RRLF was run by Social Investment Business (SIB) with an initial £25m investment and support from Big Society Capital. In August 2020, £4m in grants from Access – The Foundation for Social Investment – was made available alongside loans for organisations in England. SIB was the lender and worked with experienced social investor partners on the design and delivery of the fund: Big Issue Invest, CAF Venturesome, Charity Bank, Resonance, Social Investment Scotland, Social and Sustainable Capital and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.
RRLF was the only CBILS-backed fund that was created especially for charities and social enterprises. Organisations with funding approved included Autism Plus, Big Issue, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and the Royal Society for Blind Children.
SIB is developing a successor loan fund under the terms of the government’s Recovery Loan Scheme, which it hopes to launch during the Summer of 2021. More information will become available on this over the coming weeks.
Nick Temple, Chief Executive of Social Investment Business, said:
“We are hugely proud of the successes of the Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund. We established the fund in record time, got money rapidly to organisations who needed it most across the UK, and worked in true collaboration throughout. We simply could not have achieved the success we did without the support from our investors Big Society Capital and Access, the effectiveness of the British Business Bank, the hard work of our delivery and referral partners, and the efforts of the whole SIB team and Board.
We have learned a great deal from the Fund, and we will be using those insights in designing the successor loan fund, as well as building on the partnerships that have helped us achieve so much in the last 12 months. This will mean continuing to support charities and social enterprises with patience, flexibility and responsiveness in the post-Covid recovery.”
Jeremy Rogers, Chief Investment Officer of Big Society Capital, said:
“We are delighted to see how many charities and social enterprises have been able to access this funding at a time when they faced huge challenges as a result of the pandemic. The success of this fund is testament to the fantastic collaborative effort across many partners and we are very proud to have played a part in that.”
-Ends
For further information, please contact:
Miranda Love
Marketing and Communications Lead
Social Investment Business
Miranda.love@sibgroup.org.uk
Notes to Editors
About Social Investment Business
Social Investment Business provides finance to create fairer communities and improve people’s lives. They do this by providing the money and support they need directly, partnering to support them effectively and, using their knowledge to inform their own work and influence others.
Since 2004, SIB has deployed and managed over £400m of loans and grants into over 2,000 organisations and enabled almost 1,000 more to get dedicated support through programmes.
www.sibgroup.org.uk
About Big Society Capital
Big Society Capital exists to improve the lives of people in the UK through social impact investing. We unite ideas, expertise and capital to create investment solutions for the UK’s social challenges, supporting organisations that deliver both positive social impact and sustainable financial returns. So far, we have helped channel £2.2 billion* into investments tackling a wide range of problems such as homelessness, mental ill health and childhood obesity.
To widen access to social impact investing, we have partnered with Schroders, a global asset and wealth manager, to launch the listed Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust plc. As the portfolio manager, we provide investors with high impact investments that contribute to solutions to social challenges alongside targeting long-term capital growth and income. Further information about Big Society Capital can be found at www.bigsocietycapital.com
*As at 31 December 2020
About CBILS
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is managed by the British Business Bank on behalf of, and with the financial backing of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Image credit: Autism Plus
