The National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) has announced it has reopened the Social Enterprise Support Fund, to help social enterprises to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The announcement coincides with Social Enterprise Day (November 11), staged to promote the work and impact of the sector.

This latest pot of funding aims to deliver £16.3m in grants of between £10,000 to £100,000 to social enterprises affected by the health crisis. It is hoped 500 social enterprises will be supported.

In 2020 more than 600 organisations were supported through £18.7m in grants handed out through the Fund.

The Fund is being delivered by Big Issue Invest, Key Fund, the School for Social Entrepreneurs and UnLtd, with funding from the NLCF.

“The COVID-19 crisis continues to disproportionately hurt communities who already experience social and economic inequalities,” said the NLCF.

“The fund will support social entrepreneurs who help these communities, including leaders with lived experience, and ensure they can put their solutions into practice to help people most impacted by the crisis.”

The NLCF is aiming to ensure at least half of grants are awarded to social enterprises that are led by people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities; LGBTQ+ communities, disabled people and with leaders with lived experience of issues being tackled.

Big Issue Invest chief executive Danyal Sattar added: “The community organisations we support are often led by women, or people from diverse backgrounds.

"The very nature of their being support social equity and I’m proud to be able to back them with this new programme today.”

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