The Social Enterprise Support Fund provides essential financial support to help social enterprises in England to rebuild and grow their income from trading, following the impact of Covid-19. It is established in partnership by The National Lottery Community Fund and five social enterprise support agencies.

Who is eligible to apply?

To be eligible for this fund, the following criteria will be applied:

• if the majority of the people and/or organisations you support through your social enterprise live and/or are based in England,
• your social enterprise must have been incorporated for at least 12 months,
• your social enterprise must be incorporated. It may be a charitable company, a charitable incorporated organisation, a Community Interest Company or a Community Benefit Society (Registered Society),
• It may also be a company limited by guarantee, a company limited by shares, a co-operative society, or other registered society,
• annual income between £20,000 and £1.8 million, either in the last financial year or the previous financial year (pre-Covid-19),
• your social enterprise must be substantially reliant on income from trading to deliver social impact,
• financially resilient, with SES Fund support, your social enterprise will survive at least the next 12 months,
• dual authority bank account, this means that at least two unrelated people are required to release payments.

Please also note that if you applied for funding last year, you are welcome to apply again for this fund. It does not matter if you were successful or not last year.

What are the funding priorities?

The priorities of SES Fund are seeking to make grants to social enterprises:

• which are working with the most marginalised communities in England,
• which are led by and/or working with disabled people and/or from Black, Asian and minority ethnic and/or LGBTQIA+ communities,
• which are led by people with direct lived experience of the issues they are seeking to support,
• that are normally substantially reliant on income from trading,
• that have a clear plan for growing or returning to substantial income from trading,
• that will benefit from both the grant and the business support on offer,
• to restart, grow and diversify revenue streams, particularly income from trading,
• to develop new markets, products, services, and partnerships,
• to reach diverse communities,
• to adapt business models, delivery models, spaces, and support to enable delivery in the new reality,
• to strengthen systems, including governance, financial management systems and IT,
• to strengthen staff and volunteer teams, including managing restructuring, training and wellbeing,
• that can demonstrate that they are working with communities that are disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and are supporting those communities to recover.

How much can you apply for?

• You can apply for grants from £10,000 to £100,000. Most grants will be between £10,000 and £50,000.
• You may apply for up to 15% of your total grant (up to a maximum of £5,000) to be spent on external consultancy / training / business support, to help you strengthen your organisation.

What could the grant be used for?

The funding can be used to:

• help you get your social enterprise back on track
• help you work with communities that are recovering
• fund the costs of a community outreach worker to support people to return to your community centre
• help you pilot the provision of additional educational support for children and young people who need help to catch up, with a view to this eventually being commissioned by schools
• be funding for a community supermarket to enable you to continue to provide affordable food for your local community
• help you build local partnerships to provide skills training and employment for communities particularly hit by Covid-19

When you can apply and application rounds?

• You must apply online by filling in the online application form on SESF website.
• The portal will be open for applications on the following dates:• Round 2: 1pm on Monday 28 February 2022 to 1pm on Thursday 24 March 2022

Further information and support from RVA:

• You can read the application guidance and FAQs for full details, or if you have a specific query, email help@SESupportFund.org.uk.
• Please see the SESF website for details of webinars and other support which are available to help you understand the priorities and help with the questions.
• If you would like further support with submitting a funding application or any support to get ready for this funding, please contact Herjeet at herjeet.randhawa@rva.org.uk or telephone 0118 937 2273 for free and independent support and advice.