Enterprise Development Programme on Mental Health

Deadline: 18-Oct-21

The Enterprise Development Programme (EDP) on Mental Health is a five-year programme, funded by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment. It is managed by a coalition of partners, including multiple infrastructure bodies (sector leads) and Social Investment Business as a strategic grant partner.

The programme piloted in the homelessness and youth sector in 2018. Following great success, the equality and mental health sector joined the partnership in late 2019. Each sector is involved in the programme for three years.

Co-designed packages of support will likely include some of the following:

Access to a bespoke learning package co-designed by you and your sector- lead.
The opportunity to apply for either a feasibility or development grant to put your learning into action (grants are capped at a maximum of £30,000 and are subject to agreed conditions, milestones, and evidence of growing income).
Extensive peer-learning and networking opportunities.
Access to a team of pro bono legal experts to act as a sounding board and guide you through the legal considerations of trading.
Invitations to conferences on enterprise development and social investment within the wider charitable sector.

Eligibility Criteria

Organisation applying to programme must meet the following criteria:
- Be interested in exploring new models of trading to help build financial resilience but that require initial grant and learning support to get these ideas off the ground. The long-term goal of applicants may be to take on social investment but that isn’t a requirement for a place on EDP.
- Must be a social enterprise, charity or not-for-profit company based and working in England
- Be an incorporated organisation and have a clear social mission
- Distribute less than 50% of post-tax profits and reinvest at least 51%of surpluses into pursuing their social mission, and have a constitutional or contractual lock on their social mission, dividend, and surplus distribution policy (also known as an asset lock)
- Funding cannot be used for activities that promote religious or political purposes
- If you are a faith-based organisation, you can apply but your services must be open to people of all or no faith.
For this round, they would particularly welcome applications that demonstrate some of the following:
- Organisations that support rural areas of England
- Organisations that provide mental health provision in the midlands
- Organisations that provide specialist or crisis support for those with severe mental health/illness
- Organisations that offer meaningful training / employment pathways for beneficiaries within their enterprise operation
- Organisations with lived experience within their leadership
- Enterprise operations that have been in existence for over 6 months and have already achieved sales