North East Social Investment Fund

The North East Social Investment Fund is a £10.2m fund set up to support charities and social enterprises across the North East of England.

Investments range from £100k to £1m and can be used for a wide range of purposes, including operational costs, working capital, asset purchases, or a combination of purposes.

The fund’s aim is to increase or protect an organisation’s ability to deliver social impact.

Who can apply?

Their social investment team is looking to speak to charities (limited by guarantee or CIO only), CICs (limited by guarantee or shares) and Registered Societies (previously known as ‘Industrial and Provident Societies’, for community benefit).

You must be based in, or have significant operations in, the North East of England, and have the ability to repay the investment over an agreed period.

What they look for when providing funding:

When deciding whether to invest, they look at your organisation’s financials and the social impact you are achieving. It is important that taking on investment enables you to improve or scale your social impact, without putting a financial strain on your organisation.

There are seven key areas that they are looking to support:

• Reduction in homelessness
• Reduction in debt and poverty
• Improvement in health and social care needs
• Improvement in mental health provision
• Improvement in offender rehabilitation
• Reduction in unemployment
• Regeneration of deprived communities