The Social Investment Business launches “ambitious” £20million Social Action Fund

Thursday 6 October 2011

A new fund to support the creation of new social action opportunities opens for applications today. Worth over £20million, the Social Action Fund managed by The Social Investment Business on behalf of the Office for Civil Society is offering grants of £100k and upwards to projects across England that will expand volunteering and giving of time, money, knowledge and assets.

The Fund is open to proposals relevant to its three main themes:

· Social action in the community – projects that will encourage people to come together in their neighbourhoods to support each other and improve their communities.

· Social action inspired by the Olympics and Paralympics legacy – projects that build on the momentum and enthusiasm generated by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games, creating a legacy of social action.

· Social action for all ages – projects that motivate people across all generations to get involved in volunteering and charitable giving, from school children and students, to working professionals and those near or of retirement age.

Preference will be given to proposals that do the most to increase social action, to organisations that have a matched funding commitment (although it is not a requirement) and to ideas that are large-scale or can be scaled up or replicated.

The Social Investment Business Chief Executive Jonathan Jenkins said:

“We are being really ambitious with the Social Action Fund. The minimum grant available is £100k but there is no upper limit - we want people to think big. We want to hear from people who perhaps run successful volunteering programmes on a small scale and know they could have a much bigger impact with additional funding.  Proposals for projects worth £1 million plus are encouraged.

“We are also looking for a broad range of volunteering and social action projects to support. We would love to receive applications for projects like time banks, mentoring programmes or community sports days, for example. The overarching aim of the Fund is to finance projects that enable people to come together to support each other and improve the quality of life in their community, now and into the future.”

The first window opened to applications today at noon and closes at noon on Wednesday 2 November.  A second application window will open in early 2012, exact dates will be confirmed in due course.

The Social Action Fund is open to applications to fund social action projects in England from civil society organisations, public sector bodies and businesses with a track record of delivering social action programmes. The organisations must have operated for more than 2 years and have a minimum turnover of £100k. Full detailed eligibility criteria and application form and guidelines are available online at www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/saf

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1.    For further information or interviews, please contact The Social Investment Business press office:

Liz Banks - 0207 842 7726/ 07809 504072  liz.banks@socialinvestmentbusiness.org

Nicola Jones - 0207 842 7755 nicola.jones@socialinvestmentbusiness.org

2.    The Social Action Fund is part of a broader programme of support for social action that was announced in the Giving White Paper and takes its place alongside two other funding streams - Innovation in Giving Fund and Challenge Prizes.

3.    The Social Investment Business, the largest social investor in the UK, exists to help social enterprises, charities and community organisations do more of what they do best – supporting people and communities most in need. We help organisations prosper by providing innovative financial solutions, business support and long term strategic thinking.

www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org    @TheSocialInvest

4.  The Social Investment Business manages the Futurebuilders Fund and the Social Action Fund on behalf of The Office for Civil Society, the Social Enterprise Investment Fund for the Department of Health the Communitybuilders Fund which was endowed to parent charity the Adventure Capital Fund by the Department for Communities and Local Government.  We have over 1,100 active investments which range in size and scope from, for example,  £3,600 to help a small organisation bid successfully for a public sector contract, to £6.7million to help a large national charity establish and develop innovative new services for children and young people.