Big Lottery Fund

Programme summary

BIG believes social investment has the potential to increase the amount of funding available to civil society organisations, bringing additional resources to bear on some of society’s most difficult problems.  

This programme will assess this potential by making available up to £6million to help realise a range of specific and already well-developed social investment proposals. We are interested in funding:

• Investment ready proposals  – to set up a social investment vehicle that will achieve outcomes for people in need.
• ‘Nearly there proposals’– to complete the development of a social investment vehicle that will achieve outcomes for people in need
• Pilots  – to test out a social investment concept and/or establish its feasibility

Proposals will need to achieve both the following outcomes to be considered for funding:

• improving the lives of communities and people most in need through the development of robust social investment vehicles
• learning more about social investment ‘in practice’.

By ‘social investment vehicle’ we mean a specific financial product (for example, a social impact bond) or fund (for example, a portfolio of loans).

This funding is focused on the development of specific vehicles, as we are interested in developing and learning about how newer and more complex forms of social investment can address issues faced by those most in need. It is therefore not about things like one-off loans, though supporting these may form part of our longer term strategy in this area.

As a funding approach, social investment is still new. We know it will not be suitable for everyone; and we still see traditional funding approaches such as grants, contracts, and donations as vital for civil society organisations. If you have a project that is not related to social investment then please use the links given in the what to do next section below.

What to do next

• Read the Call for Proposals guide Download the guide on submitting a proposal to the Next Steps programme - 254KB.
• If you have more questions, look at our Questions and Answers page.
• If you are eligible go to the Apply section.
• Not eligible? Please look at our other funding programmes, or programmes from other Lottery funders.

Contact

If you would like more help, call 0845 4 10 20 30 or email general.enquiries@biglotteryfund.org.uk