Deadline: 31-Dec-22
The Connect Fund, managed by the Barrow Cadbury Trust on behalf of Access – The Foundation for Social Investment has launched its Challenge Fund with Participation Fund.
The Connect Fund was established as the social investment infrastructure fund. Its objective is to improve the social investment (SI) market in England by supporting and strengthening the infrastructure, so it can better meet the needs of charities and social enterprises. By infrastructure, Connect Fund means social investment market intermediaries and support organisations, as well as the shared processes, tools, networks and partnerships that enable best practice.
This strand identifies the challenges and gaps within the infrastructure of the social investment market and invites applications for projects that will solve them using the principles of Participatory Design. This approach seeks to involve the communities affected by investment decisions in decision-making processes. In a sector that exists to serve those on the margins, how can Connect Fund re-configure the system to reduce marginalisation?
Objectives
The Connect Fund’s funding strands have been developed to align with Access’ strategic objectives.
Over the next five years Connect Fund will have three strands to its work:
- Providing £40m to support a broad range of enterprise development activities in partnership with other foundations, social investors, sector infrastructure bodies and enterprise advisors. This support will help charities and social enterprises to earn more of their own income and specifically develop business models which can be further supported through utilising social investment.
- Managing and promoting blended finance models which bridge the gap between charities and social enterprises on one side and social investors on the other. These models help make the social investment easier to find and more relevant for charities and social enterprises, and help social investment reach parts of the sector which are yet to benefit.
- Learning from Connect Fund’s programmes and listening to the changing investment needs of the sector in order to influence the future work and that of others who support charities and social enterprises; and building systems which make that knowledge easier to understand and use for the long term.
What will they fund?
The Connect Fund is looking to select 5/6 different projects in the areas below:
- Participatory Funding What if the investment decisions that affect communities, were made by those communities? This strand supports projects that pilot community involvement in investment committees. It could link to community wealth funds, or connecting local authorities’ potential desire to invest democratically in their local areas.
- Finance by Design What if financial programmes were designed not only for, but also by and with the people they are intended to support? This strand supports projects to design financial products that better meet the needs of charities and social enterprises, by including them in the decision-making process.
Or is there another problem affecting the social investment sector that you would like to tackle? Come and speak to us to discuss it!
Expected Outcomes
The Connect Fund expects all projects that it funds under this strand to achieve one or more of the following outcomes:
- Action taken to address (or a better understanding of) the barriers faced by organisations led by under-served groups in accessing social investment.
- Investment flows particularly to organisations led by under-represented groups.
- Funders and investors more responsive to needs in the VCSE sector.
- Collaboration between VCSE infrastructure and social investment intermediaries, connecting the infrastructure to the market.
- Investors able to provide more tailored and appropriate finance more efficiently. VCSE’s able to access that finance more efficiently.
Eligibility Criteria
- All Connect Fund applicants must meet all the following criteria:
- Your organisation must be based in England.
- Your organisation must be an existing social investor or fund manager. Funding cannot be used to establish new social investors.
- Your organisation must be incorporated and registered as a charity, social enterprise or have social purpose clearly incorporated into your articles of association with an appropriate asset lock and/or mission lock.
- To address imbalance, Connect Fund actively welcomes applications from organisations led by black and minoritised communities, disabled people, the LGBTQ+ community and women.
For more information, visit https://www.connectfund.org.uk/challenge-fund-funding-guidelines/