Cost of Living Support Programme
“9 in 10 Black and Ethically Minoritised enterprises are concerned about the ongoing cost of living crisis. 7 in 10 are extremely concerned. That’s what recent research conducted by Pathway partner, Do It Now Now, has found. The impact of this? 66% of those organisations said that it stopped them from being able to improve their communities.”
Pathway’s solution?
A Cost of Living Support Programme. A programme providing Black and Ethically Minoritised charities and social enterprises with grants, ranging from £10,000 to £40,000, alongside practical support and insights, to help those organisations build resilience and navigate the still-biting crisis.
Whilst many think that the cost of living crisis is beginning to ease, in reality, we know that it’s biting more than ever for our nation’s charities and social enterprises. And we also know that difficulty to be marked by race and ethnicity. Black and Ethnically Minoritised organisations are finding it disproportionately harder to secure a flow of money to their outfits, than ever before.
The most acute challenge faced, last year, by the respondents to Do it Now Now's research, was a rise in operating costs – 39% of respondents agreeing with this point. 66% of those responding said that it stopped them from being able to deliver impact.
As a result, Pathway will be helping 31 front-line charities and social enterprises in their dealing with the ongoing crisis. The programme will mobilise grants, repayable grants, and blended capital (a blend of grants and loans) into selected organisations – and will launch in Autumn 2024.
Pathway is, excitingly, working with sector leaders, like Access - the Foundation for Social Investment, Do it Now Now, and Inclusive North, to facilitate this programme, which will be deployed across the UK and across different sectors – in-line with the Government’s devolutionary and pro-civil society agendas.
The Programme will be funded by the Access Foundation’s Cost of Living Social Investment Support Fund, which, notably, mobilises dormant assets capital – showing just how important the release of dormant assets is, if we are to ensure that these organisations can unleash the potential offered by the Black and Ethnically Minoritised charities and social enterprises. For more information on this, see our piece, in the FT, here: https://www.ftadviser.com/investments/2023/03/07/dormant-assets-scheme-to-deploy-800mn-in-forgotten-cash/ .
This, our analysis predicts, will see a strengthening of the social investment ecosystem – and go some way to harnessing the power of Black and Ethnically Minoritised capital, which could, in the long-run, see the economy benefited by some £50 billion.
Read our blog piece on the programme, here: https://www.pathwayfund.org.uk/our-news/pathway-fund-launches-new-cost-of-living-support-programme .