Skip to main content

Our impact at a glance

Our story so far

How we’ve helped social investment reach organisations, places and communities that were previously excluded

Access programmes in numbers

  • £57 million

    Access grant deployed

  • £96 million

    repayable investment deployed

  • £153 million

    total investment deployed to VCSEs

  • 122

    partners

  • 11

    programmes

  • 2700+

    charities and social enterprises supported

Cumulative grant and investment over time

This graph shows the deployment of Access grant over time since our inception in 2015 and the total investment unlocked.

Cumulative grant and investment over time (Access data up to end of 2024)

Reaching into communities

How our work, alongside our partners, leads to lasting impact and positive change

  • 65%

    of Access grant goes to 40% most deprived areas

  • 24%

    of Access grant goes to 10% most deprived areas

  • 44%

    goes to VCSEs that have not been funded by other major funders or social investors

Total Investment by IMD

We measure how much money reaches more deprived places and communities using the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). 

IMD 1 represents the most deprived areas whilst IMD 10 represents the least deprived. 

62% of the total investment — including both grants and repayable finance — reached the 40% most deprived areas (IMD 1–4), with 24% going to the 10% most deprived areas (IMD 1).

Total investment broken down by Indices of Multiple Deprivation (Access data up to end of 2024)

We measure how much of our money reaches more deprived places and communities using the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). 

IMD ranks areas in England from 1 (most deprived) to 10 (least deprived). While it’s not the only way to measure deprivation, it gives us the most consistent data.

We know IMD has limitations, so we’re also exploring other ways to understand our reach This includes looking at other measures such as rural communities, and if we have a good geographic spread to our funding. 

We will build this work into future versions of data dashboards and our impact report.
 

 

2015

Access is established to ‘disrupt’ the social investment market and reach underserved places and communities.

2016

Launch of Good Finance , a partnership between Access and Better Society Capital, to help charities and social enterprises navigate social investment.

2017

Access funds start reaching the frontline – with £20k going to Intraquest, a CIC in Oldham that supports children and families dealing with trauma. 

“We’ve got the business model nailed and Key Fund has really helped us analyse what’s working and what’s not. It’s been a lifesaver really." More here and here.

2018

Access expands its focus to include enterprise support.

The Growth Fund now has 16 funds across 15 social investors. The Growth Fund went on to deploy £50 million to organisations with half the turnover and 1/8th of the assets of other social investment deals.

2019

Local Access, a place-based programme working across six places launches with a £10 million investment from Dormant Assets.

2020

Access launches its Emergency Lending programme to get money flowing rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic. £5.5 million in grant unlocks £21 million of investment. 

2021

A review commissioned by the Oversight Trust concludes that Access has had a “significant positive impact” on the infrastructure and investment needed to support small charities and social enterprises.

2022

An independent review, commissioned by DCMS and conducted by NPC, highlights how blended finance has enabled “organisations in some of the poorest areas to grow and increase their impact through reaching more people.”

2023

In response to rising energy costs and the cost-of-living crisis, Access launches two new programmes focussed on getting support to those most in need. 

Backed by Dormant Assets, we launched an £11 million cost-of-living programme to scale solutions that deliver for the hardest hit communities and developed at pace a £20 million support package on energy resilience. 

2024

By the end of 2024, Access grant has now enabled over £150 million of investment to flow to the VCSE sector.

- £57 million Access grant deployed 

- £96 million of additional repayable investment (this amount will increase as more funds are deployed). 

- Total investments of £153 million flowing to charities and social enterprises in England.

  2. Next

Explore the impact report

  1. Chapter 1 Our impact at a glance
  2. Chapter 2 Driving change together
  3. Chapter 3 The problems we are trying to solve
  4. Chapter 4 Using all the tools in our toolbox
  5. Chapter 5 What we measure and why
  6. Chapter 6 Reaching charities and social enterprises
  7. Chapter 7 Resilient charities and social enterprises
  8. Chapter 8 Our impact on our social investment partners
  9. Chapter 9 Our impact on the wider financial system
  10. Chapter 10 Spotlight on 2024
  11. Chapter 11 Spotlight on Dormant Assets
  12. Chapter 12 Where things haven’t gone to plan
  13. Chapter 13 Looking ahead