CERT Ltd

CERT Ltd

Project: Gearing Up!
Grant: £39,000

 

CERT aims to address VCSE risk aversion and concerns in relation to social investment, through structured peer visits and masterclasses. It will deliver a one-year modular programme that participants can complete in full or in part, to raise awareness, build capacity and assist enterprise development. The programme will consist of structured visits by VCSEs to exemplar peers that have successfully taken on social investment, created trading arms, won public sector contracts or built sustainable income streams and a complementary series of master class workshops that examine some of the key themes in more detail. Key Fund will provide specialist input into the design and will be available at each workshop.

CERT will require the participation of Trustees as well as members of executive teams to ensure strategic understanding and commitment to any investment propositions developed through the programme. Participants will be offered support to develop their propositions and Key Fund will act as an investment broker, where it is unable to provide social investment itself. The aim is to connect potential investees to an investor at an early stage of development and as a result, ensure high-quality applications based on sound planning and realistic market research.

The project expects that participants will gain the confidence and ambition to consider social investment by equipping them with the skills to assess and manage the risks so that they are in a better position to take on social finance.