Brief for Inclusion Partners for a new COVID relief fund for social entrepreneurs.  

A new fund is coming which will be a consortium of 5 partners (UnLtd, Big Issue Invest, Resonance, School for Social Entrepreneurs and The Key Fund) working across the social enterprise sector to support entrepreneurs to rebuild and recover their businesses following the COVID-19 pandemic.

This fund will provide grants and non-financial support to social enterprises and charities within England. The fund aims to support approximately 500 social enterprises, for 12 months, focused on ensuring equitable and inclusive delivery of support.

We are looking for Inclusion Partners to help us find and fund the most impactful social entrepreneurs in your field or area. We are looking for partners who are Black, Asian, Minority ethnic and/ or disabled and or LGBTQIA+ to ensure our outreach is equitable, diverse and compliments our current staff diversity. We also welcome partners who reach communities who are using their lived experience of a social issue to lead change.

To do this, we want to connect with the enterprises you work with, especially those working with marginalised communities (ie Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, LGBTQIA+, disabled) and those who have the best solutions to loneliness, community resilience and long term economic, social and cultural health. The new fund’s priority areas for communities are:

• Managing poverty, debt management (e.g., tackling inequality, homelessness)
• Enabling routes back to employment (e.g., skills and job training, access to vacancies, job creation)
• Overcoming educational disadvantage (e.g., helping disadvantaged children and young people catch up)
• Improving physical health (e.g. working with sufferers of long COVID, or existing health conditions worsened by COVID)
• Improving mental health (e.g., young and older people, bereavement, domestic and child abuse, addiction 

We are offering Inclusion Partners a fee of up to £1,200 for their time for signposting social entrepreneurs from an agreed community or region to the online portal. 

We are inviting expressions of interest in the grant outlining:

• Your role in building resilience in your geography, focusing on your track record of working with marginalised communities;
• Your ideas for developing an inclusive pipeline for social enterprises and charities to access the funding and support;
• Your approach to identifying the key needs of marginalised communities to restart and recover from the effects of the pandemic;
• How you are representative of and embedded in one or more marginalised communities.
• An outline of your timeline and budget for the fee.

Timescale

Closing date for expressions of interest:  20/10/21

Online interviews week commencing:  1/11/21

Notification of outcome of interview:  5/11/21

Round One portal opens:  25/11/21

Round Two portal opens:  28/2/22

Requirements

We would welcome expressions of interest from organisations or consortia, outlining their approach by 12pm on 20/10/21.

Expressions of interest will be assessed using the following criteria, using a scale of 1 (excellent level of evidence) to 5 (little or no evidence):

1. Existing networks across multiple communities, and relationships with relevant social enterprises that would benefit from financial and non-financial support, in the context of the ongoing pandemic and broader financial turbulence
2. Existing networks of social entrepreneurs and charities who represent the most marginalised communities in England, specifically in the North West, the West Midlands and the South West
3. Proven track record of developing and/or working with social organisations in line with our Inclusion Targets (see below)
4. Demonstrable understanding of the economic landscape and impact of the pandemic on the most marginalised communities, specifically in the North West, the West Midlands and the South West

Your expression of interest form should be emailed as an attachment (MS Word or PDF) to Kate Aiken  [email protected] with the subject line ‘EOI Inclusion Partner’ no more than 2 sides of A4, by 12pm on the 20th October 2021.

Expression of interest form

NOTES

Inclusion Targets

Recognising the additional barriers that many organisations face in terms of accessing support, the project’s diversity and inclusion goals will enable the Fund to provide 250 social enterprises led by Black and minoritised communities /or disabled entrepreneurs with over £8 million in funding, as well as non-financial support where needed.

Key national target

• Greater than 50% of grantees are disabled and / or from a Black, Asian, minority ethnic background

The fund will have the following regional ambitions:

• Make awards to Black, and minoritised community led organisations that surpass the percentage of this population in every region by 50%
• Make awards to leaders identifying as LGBTQIA+ in proportion to regional demographics
• Make awards to organisations led by people with experience of socio-economic disadvantage at double the rate of regional socio-economic disadvantage
• Ensure gender balance in awards made across regions and across the portfolio