Social Enterprise Boost Fund Grant  

by Stuart Ashmore

The Social Enterprise Boost Fund is a UK Government funded project for social enterprises in six local places in England. The main objectives of the Social Enterprise Boost Fund are, by March 2025, to:

  • Grow the social enterprise sector in targeted areas, by supporting the creation of new social enterprises and boosting early-stage organisations.
  • Enable targeted high-deprivation local authorities and the local voluntary and community sector in these places to implement sustainable systems and processes that encourage social enterprise growth.

Alongside this grant program the project offers a range of support comprising of two modular programmes:

  • the first, FUSE, is a 12-week intensive support programme for social enterprise (SE) start-ups.
  • the second, SE MOT, is a 4-week programme of support for early-stage SEs wishing to develop and grow.

Both FUSE and SE MOT are supplemented by a maximum of 12 hours of expert 1-2-1 mentor and business advisor support for each participant/organisation, a peer network framework and bespoke support identified by our diagnostic approach.

To find out more regarding the support available, please contact SWEDA (Sandwell). Tel: 0121 525 2558.  Email: sweda@sweda.org.uk

This grant program is part of a wider project and applicants are strongly encouraged to engage with the wider program. For details see here.

Definitions. For the purposes of this fund a social enterprise is “a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners”.

 It is defined as either:

  • an entrepreneur or unregistered organisation driven by a social or environmental purpose and can demonstrate a plan to work towards registration within the government definition above, or
  • a registered social enterprise organisation within the government definition above.

A “start-up” is an organisation which (i) has been trading for less than 5 years at the point of application, and (ii) has a turnover of less than £250,000 in its last financial year.

Acceptable legal forms for registered social enterprise organisations are:

  • Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
  • Company Limited by Guarantee
  • Community Interest Company (CIC) limited by guarantee.
  • Community Interest Company (CIC) limited by shares (with a 100% asset lock clause to ensure that funds or assets can only be transferred to a named organisation or cause with charitable objects aligned to the applicant)
  • Community Benefit Society

 Applicants can submit multiple applications throughout the duration of the grant but in total can only apply for a maximum of £10,000.

The deadline for applications for the first 2 rounds are 25th August 2023 & 2 October 2023.