Apply for Social Enterprise Exchange Programme

Deadline: 22-Sep-21

The South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation is seeking applications for its Social Enterprise Exchange Programme to support start-up and existing social enterprises.

Funding Information

Grants of £1000 to £1,500 are available to start-up and early stage social enterprises. Grants of up to £5,000 are available to social enterprises that have been trading for at least 12 months.

Types of Grants

Accelerate Grants for social enterprise start-ups
- start-up funding including ICT and marketing costs
- grants available between £1,000 and £1,500
- enterprises must have registered within the last 12 months
- must show a good business case to generate income from trading
Transform Grants for existing social enterprises
- seed finance to support fundraising and investment
- grants available between £1,000 and £5,000 (subject to match funding by the applicant for grants towards costs greater than £1,500)
- enterprises must have been in existence for at least 12 months
- convincing business case for developing a new product or service, or for scaling-up, with a high probability of creating additional sustainable jobs

Award criteria

Eligible applicants will be selected for a grant award on the basis of the following equally weighted award criteria:

Strength of the business case and commercial viability
Skills and competences of the team
Expected social impact of the business including jobs created
Sales and marketing strategy
Value for money

Types of activities that will be funded

ICT equipment
Marketing and publicity costs
Professional fees, where the support is not otherwise available through the business advice and support services of Social Enterprise Exchange

Selection Criteria

To be considered for a grant award applicants must meet all of the following selection criteria:

Meet the following definition of a social enterprise:
- “A business with primarily social/environmental objectives, whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or community rather than mainly being paid to shareholders and owners”
Be legally registered with rules that are consistent with the above definition including an asset lock and limits on the distribution of surplus. Legal forms that will generally be considered acceptable include:
- Registered Charity
- Charitable Incorporated Organisation
- Company Limited by Guarantee
- Community Interest Company
- Cooperative or Community Benefit Society
Have a minimum of three unrelated directors/trustees, aged over 18.
Have a bank account in the organisation’s name, with at least two unrelated people required to sign cheques
Have been accepted onto the Social Enterprise Exchange programme and have completed the State Aid Eligibility Form and Declaration
Have completed the grant application form and supplied all supporting documents that are requested to accompany the grant application
(Transform Grants only) 50% match funding commitment by the applicant from their own or other non-European Union funding towards costs greater than £1,500. Match funding must be towards actual costs of eligible items. The total budget (including match) should be provided in the application. Example 1. a budget proposal for £3,500 would require at least £1,000 match funding provided by the applicant alongside a grant request of up to £2,500 Example 2. a budget proposal for £8,500 would require at least £3,500 match funding provided by the applicant alongside a grant request of up to £5,000