Amongst all the uncertainty of the last few weeks, we are pleased to announce the fifth close of the Resonance West Midlands SITR Fund. £250,000 has been added to the Fund, taking the total to over £1.8 million raised through the fund to date.

The Fund is the second of Resonance’s regional SITR Funds, focused on the West Midlands region. Resonance has also launched SITR Funds in the South West and North West.

Resonance’s SITR Funds all have the same aim: to dismantle poverty in their region by enabling investors to build a portfolio of investments with the potential of attractive returns and tax relief benefits whilst also helping to dismantle poverty in and around their region through backing high impact, mission-driven social enterprises.

The West Midlands SITR Fund focuses on the West Midlands as it is a region that continues to face persistent poverty and inequality with many of the local authority areas ranked as being amongst some of the UK’s most deprived, and with three in every ten children classified as living in poverty. However, it is also an area with a renowned sense of community and innovation. Being home to a wide diversity of cultures and skills, significant wealth, and a thriving business community it has also developed a strong and growing social enterprise sector, committed to supporting deprived communities through innovative business models, generating significant social impact and providing thousands of jobs and volunteering opportunities in the region.

To date the Fund has invested in four social enterprises, enabling them to grow their social impact across the West Midlands region:

• Jericho Foundation supports people facing multiple barriers to employment, training or social inclusion
• Challenge Academy CIC uses a range of outdoor adventure facilities and activities to make innovative learning and development opportunities accessible for all
• Wildgoose Rural Training provides access to land-based activities, training, education and work experience for people with learning disabilities, brain injuries and mental health issues
• Clifton Community Arts Centre is a community run cinema, cafe and arts space providing accessible arts and culture for all as well as volunteering and training opportunities

In addition, the West Midlands SITR team continues to work closely with and support many more social enterprises across the region with significant growth potential, to help them prepare for investment.

Grace England, Investment Manager of Resonance’s West Midlands SITR Fund said: “This close will ensure that we continue to have enough funds to commit to social enterprises that need it in the coming months, as much of our existing pot has been committed in investment offers. It is brilliant to see more investment funds being committed to the West Midlands social enterprise sector.”

This fifth close of the West Midlands SITR Fund also marks the first draw down from the £2.25 million investment facility provided by Big Society Capital, made available to support Resonance’s ambitious plans to grow our existing SITR Funds and launch more regionally focused SITR Funds across the UK.

This top up facility means that investment from individual investors is unlocking matched investment from Big Society Capital, enabling us to scale up our regionally focused social investment solutions more quickly, and support more social enterprises tackling poverty, inequality or disadvantage.

For more information about investing in our SITR Funds click here.

If you’re a social enterprise looking for investment click here.