Bristol-based social enterprise Raised in Bristol expands nursery provision in the city and creates a sustainable way to address the issue of disappearing community assets, thanks to £250,000 investment from Resonance.

Raised in Bristol is the latest social enterprise in the South West to receive an investment from the Resonance South West SITR Fund. The investment of £250,000 will support Raised in Bristol in scaling up the business, enabling the opening of two new nurseries and recruitment of new staff.

Raised in Bristol (RiB) provides Ofsted regulated early years education and childcare services in community owned spaces. It pays rent and invests profit to sustain these community spaces for the benefit of the whole community. It’s led and managed by three founders who are currently Executive Directors, sharing both strategic leadership and operational management of the business.

RiB delivers a much-needed community-based service that generates profit to support everyone in the community, not just its customers. Community assets, such as community centres, across the city are disappearing. The RiB business model addresses this issue by offering a sustainable way to generate profit and share these with the community asset within which its nurseries are located. So whilst it is a profit-making business, what makes it different is how its profits are reinvested back into Bristol’s communities thereby contributing to a local circular economy.

RiB’s first nursery, Raised in Easton, opened its doors in early 2018 and is based at Easton Community Centre - which itself is based at the very heart of the local community. Together, both organisations provide valuable, inclusive support and an accessible space for the families and people living in Easton. They also share the same long-term goal: for any profits to be put back into the community hub.

Children and the nursery team enjoy lovely environments both indoors and out and opportunities to learn without limits as the nursery has a real focus on nature and outdoor learning, encouraging children to explore the local natural environment and to be curious about the world around them.

The business has now reached a stage where it is ready to scale up and needs investment to do so. The first of the two new nurseries planned, Raised in St Paul’s, will open in January 2020 and will have its home in the Full Circle @ Docklands with ACE Youth and Community Centre in St Paul’s, offering 60 places to children aged 6 months to 5 years. This is an ideal setting for the new nursery as not only does the host organisations share the same vision as RiB but as a youth and community organisation already established in the heart of St Pauls, they have strong links to, and over 30 years’ experience of, supporting young people and their families in the local community.

Raised in Bristol says “We’re so pleased to be working with Resonance - it’s a huge encouragement to us to receive this investment. It’s not just about the money, it’s also about the confidence it shows in our business model. This investment means that we can get on with our plans for growth. We’ll be working with more communities to keep public spaces available for local people to use (organise and) to flourish.”

Katalin Investment Manager explained, “It has been great working together with the founding directors – an all-female team - who have addressed a growing community issue with a proven and sustainable business model and as a result are saving critical community assets.”

The Resonance South West SITR Fund is a pioneering social impact investment fund aimed at helping to dismantle poverty in the South West by investing in local social enterprises. It takes advantage of social investment tax relief (SITR) to simultaneously lower the cost of loans for enterprises and to enable a competitive return to investors.