Expanding social enterprise Raised in Bristol (RiB) has received a second investment of £126,500 from the Resonance South West SITR fund, enabling it to grow its early years' education in a new community space. 

A previous investment from Resonance in late 2019 enabled RIB to open its second and third nurseries. Against all odds, and the sudden impact of the pandemic, the team opened these two new nurseries in 2020. And with this new investment secured, they’re ready for another. This will be RiB’s fourth nursery in Bristol, with the investment being used to fit out the new premises and support with wages and rent for the first couple of years.

RiB delivers a much-needed service to families, whilst generating profit to support everyone in the community, not just its customers. It does this by helping to sustain the future of community-owned buildings - paying rent as a tenant plus a generous profit share. What makes it different as a profit-making business is how the profit is used: it’s committed to reinvesting all profits into Bristol’s communities, contributing to a local circular economy. Families are also using community buildings that they’ve never been in before, thanks to RiB.

Community-based nurseries provide a local service that meets additional needs for connection – RiB was ahead of the curve there. By helping to sustain these community buildings, RiB is providing a reliable and consistently safe space for families to access.

While the past year has been challenging with a lot of delays, the team has grown from strength to strength and has made an immense amount of progress with their growing customer base. Throughout the UK lockdowns, RiB has continued to provide vital support to families. And the staff team has excelled - in really testing times, there have been promotions, new qualifications and training programmes started. Working from home during the pandemic didn’t reduce the demand for childcare - quite the opposite - and RIB was there to help. The staff team increased to meet the constant stream of registrations for places, even during lockdowns, and to accommodate more and more children attending the nurseries.

To support their customers, RiB created a new section on the website, which was available to all, not just to RiB customers. It was full of free resources to help keep young children entertained – and their parents sane! Team members remained in touch with all children and families with phone calls, Zoom stories, singalongs, and yoga sessions. And in the first lockdown, the team prioritised those most at risk, by combining all the keyworker children at one of their spaces. All three nurseries have been fully open since June and continue to be so.

The innovative social enterprise’s existing relationship with Resonance created a solid basis for the crucial investment to be secured. Working well together for a second time puts confidence in a strong basis for further transactions.

Anne Malindine, CEO Raised in Bristol said: “Raised in Bristol is very pleased to have secured a new loan from Resonance and especially for the additional grant that came with it!  This will help us to emerge from the pandemic more resilient than would otherwise have been the case and to look to the future with the opening of our fourth nursery in Bristol during 2021.  Resonance has made it possible for us to continue with our plans for growth and we really appreciate their confidence in our vision.”

Resonance’s Senior Investment Manager for this Fund, Katalin Juhasz, said: “I am delighted that RiB has received a second investment from the South West SITR Fund. With an innovative business model focused on financial sustainability, it has been a pleasure to work with the team again, supporting them with growth opportunities – which also included an Access COVID-19 emergency grant - at just the right time.

“Throughout the pandemic community spaces have been hit hard, however, RiB has successfully managed the ever-changing circumstances, even though they themselves have been significantly impacted by COVID-19. They have kept their nursery doors open, providing much-needed support for keyworkers and local communities, whilst continuing to grow and also meeting increased local need. The expansion of its nursery provision in the city also creates a sustainable way to address the issue of disappearing community assets.”

About Social Investment Tax Relief

Resonance’s South West SITR Fund provides a vital support scheme for social enterprises and charities that are working hard to improve vulnerable people’s lives in our communities across the country, providing solutions to some of their region’s most significant social problems, including:

• poverty or disadvantage
• opportunities for young people
• diversity and inclusion
• addiction and homelessness

The Fund has pioneered the use of Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) which was introduced in 2015, which simultaneously lowers the cost of loans for enterprises and enables the potential for competitive returns to investors. This important source of subsidy to the social enterprise sector is currently under threat – read more in our Save SITR Call for Action article.

Resonance also operates a SITR Fund in the West Midlands 

For more information about investing in our SITR Funds click here 

If you’re a social enterprise based in the South West or West Midlands and are looking for investment click here 

Save SITR

SITR has enabled many outstanding and crucial social enterprises to access the investment they need to grow on an unsecured and affordable basis.  The majority of these organizations would not have been able to secure this support had it not been for SITR. Unfortunately, though, SITR will be retired by April this year, meaning that other social enterprises in desperate need of investment in order to grow, will be unable to benefit from its vital tax relief. To remove this tax relief that benefits the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, without any replacement in place, would be incredibly damaging - both directly to social enterprises and the people they support. This is particularly detrimental at a time when social enterprises and charities are on the frontline, with staff and volunteers risking their own lives to help others through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.