The Connect Fund was run in partnership with Access – The Foundation for Social Investment and housed at The Barrow Cadbury Trust between 2017 and 2024, making over 130 grants in total. The fund was established to increase the amount of social investment flowing to social sector organisations to enable them to maintain and grow […]

Access is dedicated to improving the financial landscape for charities and social enterprises. Our approach involves combining grants with loans to ensure that smaller organisations, particularly those operating in underserved areas or communities, have access to the financial resources they need. As part of our commitment, we actively share the technical insights we gather, especially […]

The Diversity Forum, with the support of other organisations, including BSC, Access and Pathway Fund, has recently published findings and recommendations on diversity data collection, including a practical framework aimed at all stakeholders. BSC, Access and Pathway Fund are committed to improving our EDI data collection practices, and those of our partners, and believe the […]

What is Local Access? Local Access is a ten-year social economy programme delivered by six local partnerships across England. It aims to build thriving, inclusive social economies. The Social Economy is a collective term for all ‘not for personal profit’ organisations that exist to address economic, social and environmental challenges using trading and enterprise models.  […]