so they can grow their social impact and become more resilient.

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.

Why use social investment?

Affordable, flexible repayment finance

Ease your cashflow, develop new services, build capacity.

No restrictions

Grant funding usually restricts how you use the funds. Social investment doesn’t.

Borrow without putting assets at risk

Most banks look to secure large loans on assets like property. We don’t.

Your repayments help other social organisations

We recycle the money you repay, lending it to other organisations who need our support.

You can diversify your income

Become more resilient and do more good for more people.

Strengthen your operations

Getting ready for social investment can bring more discipline, rigour and transparency to your charity.

“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."


Ray Goodwin, Chief Executive, Spitfire Advice and Support Services

New to repayable finance?

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.



Download our guide

Talk to us about social investment

We're here to help. Start the conversation to find out if social investment could be right for your organisation.



CONTACT US