Key Fund

Key Fund

Project: Connect to Invest
City: Sheffield   Grant: £50,000

Key Fund seeks to maximise the investment going into deprived communities and to support social enterprises and trading charities to create social impact. The great majority of investments are in the 20% most deprived communities, reaching over 100 organisations a year in the North of England.

Key Fund will partner with local infrastructure, intermediary organisations, Big Society Capital and other social investors to increase awareness of, and the level and quality of connection to, social investment in the rural North East, Cumbria and East Midlands. Specifically the project will carry out investor and investee interviews, run a series of engagement events, conduct training workshops for community and social enterprises, develop tools and resources for public dissemination, and recruit local champions to take part in a local knowledge exchange network.

The project aims to raise awareness, build local connections, facilitate transfer of knowledge about social investment, and develop tools and resources for local intermediaries to continue to support outreach and build the resilience of social purpose organisations. The project should translate into an increase in the number and quality of investment proposals coming from the North East, leading to improved investment rates in the area.