Social Economy Business Support Programme

Applicants must be social economy organisations that meet all of the following criteria:

• an income of £50k and £100k,
• at least two years old,
• with an incorporated legal structure and board in place,
• based in the West Midlands Combined Authority areas.

Participants will receive a grant incentivised to increase trading income to a maximum of £5000.

£1,000 can be awarded when the programme starts in April 2024.

The remaining is a grant matched with your trading income on a pound-for-pound basis up to a maximum of £4,000.

For every £1 in increased trading income participants record they receive £1 in a grant. This is up to a maximum of £4,000 and can be awarded in two stages from August 2024 until March 2025.

Participants will need to commit to attending workshops to be accepted onto the programme and to receive the £5,000 incentivised grant.

From April until September 2024 there will be six in-person and virtual expert training and peer learning workshops or visits. These will be between four and five hours long.

Designed to increase your trading income, business skills and beneficiaries these events will cover:

• leadership and governance
• business planning including financial forecasting
• investment including grant funding
• social impact management, including a theory of change
• marketing and communications, including digital and social media
• partnership and collaboration.

In addition, participants will get one hour of 1:1 monthly mentoring delivered by Locality.

Applications open

1. Submit an EOI form
   
   We ask you to fill in a short Expression of Interest (EOI) form so that you know you meet the criteria before applying for the grant and programme. These are four yes or no questions to check if your organisation matches the programme criteria in the "Who can apply?" section.
   
   You can save your progress and then resume answering your application form at a later time.
   
   
2. If successful, you will be invited to submit a full application
   
   If you match the programme criteria the form will automatically continue to the online application form.
   
   If you are unsuccessful, we will signpost you to other relevant support where possible.
   
   
3. Submit an application form and supporting documents
   
   You can save your progress and then resume answering your application form at a later time.
   
   The application form will ask for your organisation's details and activities, your trading income and expenditure, impact and questions about your commitment to the programme.
   
   You will be asked to supporting documents/information including:
   1. governing documents,
   2. annual accounts for a full year,
   3. your bank details,
      
   4. bank statements for three months.
      
      Locality will assess if your application is successful. Due diligence checks will be carried out on successful applications before any funds are released.
      
      If you are unsuccessful, we will signpost you to other relevant support where possible.
      
4. Peer Learning and Grant Agreement
   
   Successful applicants need to sign a Peer Learning and Grant Agreement committing to attending workshops to be accepted onto the programme and to receive the £5,000 incentivised grant.

You will have until 3 March 2024 to submit your application.

If you have a question or need help with the application process, please email consultancy@locality.org.uk.

Applications: open

Workshops and monthly mentoring: April - September 2024

Increase trading income to gain grant: August 2024 - March 2025

Thanks to funds released from the Commonwealth Games, WMCA has commissioned a wide-ranging set of specialist social enterprise peer learning programmes.

The programmes being offered are:

• Start your growth journey – for organisations with a turnover between £15k to £50k pa. This comes with a grant of £2,000 per participant conditional on levels of attendance. 42 places will be offered. This will be delivered by Enterprise Nation in partnership with Becleaps (aka Birmingham Enterprise Community). Apply at enterprisenation.com/west-midlands-start.

• Grow your business – for organisations with a turnover between £100k to £500k. A grant of up to £10,000 per participant will be available, subject to increased trading income. 42 places will be offered. Delivered by Aston University/Business School. Apply at aston.ac.uk/research/bss/abs/centres-hubs/aston-centre-for-growth/social-economy-growth-programmes.

• Accelerate your growth- for organisations with a turnover in excess of £500k pa. A grant of up to £20,000 per participant will be available, subject to increased trading income. 15 places will be offered. Delivered by Aston University/Business School. Apply at aston.ac.uk/research/bss/abs/centres-hubs/aston-centre-for-growth/social-economy-growth-programmes.

• In addition, an Investment & Procurement readiness programme will be offered to at least 40 organisations who wish to take on contracts and secure the working capital needed to service these. This will be delivered by Enterprise Nation in partnership with Becleaps (aka Birmingham Enterprise Community).

Find out further details about the WMCA programmes.