Nat Sloane
Nat Sloane, chair of Big Lottery Fund England, says he expects the schemes to demonstrate innovative ways to tackle deep-rooted social issues
Eight new social investment schemes have received funding worth £1.4m from the Big Lottery Fund.
BLF will make the investments through its £6m Next Steps programme, which supports new approaches to raising finance in England. It has now made 12 investments worth just under £2m.
The programme will make grants of between £40,000 and £1m to support the set-up, development and piloting of social investment vehicles.
Funding will allow research into social investment and support organisations that want to launch social investment funds, conventional bonds and "social impact bond" projects.
The largest award is £349,000 for Golden Lane Housing, a housing charity that works with Mencap to provide housing for people with learning disabilities. It aims to raise a £10m property fund to adapt 100 homes for people with learning disabilities.
Other awards include £125,000 for Cool2Care, which helps families with disabled children and will use the grant to set up a pilot social impact bond that matches families of children with disabilities with personal assistants.
All beneficiaries from the fund will be required to share their experiences with the wider sector.
Nat Sloane, chair of Big Lottery Fund England, said: "These are exciting landmark proposals we are funding today. I anticipate that the trail they blaze will demonstrate new and innovative ways to tackle deep-rooted social issues and bring more sustainability to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector."
