Funded by Access – the Foundation for Social Investment
Booster Fund – application guidance
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What kind of projects are we looking to support?

The Booster Fund exists to enable communities to have greater access to patient, flexible and affordable capital through community shares. Our repayable investments need to help lever in additional community investment. We can support both new-start community businesses and existing organisations. Finally we want to see improved access for minority and disadvantaged communities.   

Impact areas

We are keen to support groups looking to:  

  • Revive and take ownership of local assets, particularly in areas of high disadvantage
  • Increase employability
  • Protect the services in their local area upon which people rely
  • Improve health and wellbeing and reduce social isolation
  • Tackle issues relating to climate, nature crises and the local environment
  • Grow and scale the impact of existing community businesses
  • Meet the critical needs of their communities and enhance community cohesion
  • Create broad and diverse local membership and control

You do not need to be addressing every impact area. 

Booster Fund priorities 

We welcome expressions of interest and applications from groups at the early stage of their development, as well those who are ready to launch their share offers. We support both new and existing community businesses.

While we welcome a range of applications, we have the following priorities:

  • Less affluent communities, including organisations in IMD 1-3 areas
  • Promote equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion, including applications from and supporting:
    • Under-represented communities in the use of community shares
    • Disadvantaged communities facing systemic inequality
    • Minoritised ethnicities and global majority communities
    • Less affluent communities (defined as IMD 1-3 areas). Indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) are widely-used datasets within the UK to classify the relative deprivation of small areas
    • Community businesses that embrace diverse leadership
    • Younger people (40 years and under)
  • Tackling the climate crisis and improvements to local green environment
  • New asset-based community businesses
  • Existing societies looking to scale
  • Existing societies looking to swap out expensive debt or refinance. 

We expect applicants to be working in at least one of these impact areas: 

  • Reduce social isolation
  • Improve health and wellbeing
  • Increase employability
  • Create better access to basic services
  • Enable greater community cohesion
  • Foster greater community pride and empowerment
  • Economic regeneration

An inclusive approach 

We believe in being truly inclusive and treating everyone with respect. We seek to be a genuinely inclusive organisation by advancing equality and diversity through our policies and practices. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds who are looking to make a real difference to the lives of their local communities. 

Eligibility criteria

To be considered for the Booster Fund, applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:  

  • Be based in England. If you’re not based in England, see what support is available if you're based in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland
  • Have charitable purposes
  • Have a trading model
  • If not already a Community Benefit Society, a Charitable Community Benefit Society or a Co-operative Society, be willing to convert to one or set one up
  • Be exploring or aiming to issue a community share offer, or already launched a community share offer

Minimum and maximum individual investment limits

It is up to the society at what level to set the minimum and maximum individual investment limits. Any lower limits need to be balanced with raising the capital needed. 

To set a lower limit for people living in the local postcodes to the project can be a great way to garner local interest and facilitate a feeling that the society is prioritising and supporting local people.

Societies can also set different limits for investments from businesses and also for institutional investors.

It is especially good to engage with local co-ops as there is no limit as to how much they could legally invest.

Investment performance

Investments through the Booster Fund are repayable. Investments will be gradually withdrawn and reinvested in other share offers. 

Therefore, applicants to the Booster Fund should be aware that equity investment is fully expected to be repaid by the business, in a patient yet consistent manner.  We expect you to fully model the return of our investment over a set timescale, ranging from 5-20 years from the date of investment, subject to location, business sector etc.

As the Booster Fund has been designed to operate as a long-term social investor, we will need to cover its running costs, to be able to continue to make investments into community shares offer for many years. As such, all investments must be interest bearing. We do not currently have a fixed % threshold for approving investments, but we are guided by the business sector, location, and economic circumstances of each application and the rate of interest offered will be taken into account in the appraisal. 

A note on support for community pubs, cafés and shops/post offices

The Booster Fund receives many, many applications from groups aiming to purchase and run pubs, cafés, shops and post offices.  We can only support applications from these sectors that clearly meet some or all of the priorities laid out above. 

Pub applicants will need to demonstrate how they will deliver 'more than' a standard level of services. These services should be inclusive and meet the wider needs of the community, particularly the most disadvantaged. Business plans and costings will need to be supplied as supporting evidence – in draft form with grant applications and in final form with equity applications – and must include any activities mentioned in the application.