BSSEC_logo
Members Login 
Donate Now
  • Home
  • About
    • Who we are
    • What we do
    • Our Members
    • BSSEC Annual Reports
    • Joining BSSEC
  • About Social Enterprise
    • What is social enterprise?
    • How can social enterprise help you & your neighbourhood?
    • Social enterprise in Birmingham
    • Social enterprise in Greater Birmingham
    • Social enterprise retailing
    • Social enterprises in the spotlight
      • Colebridge Enterprises — Assembly Operation
      • Textiles by St Annes
      • St Barnabas Church Centre, Erdington
    • The Digbeth Social Enterprise Quarter — Launch
      • The Digbeth Social Enterprise Quarter
  • Policy Issues
    • Introduction
    • Public services & social value
      • Birmingham City Council and social value
      • Useful resources on social value
      • Social Value — one year on
      • Evidencing Social Value — The Elephant in the Room
      • Resources for measuring social value and social impact
      • Social value — key findings from the first two years of our work
      • New Ideas on Social Value — Event Report
      • Social Value — findings of the first government review (Feb 2015)
      • Social Value & Health
      • Public Contracts Regulations 2015: A Guide to the Implications and Opportunities for Social Enterprises
      • Social value — looking forward
    • Social enterprise & public service reform
    • Social enterprise & the ‘right to challenge’
    • Social enterprise & the Localism Act
  • Enterprise Support
    • Introduction
    • Business support organisations
    • Access to finance
  • Links & Downloads
  • Blog
  • Contact

UnLtd’s Impact Investment Fund — drop-in event Birmingham

April 16, 2018
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Are you an early stage social venture working in the employment sector? Do you need investment and practical support to scale your venture? Then UnLtd wants to hear from you. UnLtd’s Impact Investment Fund will shortly hold three drop-in sessions — relaxed and informa
Continue Reading →

Mayor supports ART Business Loans — ‘unsung heroes of the local business finance scene’

October 05, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Speaking at ART’s 20th anniversary AGM, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street offered his congratulations on ART’s achievements over the past two decades and described the organisation as one of the unsung heroes of the local business finance scene. Mayor Andy Street said: “I first me
Continue Reading →

Calling health social enterprises — help inform development of a new social investment fund for the West Midlands

September 07, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Social Enterprise UK wants you to be part of shaping the design of a new investment fund (part grant, part repayable finance) for the West Midlands supporting enterprises involved in public health. From SEUK Your opportunity to shape a potential Social Investment Fund here in the West
Continue Reading →

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

July 05, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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-
Continue Reading →

Are you “business angel ready”?

May 23, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

Crowdfund Birmingham — new funding opportunities for community benefit projects

May 10, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

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

May 03, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

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

April 10, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

Birmingham Volunteer Centre signs up with easyfundraising

March 08, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

Birmingham City Council launches Crowdfunding Birmingham

February 06, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

Big Issue Invest launches Impact Loans England

January 26, 2017
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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-
Continue Reading →

iSE launches new programme of social investment workshops

September 13, 2016
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

ART pioneers new financing model to raise cash for small businesses

July 22, 2016
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

Social Impact Bonds — the first six years

July 06, 2016
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

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

June 29, 2015
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

Investment for energy entrepreneurs

March 09, 2015
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

Colebridge Enterprises reaches 4m motor parts packed and boxed

February 13, 2015
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

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

February 09, 2015
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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.
Continue Reading →

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

February 02, 2015
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →

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

January 22, 2015
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
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
Continue Reading →
123

BSSEC Twitter

My Tweets

Latest news on the blog

Retail Therapy Event at John Lewis, Birmingham - City Drive week
Apr 20, 2018
UnLtd's Impact Investment Fund -- drop-in event Birmingham
Apr 16, 2018
Success! Birmingham's social enterprise city application approved
Apr 16, 2018

Subscribe to the BSSEC Newsletter

BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL SOCIAL ECONOMY CONSORTIUM C.I.C., trading as BSSEC. A community interest company registered in England and Wales with company no. 07992674. Registered office: c/o Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES | All rights reserved | Copyright 2013-BSSEC | Created by Citizen Click