BSSEC » New ways of funding

ART adds to its lending power with new Birmingham Small Business Loan Fund

July 05, 2017

ART Business Loans continues to innovate in the local finance it is able to make available. Now, in partnership with Birmingham City Council, Unity Trust Bank and peer-to-peer lender Thin Cats, ART is offering the new Birmingham Small Business Loan Fund. If you are a Birmingham-

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Are you “business angel ready”?

May 23, 2017

What is a social business angel? Who invests in social enterprises and what do they want? iSE is offering two workshops that will answer these questions — and many others too. If you are wondering whether your enterprise might be attractive to an angel investor, then book

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Crowdfund Birmingham — new funding opportunities for community benefit projects

May 10, 2017

Further to this post, we now have further news about Crowdfund Birmingham, the new joint initiative between Birmingham City Council and Crowdfunder. Launched at the start of the year, Crowdfund Birmingham is a new campaign to help people with good ideas raise the money they

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‘Unlocking the Warehouse’ — FoE embarks on ambitious refurbishment plans

May 03, 2017

The Warehouse in Allison St, Digbeth, has been home to Friends of the Earth and a number of other environmental and progressive causes for the past forty years. And now the organisation is about to embark on an ambitious refurbishment plan. FoE aims to raise nearly £250,000

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Women’s Enterprise Hub, free workshop — Working with Angel Investors

April 10, 2017

The Women’s Enterprise Hub is hosting a free workshop on the 25th April (08.30am-10.00am) and again on the 27th June (same time) called “Working with angel investors — attracting and partnering social angel investors”. → Download the flyer (pdf). → Please note

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Birmingham Volunteer Centre signs up with easyfundraising

March 08, 2017

Birmingham Volunteer Centre, the city’s volunteering support service provided by BVSC has just announced the following: Did you know you now can help support the Volunteer Centre by shopping? Yes it is true! We have signed up with easyfundraising to raise funds for events like v

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Birmingham City Council launches Crowdfunding Birmingham

February 06, 2017

Birmingham City Council is launching Crowdfund Birmingham and wants to hear now from local organisations interested in raising money through crowdfunding. The council is setting aside £470,000 from its Community Innovation Fund to provide match funding to pledge on projects that will

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Big Issue Invest launches Impact Loans England

January 26, 2017

Big Issue Invest, the social investment arm of The Big Issue Group, has launched a new investment programme called Impact Loans England. This programme is designed to help social enterprises and charities which might previously have struggled to access small to medium-

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iSE launches new programme of social investment workshops

September 13, 2016

iSE has launched a new programme to help social enterprises attract social investment. The workshops are designed to provide more information about social investment and give social entrepreneurs the opportunity to practice pitching. The workshops will cover: Introduction to the legal

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ART pioneers new financing model to raise cash for small businesses

July 22, 2016

ART Business Loans has joined forces with peer-to-peer business lender ThinCats to pilot a unique scheme to raise £500,000 to support local businesses. ThinCats — it’s the opposite of ‘fat cats’ — was established in 2011, partly as a response to the banki

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Social Impact Bonds — the first six years

July 06, 2016

Social Finance has today launched Social Impact Bonds: The Early Years, a new report covering the progress of the Social Impact Bond market in the six years since its inception with the Peterborough criminal justice system SIB. To date, sixty SIBs have launched in fifteen countries, r

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NAO says PbR schemes are ill-co-ordinated, lack an evidence-base and have unrecognised risks

June 29, 2015

I am indebted to my old friend Tony Clabby for spotting this… The National Audit Office has just published Outcome-based payment schemes: government’s use of payment by results (June 2015). → Press release NAO website → Summary → Full report The report considers six

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Social investment — made understandable, relevant and available

June 25, 2015

What do social investors look for in organisations? What’s it like for a social enterprise to go through the process of securing investment? Big Issue Invest (BII) and Charity Bank have put together a social investment workshop to answer these questions. Peter Hughes (Charity Bank) an

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Investment for energy entrepreneurs

March 09, 2015

Ignite is the UK’s first impact investment fund with a focus on energy. Set up through Centrica, Ignite believe that energy entrepreneurs have a vital role to play in building a better society and are here to help them achieve their potential. Centrica are investing people and money i

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Colebridge Enterprises reaches 4m motor parts packed and boxed

February 13, 2015

Some of you may remember that a couple of years ago elsewhere on the website we featured Colebridge Enterprises — in particular the huge changes in direction that had happened there under Charles Rapson’s entrepreneurial guidance and Colebridge’s entry into the autom

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GBSLEP roadshow events to promote EU structural and investment fund opportunities — dates & venues confirmed

February 09, 2015

GBSLEP recently announced that it would be holding briefing roadshows to alert organisations to forthcoming opportunities arising from the LEP’s European Structural & Investment Funds strategy. Dates and venues for these events now confirmed. Please see below. Download PDF flyer.

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GBSLEP announces roadshow events to promote EU structural and investment fund opportunities

February 02, 2015

GBSLEP has recently announced that throughout February and into March it will be holding briefing roadshows to alert organisations to forthcoming opportunities arising from the LEP’s European Structural & Investment Funds strategy. Venues and timings are still being sorted

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Big Lottery Fund announces ‘Power to Change’ endowment of £150m

January 22, 2015

The Big Lottery Fund has just announced that it has endowed £150m to the new trust set up to run Power to Change, the new fund supporting community enterprises. The announcement coincides with the publication of a new report on the community enterprise sector published by Social Finan

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New Ideas on Social Value – Confirmed Speakers

November 12, 2014

by Mark Ellerby

building health partnerships, cloudberry, mark ellerby, NHS, psiams, social enterprise, social impact, social value

New Ideas on Social Value is just a month away and will showcase great examples of social impact and social value and highlight examples of best practice. The event features a range of speakers that have expertise in outcomes based commissioning, social impact measurement or co

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Bibsy Bananas is latest in surge of social enterprises to take up loan finance

September 11, 2014

by Steve Walker

ART (Aston Reinvestment Trust), a social enterprise itself, has been lending to social enterprises since it started in 1997. In recent years, perhaps not surprisingly in view of the challenging economic environment and huge public sector spending cuts, very few have come forward look

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