Are you looking for additional ways of funding your service delivery? Are you looking to develop your business operations in new areas? Are you making full use of all your available assets? (not just buildings, but also your links with the wider community)

In the 2014 Budget, the Chancellor made Tax Relief available to people investing in support organisations that create Community Benefit.

Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) – currently 30% – is now available for people in the community who invest in Social Bonds to provide funding for permitted activities that create community benefit.

A further scheme – the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) – currently 30% or 50% relief rates – is available for people in the community who invest in Community Shares to provide funding for permitted activities that create community benefit.

Further developments to help support community businesses have recently been announce through power to change together with Community Share Unit of Co-ops UK are getting together to support the development of community share offers.

Organisations seeking to set up community businesses may qualify for support if they use community shares as part of their funding strategy.

Nascent schemes include the possibility of support from the Co-ops bank and other social funders to boost raising capital through community shares.

It is appreciated that the need to raise enough capital means that some share offers have had minimum levels of investment that some people may find difficult.

In order to encourage the widest levels of participation from amongst people who may not have substantial savings, a portion of the capital will be provided by Social funders on the same terms and taking the same risks as community investors take.

The impact of this likely to be that many more projects which would not have been viable now become viable.

To find out more about these exciting changes, attend a free seminar at SBSC on 17th March, delivered by SCVO