Deadline: 17-Sep-20
The Social Enterprise Support Fund provides grants to support social enterprises during COVID-19. It was established in partnership by The National Lottery Community Fund and five social enterprise support agencies.
It will help social enterprises to meet additional demands, change the way they work, make their spaces COVID-secure, and manage liquidity during the next six months.
Social enterprises use trading income to create social impact. Because of their reliance on trading, they have been particularly hard hit during the COVID-19 crisis. Many have seen their trading income reduce. At the same time, many have seen an increase in demand for their services.
Priority Activity
- Social enterprises supporting people who are at high risk from COVID-19 – specifically those which:
- Connect with older people
- Connect with disabled people
- Provide advice and support to people who are pushed into crisis
- Provide support to those in medical care or end of life care
- Social enterprise supporting people most likely to face increased demand and challenges as a result of the COVID-19 crisis – specifically:
- Provide essential items directly to families who are hit hardest
- Support BAME and other communities who experience health inequalities
- Support people who experience loneliness and social isolation
- Support people who experience poor mental health
- Support children and young people to achieve their potential
Funding Information
- Applicants can apply for grants of between £10,000 and £300,000, but most grants will be between £10,000 and £50,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- This fund is only available for social enterprises most of whose beneficiaries are in England.
- The organisation must have been incorporated for at least one year to be eligible for this fund. This means it must have been registered with Companies House, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Charity Commission one year ago.
- The social enterprise must be incorporated. It may be a charitable company, a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), a Community Interest Company (CIC) or a Community Benefit Society (CBS / Registered Society).
- It may also be a company limited by guarantee (CLG), a company limited by shares (CLS), a co-operative society, or other registered society, if, within its governing document it has:
- a clear social purpose
- a restriction on distribution of profits, to the extent that at least 51% of surpluses are reinvested for its social purpose
- an “asset lock”
- The fund cannot support unincorporated associations or trusts, nor organisations that can distribute most of their profits to private shareholders.
- Annual income should be between £20,000 and £1.8 million before COVID-19.
For more information, visit https://www.socialenterprisesupportfund.org.uk/