Pathway 1: Grant to prepare the share offer

This may include further work on your business plan, community engagement work, governance structure and legal registration, the share offer document and the promotional campaign. We also expect you to be assesed for the Community Shares Standard Mark, as the final step towards launching your offer.

The process

• For successful Pathway 1 applicants, we will make an offer of a development grant, and in some cases, we may commission additional development work to support particularly novel or innovative investment propositions.
• Development grants will be paid in two instalments, with payment of the second instalment dependent upon the satisfactory completion of the activities paid for by the first instalment.
• Following on from the development grant, you can also submit an equity match application, which will be assessed in tandem with the Standard Mark assessment.
• We aim to decide on your application for equity match prior to the launch of your share offer.
• The award of equity match is not conditional upon, or guaranteed by, the award of the Standard Mark. 

See the application guidance below or start your application process.