Big Issue Invest, the social investment arm of the Big Issue Group, is inviting applications from charities and social enterprises to access a new loans fund, focusing on supporting health, social care, affordable housing and social and community infrastructure projects.
Its Social Impact Debt Fund IV will provide loans in the £1m to £4m range, repayable over three to five years.
Typical social infrastructure projects it will fund including co-working spaces, education and training, nursery spaces and arts projects.
Social infrastructure is important in “addressing poverty and inequality” and is needed as “communities suffering from high deprivation often lack public spaces, cultural engagement opportunities, and active populations”, said Big Issue Invest.
“Fund IV seeks to lend to organisations that improve social infrastructure, such as community centres, shared workspaces, arts performance venues, nursery provision and educational institutes,” it added.
It said that affordable housing is another focus as there are currently 274,000 homeless people in the UK, including 126,000 children, with more than 1.2m households on social housing waiting lists.
Health is a priority for the fund as 1.6m over 65-year-olds have unmet care needs and funding is needed “to improve health outcomes”.
“Big Issue Invest’s Fund IV will truly empower social enterprises to create and deliver solutions to effectively tackle poverty across the UK,” said Big Issue Invest chief executive Danyal Sattar.
“We are committed to delivering against BII’s mission to fund solutions to meet the UN’s sustainable development goals. This is real impact, from real assets, backed by our outstanding in-house impact team.”
Over the last 20 years Big Issue Invest has invested£80m in social impact projects and organisations.
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