In November 2018, the Community Impact Partnership (CIP) was established by four of the UK’s leading housing associations – Clarion Housing Group, Orbit Housing, L&Q Group and Peabody Group.
With funding provided through the Growth Fund, which is managed by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, and funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Big Society Capital, the CIP has a total of £3 million to invest until 2021.
The offer will provide flexible financing to charitable organisations, social enterprises and businesses with a social purpose to enable them to grow, innovate or diversify income streams via a mix of grant funding and repayable loans.
This blended finance model will offer investment of between £25,000 and £150,000 to organisations seeking support to, for example, increase capacity, implement new contracts, expand services, make changes to their business model, or to pilot an innovative new approach. The finance can also support core operational costs such as staff, equipment, rent or capital costs to refurbish or purchase assets.
By offering repayable finance, the money repaid will be recycled, making the funds work harder and extending the impact it helps to create.
However, the CIP also understands that organisations sometimes need more than financial support to achieve their long-term goals and as such the Partnership is developing an enterprise support programme to upskill investees. Organisations will have the opportunity to engage with key stakeholders from across the four housing associations and their respective networks.
It is a core ambition of the CIP to support socially focussed organisations to enter the supply chains of the housing association partners and others across the public sector with the non-financial support on offer moving organisations into becoming ‘contract ready.’
To learn more about the funding opportunities from the CIP and to access the full eligibility criteria and Expression of Interest form please see the partnership’s website https://communityimpactpartnership.co.uk/
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