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Big Lottery Fund launches £10 million fund to get sector investment ready

28 Feb 2014 - 09:34 by michelle.foster

The Big Lottery Fund has announced the launch of Big Potential, a £10 million fund to help charities and social enterprises get investment ready. The ultimate aim of the fund is to improve the sustainability, capacity and scale of VCSE organisations so they can deliver greater social impact.

The Big Lottery Fund has chosen the Social Investment Business in partnership with Charity Bank, Social Enterprise UK, Locality and the University of Northampton to deliver the much needed support to the VCSE sector.

The programme is aimed at VCSE organisations at the beginning of their social investment journey and has been designed to complement a range of other initiatives including the Cabinet Office’s Investment and Contract Readiness Fund, also managed by the Social Investment Business.

Eligible VCSE organisations will be able to access specialist one to one support from the Big Potential programme partners before making an application for grants between £25,000 and £75,000 to undertake more in-depth investment readiness work with one of Big Potential’s approved providers.

Providers of specialist investment readiness support can now apply to become an approved provider. Voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations can now register interest in the fund and will be able to apply for funding from next month. More information about the fund can be found by visiting: www.sibgroup.org.uk/bigpotential

As part of the Big Lottery Fund’s continued commitment to the development of the social investment market in England, Big Potential will provide much-needed support to help organisations achieve their full potential for growth by helping them secure investment.

Social investment offers access to new sources of capital that can help VCSE organisations raise finance in new ways to operate on a more sustainable footing as they provide their valued services to people and communities most in need.

Big Potential was developed to address a current gap in investment readiness support identified by a report on the social investment market, commissioned by the Big Lottery Fund and carried out by ClearlySo and New Philanthropy Capital, which shaped the design of this fund.

To read the full report, visit: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/research/social-investment
 

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