Impact Loans England
A lot of great organisations struggle to access small to medium-sized loans. This programme was created to offer flexible loans of £20k to £400k for charities and social enterprises in England.
Investment Overview
We have a range of loan products within Impact Loans England that support charities and social enterprises that are registered and delivering social impact in England. We are also able to make a small number of loans in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Our investments are designed to support Social Enterprises to grow, diversify, or buy new assets. We will, however, consider most purposes for impactful organisations, including refinancing existing debt.
We work with a broad range of impact organisations, that are tackling poverty from a variety of angles, from homelessness and housing to education & employment, health & well-being, and access to arts & culture, and many more.
Investment Details
- Type: Loan, with up to 20% as a grant (subject to product and assessment criteria)
- Amount: Between £20k and £200k, in some events, up to £400k via a combination of products
- Interest Rate: Between 7.5%-8.5%
- Repayment: Over 1-8 years / Potential for up to 12 months of initial interest-only period (subject to assessment) / No early repayment charges
- Security: Usually not required, however, it may be requested in some instances
- Administration Fee: 1.5% payable at the due diligence stage (repayable should we decide not to support the application)
- Support: Potential for investment-readiness grant of up to £15k / Support to fine-tune your impact measurement & reporting practices / Dedicated application and account management support
Application Process
Our Investment Managers will support you every step of the way to complete an application:
- Register your interest below
- One of our investment team will reach out for a first-stage conversation to see if our funds are right for you and provide an application form
- Submit your application
- Your application will go through our due diligence process
- We will contact you with the result of your application
Customer Reviews
We cannot say thank you enough to Big Issue Invest for their remarkable support, for the validating belief in the work we carry out and for the outstanding opportunity you have provided for our community organisation to be able expand, supporting even more people’s wellbeing with our services. The continued partnership and mentorship is invaluable to us and is integral to our legacy moving forward.
Maria Todesco & Nicky Day – Founders and Directors of Cathartic Arts CIC
BII has been a pivotal support for our budding social enterprise. Michael Burns, our point of contact, upheld BII’s promise of assistance, even when we initially lacked trading experience. Over the past year, Michael stayed in touch, monitoring our progress and advising when the time was right to apply for a loan. His dedication and guidance were invaluable, culminating in a successful application. Thanks to BII and Michael, our social enterprise is growing quicker than we expected, expanding our reach and creating greater impact. We’re grateful for Big Issue Invest’s support and look forward to a bright future working together
Rachael & Steve – Directors of The Inside E-Commerce Academy CIC
Meet The Team
If you have any questions about the application process our friendly Impact Loans England team are here to help.
Holger Westphely
Investment Director
Holger.Westphely@BigIssueInvest.com
Holger Westphely, Head of Lending, has over 20 years of experience working in the social impact sector, first as a co-founder of Eastside People, a consultancy to social organisations, and then in social investment with CAF Venturesome. Before this he spent five years working in the wealth management division of Schroders PLC, managing HNWI portfolios. Holger joined Big Issue Invest as Head of Lending in 2022, where he looks after all social investment from BII’s balance sheet.
Glenn Arradon
Investment Director
Glen.Arradon@BigIssueInvest.com
Glenn joined BII in 2013. He previously spent nine years at Locality supporting community and social enterprises throughout the country. At Big Issue Invest, Glenn has overseen investments worth £15m into 35 social enterprises. He has led on the London Housing Fund which has now committed £10m of capital into the creation of affordable homes in the capital. Glenn’s background is in International Development.
Linda Wickstrom
Investment Manager
Linda.Wickstrom@BigIssueInvest.com
Linda manages investment into social enterprises and charities, mainly within our Impact Loan England scheme. Linda has over a decade of experience in the social impact sector, working for a charity, local government and the corporate sector to manage community investment schemes. Most recently, she spent over six years in Accenture’s Corporate Citizenship team where she managed community impact partnerships and investments, focused on skills and employment. Outside of work Linda is a school governor, sings in a show choir and loves hiking.
Michael Burns
Investment Manager
Michael.Burns@BigIssueInvest.com
Michael has joined The Big Issue Invest as an Investment Manager bringing experience built at The Social Investment Business where he held approaching 13 years covering assessment and portfolio management of a range of impactful social enterprises through SIB’s various loan and grant funds.
Prior to this, Michael has worked in the field of micro finance with a Northeast based CDFI responsible for assessment/deployment of funds for positive outcomes, as well as its portfolio management.
Angelo Mastromarini
Investment Manager
Angelo joined Big Issue Invest in April 2023 as an On Purpose Associate. Currently serving as an Investment Manager, he oversees investments in social enterprises, charities, and providers of affordable homes in the capital within the Impact Loan England scheme and the London Housing Fund. Additionally, he plays an active role in business development.
Before transitioning to impact investing, Angelo built his career in the City of London, where he held various roles at JPMorgan, BNP Paribas and Natixis.
Swiddle Pinto
Account Manager
Swiddle joined the BII lending team and brings a wealth of experience from the private sector. Swiddle has over 15 years of experience across the corporate banking and financial services sectors in the UK, US, Philippines and India markets including JP Morgan Chase (12 years) and Legal and General. She is highly adept in financial operations, financial systems, credit and loan processes, lending operations, underwriting and management. Swiddle works with our Finance and Operations team and leads on the loan management and data reporting. After a successful career in the private sector this is Swiddle’s first role in the UK social investment sector.
Investment Partners
About Our Funds
- Part-funded by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, which focuses on ensuring charities and social enterprises can access the finance they need
- We work with the Recovery Loan Scheme on our Impact Loans England facilities. Read more here
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