Over the coming 12 months, Kindred is concentrating on providing support by making development awards, targeting people and communities who’ve not yet ventured into the world of social trading. This will include a programme with young people to explore social trading as a career option and a programme with BlaST to help Black-led STOs get investment ready.
We will be shining a light on a fast-growing network of women who are pretty much reinventing an affordable system of social care and continuing our work in spaces and places other businesses have withdrawn from or fear to tread. This work started in Liverpool, then travelled across the water to Birkenhead and popped up last year in St Helens – where next?
For those of you looking for substantive social investment money this year, we’re working with a host of partners who have social investment available now (see below). Kindred’s fund will reopen next year, once we’ve got all those who have secured Kindred money so far fully contracted and implementing their STO growth plans.
Whether you’re looking to Kindred or other social investors, you need to be what we call ‘investment ready’. We think this includes:
- Telling your story – what is it you do and why?
- Knowing your money – where is your trade coming from now?
- Knowing your social impact – what difference do you make?
- How you can use money to grow your impact sustainably – this is the hard bit!
- How you collaborate – because we know STOs do better when they do.
We will reopen to investment-ready STOs from April 2024, and remain open – rather than running rounds – as long as Kindred has funds available, only limited by our capacity to support you.
You can register your interest here, and let us know if you need support to get investment ready.
These are the organisations that provide money, support, or both, if you’re looking for investment now:
• If you’re scaling an existing social enterprise you might consider joining the School for Social Entrepreneurs. You can also apply to join the Community Business Trade Up programme here…
• LJMU runs several courses – including shorter summer courses – that are designed to scale good business.
Kindred is running a peer-to-peer support network this year, so that those looking for investment can talk to someone who has secured it, and used it, about what it entails. Drop us a line If you want to talk to other STOs about their experience of social investment at info@kindred-lcr.co.uk.