UK: £10 million investment for regional bank

Yorkshire Forward, a regional development agency in the UK, has invested £10 million in a regional charity bank to support third sector organisations in Yorkshire and Humber.

This investment in a regional office of Charity Bank – a national organisation that aims to support social enterprise – is the first of its kind by a regional development agency. Unique in being a registered general charity and an authorised bank, Charity Bank was launched five years ago with the aim of creating a sustainable source of loan funds for charities and social enterprises that commercial lenders generally can?t or won?t assist.

Yorkshire Forward?s investment will improve the resource base for local community enterprise by providing access to loan finance. It will also help to counter the effects of the new European Funding programme, which will significantly reduce the level of funding available for community economic development.

The money will be used as investment capital that will lever in other investment from the private sector to provide affordable loans for enterprising charities, community organisations and social enterprises operating within the third sector.

Thea Stein, Executive Director of Economic Inclusion for Yorkshire Forward said: ?This is a ground breaking project for Yorkshire Forward that will ensure that there are financial instruments in place to aid third sector organisations away from grant dependency and into sustainable self sufficiency.

Malcolm Hayday, Chief Executive of Charity Bank said: ?We welcome the innovative lead that Yorkshire Forward has taken to open up access to finance for organisations throughout the region, and which adds another element to the ?funding mosaic?, enabling these organisations to move between investment readiness, small grants support, longer-term investment and loan finance.

?We are looking forward to helping transform the opportunities for community groups and social enterprises wherever they work and to making the Charity Bank in the North, a permanent feature of the northern financial sector.?

More Info:
www.charitybank.org