Development

The Development element of the Fund is for organisations that need to develop foundations around governance, financial systems, leadership and core functions in order to become more sustainable. The aim is to develop organisations to such a level that they can qualify for investment.

Finance available

Grants of £2,000 for staff development and training.

Support available

Each organisation will be allocated a Community Alliance Supporter who work with it to undertake a needs assessment. Based on this each organisation will be allocated a bespoke package of support which could be comprised of:

  • One to one mentoring
  • Peer leadership learning sets on asset development and enterprise development
  • Assistance with completing a community enterprise organisational healthcheck
  • Assistance with completing the Charity Commission approved Visible Standards Model
  • Help to introduce an impact evaluation system
  • Critical systems update
  • Support to strengthen financial systems

Note that we have a limited supply of support and finance available. The organisations selected will be the ones who best show their commitment to becoming sustainable and becoming investable.

Find out if you are eligible

Partnerships

We would welcome applications from two anchors in a local area that wished to explore working more closely together and would be willing to commit additional feasibility funds to support that collaboration.

Additionally, partnership or hub and spoke arrangements are eligible provided that there is a third sector lead partner, the partners meet the eligibility criteria between them and more than 50% of the local anchor services are provided by organisations that have been in existence for at least a year.

Local Mediation Service

Where appropriate, The Social Investment Business will offer its Local Mediation Service which is aimed at resolving barriers to investment between potential investees and local government. Upon recommendation by the Supporter a trained mediator will facilitate a session with the parties involved.