Adventure Capital Fund
Support for Community Based Enterprises
The Adventure Capital Fund (ACF) offers a range of investments and support to develop community based enterprises. The aim of ACF is to fill the investment gap that faces community enterprise organisations, and to increase investment-readiness of community organisations wishing to move to greater sustainability through enterprise. The ACF offers two types of funding for established community organisations: the Main Investment Fund and the Managed Workspace Fund.
Grant Value - minimum: £ 50, 000
Grant Value - maximum:£ 750, 000
The minimum and maximum grant values above apply to the ACF Main Investment Fund only. Prospective applicants should also be aware that the ACF Main Investment Fund and Managed Workspace Fund primarily provide loans rather than grants.
Description
The ACF's general investment principles are:
- to provide loans, funding and some gift capital to fill the gap between traditional grant aid and commercial loans (such as those from Banks or other lenders);
- to encourage organisations to use different types of finance, and to begin to move away from relying on grant support in the long term;
- to be flexible enough to respond to the needs of each organisation;
- to focus on the financial and social returns from the investment rather than on monitoring activities;
- to share risk. Some projects which are relatively high risk will receive investment, providing this is balanced by the potential for high financial and social return. All organisations which receive investment will be worked closely with to maximise the chances of success, manage risk and protect the investment;
- to work with organisations to develop impact evaluation, of value to both ACF and the organisation.
ACF are looking for applications from organisations that feel they are ready to use the investment as part of a finance package that will enable them to grow and become truly sustainable. ACF would not normally cover the total cost but supply funding as part of a mixture of finance (which can be raised from other sources, e.g. grants, funding from Banks or Community Development Finance Institutions). ACF will assess each investment individually, but intend mentoring, business advice and support to play an equal part with funding in their investment.
ACF will work with the organisation to reach a point where an investment can be made and the organisation is in the best position to use the investment. This support would normally be provided by a mentor who would work directly with the organisation and will continue once an investment is made if assistance is needed with development, culture change and delivery issues.
Latest Information
At the end of June 2007, £3, 601, 680 from the Main Investment Fund had been approved to community enterprises and £1, 829, 000 to the Managed Workspace Fund.
Further Information
Organisations must be close to investment readiness and able to demonstrate their viability, and long term ability to generate funds to re-invest in the local community, as well as to meet any financial commitments. The ACF’s website has development and monitoring tools available to help your organisation assess its investment readiness, see Resources for Applicants www.adventurecapitalfund.org.uk/content/view/26/39/
If your organisation is not close to investment readiness, organisations should consider the ACF’s Business Development Grant for community enterprises in the early stages of development. Scheme details for this grant can be accessed at the bottom of the page.
Key Criteria:
ACF will only accept applications from organisations who meet all the criteria listed below:
- You must be an organisation: individuals cannot apply. An organisation might take the form of a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG), with or without charitable status, or any other recognised structure.
- You must be working within a local community, which can be defined as a place (e.g. inner city, small town, rural district etc) and people (e.g. you work with local refugees, groups of disadvantaged young people etc).
- You need to be independent and community-led, not controlled by the private or public sector.
- You have to be working in England.
- You need to be involved in enterprise. This can be trade or any other income-generating activity, where you are intending to make surpluses that will be re-invested for the benefit of your community.
- You must have a track record of delivering to your community.
- You must be able to plan and deliver successful community based enterprise activity. ACF will not normally invest in organisations that have been running for less than a year.
- Your enterprise, however, might be a new activity for you that will contribute to the longer term growth and/or stability of your organisation.
Priority Areas:
Applications are welcome from any organisation that meets the core criteria, but ACF are particularly interested in hearing from:
- organisations that are or could become community anchors;
organisations led by members of Black and or Minority Ethnic communities (BME); rural organisations; - organisations that are pioneering new ways of working;
- organisations that can demonstrate excellence in what they do and inspire best practice in others, for example, some of our investors act as mentors.
Eligible Expenditure:
Potential applicants should be aware that the Adventure Capital Fund primarily provides loans rather than grants. ACF's Main Investment Fund usually offers a mix of loans and grants for a variety of investments. ACF’s Managed Workspace Fund provides loans and grants to community enterprises specifically looking to set up a managed workspace facility to be rented to third sector organisations and other businesses.
Previously awarded funds:
So far, the Adventure Capital Fund have made investments of a total of £8.3m. Some examples of previously successful projects can be found on the Adventure Capital Fund website at /www.adventurecapitalfund.org.uk/content/blogcategory/23/41/
Application Procedure: Applicants should refer to the Application Forms and Guidance (opens new window) pages on the ACF website for all application material required for the Main Investment Fund and the Managed Workspace Fund. Applicants will then need to:
- Fill out the Application Form.
- Complete the Supporting Documents: the’ Where Do I Want to Be table’ and the ‘Equal Opportunities Monitoring’ form
- Produce a copy of your Business Plan.
- Finally, email your application form, supporting documents, project summary and Business Plan to Stacy Francis at info@adventurecapitalfund.org.uk
There is no closing date for applications, and organisations can apply at any time. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis, but it can take up to six months to complete an assessment and reach a decision. All main investment decisions are made by an investment committee which normally meets every 4-6 weeks.
Contact Information:
Stacy Francis , c/o Local Investment Fund, Ground Floor, Ibex House, 42-47 Minories, London , EC3N 1DY
Phone: 020 7488 3455, Email: info@adventurecapitalfund.org.uk Web: www.adventurecapitalfund.org.uk
last updated: 25-09-2007 10:12