Scotland’s community foundation, Foundation Scotland, is offering innovative social enterprise funding from today.
The body has integrated with Resillent Scotland and can now expand on its core grant funding service, expecting to invest over £2.5 million in social enterprises all over Scotland. This will also mean access to a greater range of funding options for all applicants.
The new fund will offer between £10,000 and £500,000 to social enterprises on a blended finance model. Up to half of the funding will be made by way of grants and the remainder in the form of a loan. This is intended to make the social enterprises more sustainable and less reliant on grants. There will be fundraising support offered and any funds returned to Foundation Scotland will be reinvested for additional future investment.
Chris Holloway, formerly Head of Resilient Scotland and now Head of Social Investment at Foundation Scotland, said, “The integration of Resilient Scotland into Foundation Scotland makes perfect sense for us as an organisation. However, most importantly, the move will offer significant benefits to Scotland’s thriving social enterprises. Collectively our knowledge, support and experience will enhance the holistic support provided to Scotland’s social enterprises. Groups will be able to come to Foundation Scotland for traditional grants, which they continue to need, and now also innovative investment opportunities. This is great timing for us as we paused all new support through the pandemic; instead, we have focussed our support on our existing investees. A huge thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund for their continued support over the past 9 years. For now, it’s business as usual for our current investees, and we very much look forward to opening our doors to new investees.”
Giles Ruck, Chief Executive of Foundation Scotland, said, “Across the last few years, we have witnessed a shift change from our donors. They have understood that the funding landscape is changing, and they’ve shown an increased appetite to provide communities with wider, longer-lasting funding opportunities. Across our 25-year history, we’ve never been needed more. We understand that the sector needs our committed, innovative support to help them build back better. Our integration with Resilient Scotland will support this and will bring many benefits to the third sector. We are encouraging all social enterprises that are looking for additional investment to visit our website or contact our team directly to discuss your eligibility”.
Foundation Scotland is offering new social investment opportunities across 13 of the most disadvantaged local authority areas across Scotland. The Foundation expects to extend the service to the whole of Scotland at a later date, and welcome even more new enterprises to Foundation Scotland.
Resilient Scotland Ltd (RSL) manages the JESSICA (Scotland) Trust, a £15 million independent Trust Fund established by Foundation Scotland in 2011 with an endowment from the BIG Lottery Fund. During the last nine years Foundation Scotland has acted as the delivery agent for RSL, the corporate trustee of the JESSICA (Scotland) Trust.
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