CAF Venturesome
CAF Venturesome provides unsecured loans and standby facilities from £25,000 to 400,000 repayable up to 10 years at one of the lowest interest rates in the market. In certain circumstances we can also provide a grant layer to our loans. Our average loan size is £100,000 as we focus on making small social investments into charities and social enterprises needing less than £150,000 of patient, flexible and affordable repayable finance.
CAF Venturesome is the social investment team of Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). Our mission is to provide social enterprises and charities with the patient, flexible and affordable repayable finance they need to sustain and grow their social impact. Since 2002 we have made over 650 social investments committing approx. £55m. We’ve supported hundreds of social enterprises and charities across the UK and overseas.
As well as unsecured loans and social impact bonds through our Development Fund, we have a specialist community housing fund, the CLH Fund, and a place-based fund, the SE-Assist in Greater Brighton/Sussex, Croydon and Wales.
We are funded by individuals and their family trusts, corporate foundations and grant-making trusts. All our funders embrace the concept of social investment as a way of maximising the social impact of their charitable funds.
We work in partnership with you to make the process as straightforward and painless as possible.
Our experienced team, with backgrounds in the commercial, financial and charitable sectors, offers social organisations a great customer experience with a straightforward approach to social investment.
Our Funds
Our case studies
We were delighted to hear from Shaun Doran, CEO FRC Group, at a Let's Talk Good Finance event. Listen to this podcast to learn about their journey to social investment.
Duration
2 years
Cost of capital
5%
Amount invested
£400,000
Product
Secured loan
Young People Matter (YPM) is an award winning charity and community action group bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds to nurture children’s potential, promote healthy living and develop a greater sense of social responsibility.
Duration
4 years
Cost of capital
6.5%
Turnover
£455,000
Amount invested
£60,000
Product
Unsecured loan (incl. overdrafts)
Book of You acts as a reminiscence therapy, to help people living with dementia to connect to their memories but soon realised that we could help all sorts of people, including older people living in assisted accommodation and young adults with learning disabilities. They've now developed a digital story book helps the user to build a familiar picture and story of someone’s life, filled with precious life events and memories.
Duration
4 years
Cost of capital
0%
Turnover
£50,000
Amount invested
£20,000
Product
Unsecured loan (incl. overdrafts)