Foundation Scotland hails surge in demand for social investment opportunities

Funding organisation Foundation Scotland said it had received a typical year's worth of enquiries in just four weeks amid a surge in demand for social investment opportunities.

Left to right: Chris Holloway, Abigale Neate-Wilson and Rob Morrison. Glasgow-based community interest company Agile City has been announced as the first investment for the foundation in 2021.

The strong interest follows the launch of the Investing in Enterprise Fund in May, said to be the only blended grant and loan product in the sector.

The fund was created by Foundation Scotland following its integration with Resilient Scotland, widening the range of support available to organisations from the community foundation.

The fund can invest up to £500,000 in social enterprises, community organisations and charities. Up to 50 per cent of this can be in the form of a grant and the remainder as a repayable loan.

Glasgow-based community interest company Agile City has been announced as the first investment for the foundation in 2021. Agile City creates space for work, events and learning and received £150,000 in combined loan and grant funding to support the opening of its Civic House premises in the city.

Chris Holloway, head of social investment at Foundation Scotland, said: "We've received a phenomenal level of interest in our new fund since launching in May. It has exceeded all our expectations and can only be viewed as a hugely positive sign as organisations seek to move beyond Covid.”

Rob Morrison, director of Agile City CIC, added: "The support we’ve received from the team at Foundation Scotland has been instrumental in enabling us to plan, develop and launch our new central premises due to open in Glasgow later this month.”

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