The Enterprise Development Programme is a five year programme, funded by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment and managed by a coalition of partners. The programme aims to provide a broad range of support for charities and social enterprises in England, helping them become more financially resilient by developing new enterprise models, or by growing existing ones.
A year-long pilot of the Programme was launched in September 2018 for charities and social enterprises working in the Youth and Homelessness sectors. Following the success of this pilot, Access have committed to expanding this programme, and are pleased to welcome on board the Mental Health and Equality sectors, as well as extending the involvement of the pilot sectors until 2021.
The programme will offer tailored support to organisations that are thinking of exploring new models of trading to help them become more financially resilient and who require support to make the transition. Organisations will work collaboratively with sector leads; Homeless Link, Centre for Youth Impact, Association of Mental Health Providers and Equally Ours, throughout the programme journey. Social Investment Business will help to administer the programme.
We will take a collaborative and thoughtful approach to this offering, and are looking to create a cohorts of sector-based organisations who are interested in exploring enterprise activity & potential revenue models in their respective sectors. Prospective organisations will apply to join the Enterprise Development Programme outlining their aspirations and how the programme could help them develop enterprising models. If successful organisations will then work together with their sector lead to determine what type of support will work best for them.
Access’s learning partners, The Ti Group, have conducted an interim evaluation of the pilot year our Enterprise Development Programme (from 2018-2019). The Enterprise Development Programme aims to help charities and social enterprises in England to become more financially resilient by developing new enterprise models, or by growing existing ones. The purpose of this interim review was to inform the design and delivery of the 2nd year of the Programme. The report is available here and explains how learnings from the pilot year have informed subsequent delivery.
For information about the programme and how to apply, please visit the programme’s dedicated website.
