We invest in people with lived-experience of the issue they’re solving.

Who We Fund

We back founders who have lived experience of the issue they’re tackling, and who also identify as at least one of the following:

• Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background
• Disabled
• Women
• LGBTQIA+
• From a socio-economically disadvantaged background

If your organisation has a team or a Board, at least 50% must represent one or more of the above groups. We expect a clear commitment to improving diversity, equity and inclusion.

Your Organisation

Your Ambition

• You believe your organisation is uniquely placed to solve the problem you’re addressing.
• You have revenue and/or a customer base — we’ll look for evidence in your latest accounts.
• You want to grow your income and social impact — that’s where our funding and support will help.

Social Impact

• You’re already tackling inequity for underrepresented people in the UK.
• Your work directly addresses systemic issues — through your products, services, training or employment.
• You may be tackling:
• Socio-economic disadvantage
• Racism or racial exclusion
• Gender discrimination
• LGBTQIA+ discrimination
• Place-based deprivation
• Disability discrimination

Sectors We Support

Your organisation must work in one of these areas:

• Consumer business
• Education and learning
• Employment and training
• Health and social care
• Tech for good

Legal Structure

You’re legally registered in the UK as a:

• Limited Company
• Community Interest Company (CIC)
• Charity
• Or another eligible legal structure

Funding Readiness

• You know that investment will help you grow your income and impact.
• You might have already raised funds (e.g. grants, loans, or investment).
• Don’t worry if you’re not fully investment-ready — we can help with that.
• We’re also open to co-investment alongside other funders.

Understanding an Asset Lock: What It Means for Your Organisation

What is an Asset Lock?

An asset lock is a legal promise that your organisation’s money, buildings, equipment, or anything it owns (its “assets”) will always be used to benefit its social mission — not private individuals or shareholders. It means that the organisation’s assets cannot be transferred to private individuals or companies for personal gain. If your organisation closes, any remaining assets must be passed to another organisation with a similar mission.

Why Does the Growth Impact Fund Require It?

The Growth Impact Fund has received investment from several organisations, and some of them have specific requirements for the types of organisations that their money can be invested in. As a Fund, we include these requirements in our investment criteria.

One of these requirements from our investors is that a minimum percentage of the social purpose organisations that we invest in have an asset lock and meet a Social Sector Organisation (SSO).

In May 2025, we hit our limit on the amount of investment it can make into organisations that do not meet the SSO definition. This means that for the foreseeable future all, potential new investments must meet the SSO definition, which includes having an asset lock.

What Does It Mean for You?

• You Can Still Operate and Grow

  • You can employ staff generate income and scale your services — the asset lock simply ensures your resources are used for public good.

• You Can Still Raise Investment

  • You can raise funding and attract investors.

• No Private Profits from Selling the Organisation

  • If the organisation is sold or closed, assets must stay within the social economy and cannot be shared with private individuals or owners.
  • This will mean investors seeking capital gains from the eventual sale of the organisation will not be able to invest in your organisation (as stated above, financial return can be received in the form of dividends).

What Does This Mean for Your Organisation?

All our investments, for the foreseeable future, must have a form of asset lock and be SSO aligned, which can be 1 of 2 ways:

• By Legal structure e.g. CIC, CLG, Charities
• By alignment to the SSO definition below that must be included in your articles of association

This would be for investments of any size or scale. In practice, this is what this would look like:

Social Sector Organisations means an incorporated voluntary, community or social enterprise organisation which serves communities solely within England and which is either:

1. a charity, community interest company or community benefit society, registered with the relevant registry body; or
2. an unregulated organisation which:
   1. has a clear social mission which is analogous to a recognised charitable purpose;
   2. distributes less than 50% of post-tax profits and reinvests at least 51% surpluses into pursuing its social mission;
   3. has a constitutional or contractual lock on its social mission, its dividend and surplus distribution policy and “asset-lock”;
   4. carries out, or has ambitions to carry out, trading activities in support of and which are causally linked to its social mission;
   5. offers its products and services for general public benefit without restrictions and barriers, such as affordability;
   6. is open to undertaking an independent social impact audit;
   7. has remuneration and benefits policy which it is willing to make publicly accessible, and which is reasonable and proportionate relative to the marketpractice for Social Sector Organisations;
   8. in the case of a sale of the organisation, the directors make best efforts to preserve the social mission under new ownership;
   9. not confer any private benefit, except where such private benefit is incidental (as such term is understood by the Charity Commission) to the furtherance of the objects; and
   10. no state aid issues have been identified.

How Do You Put an Asset Lock in Place?

The process depends on your legal structure:

• Community Interest Company (CIC): The asset lock is built into the CIC structure by law.

• Charity: Charities and Charitable Incorporated Organisations have a built-in asset lock.

• Company Limited by Guarantee or Shares, or Limited Partnership: You’ll need to update your governing documents to:

  • Clearly state that assets must be used for social purposes
  • Limit dividend payments to no more than 49% of profits
  • Include rules for transferring assets to another asset-locked body if the organisation closes

Need support? We can help guide you through this.

Social Sector Organisations means an incorporated voluntary, community or social enterprise organisation which serves communities solely within England and which is either:

1. a charity, community interest company or community benefit society, registered with the relevant registry body; or

2. an unregulated organisation which:

   1. has a clear social mission which is analogous to a recognised charitable purpose;
   2. distributes less than 50% of post-tax profits and reinvests at least 51% surpluses into pursuing its social mission;
   3. has a constitutional or contractual lock on its social mission, its dividend and surplus distribution policy and “asset-lock”;
   4. carries out, or has ambitions to carry out, trading activities in support of and which are causally linked to its social mission;
   5. offers its products and services for general public benefit without restrictions and barriers, such as affordability;
   6. is open to undertaking an independent social impact audit;
   7. has remuneration and benefits policy which it is willing to make publicly accessible, and which is reasonable and proportionate relative to the market practice for Social Sector Organisations;
   8. in the case of a sale of the organisation, the directors make best efforts to preserve the social mission under new ownership;
   9. not confer any private benefit, except where such private benefit is incidental (as such term is understood by the Charity Commission) to the furtherance of the objects and services for general public benefit without restrictions(x) no state aid issues have been identified.