Key Fund, a long-standing investor in community and social enterprises, is delivering the Northern Impact Fund, aimed at new and early stage enterprises who are seeking finance to support growth.

Matt Smith, CEO of the Key Fund, said: “With this fund we’re offering finance of up to £150k, but typical investments will be around £50k, with up to 20% of the amount available as grant. The Key Fund was one of the early pioneers in this space, and our original model was based on a grant and loan mix, so we’re really excited to be going back to that original model. It’s long been our belief that grants can play a very important role in helping new and smaller social enterprise become more robust.”

Contact Keyfund for more details of how the fund will operate and how your organisation could benefit.

The Northern Impact Fund has received support from the Growth Fund, which is an initiative of Access – the Foundation for Social Investment.  The Growth Fund has been designed to increase the availability of small, affordable, unsecured loans for charities and social enterprises. The Growth Fund totals £45m and provides a blend of loan from Big Society Capital and grant from the Big Lottery Fund, to social investors across England. This allows those social investors to offer smaller loans and take much greater risk than some other lenders are able to.

Seb Elsworth, Access’s Chief Executive, said: “The blend of loan and grant, which we make available to social investors, like the Key Fund, means that they can provide smaller loans on affordable terms with appropriate support. We are also encouraging the development of partnerships which can help to open access to social investment for more charities and social enterprises to help them to sustain and grow their impact.”