Key Fund: Yorkshire social enterprise celebrates £65m in grants and loans
A YORKSHIRE-based social enterprise which provides funding to organisations and businesses with a social mission is celebrating 25 years of lending and and £64m of investment.
Established in Sheffield in 1999, Key Fund initially set out to respond to the collapse of the coal and steel industries in South Yorkshire, as well as encourage growth and investment in the hardest hit communities.
The enterprise claims that over the last quarter of a century, it has helped to create and safeguard over 5,000 jobs, while expanding to invest in over 3,000 different organisations across the North of England and the Midlands.
Key Fund’s investment in grants and loans has now also totalled £64m.
Matt Smith, CEO of Key Fund, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done over the past 25 years and I’m even more excited about the work to come.
“From providing a few hundred grants and just one loan when I first joined in 2002, to investing in over 3,000 organisations across the North of England, we have had, and are continuing to have, a significant impact on the communities that benefit from it the most.
“But we can’t rest on our laurels. We’re committed to building on our progress to date and helping as many people and communities as we can.”
One group supported by Ky Fund is The Big League Community Interest Company (CIC), a community hub in Hartlepool.
The Big League, provides 1,600 meals a week with 200 volunteers, runs 17 vehicles and supplies 35,000 food parcels in Hartlepool, which is cited as in the top one per cent of deprived areas in the UK.
After the organisation said it needed a bigger space to operate from in 2023, Key Fund provided a £90,000 loan and £60,000 grant to purchase a lease for its Bovis House headquarters.
This investment also secured the future of Bovis House, which had stood empty for 15 years, and now represents around 60 per cent of the CIC’s income.
Since then, the organisation’s turnover has increased tenfold, rising from £60,000 before the pandemic to £600,000 afterwards.
Ian Cawley, founder of The Big League, said: “Key Fund is absolutely remarkable.
"The team knows us as a business – meeting with us regularly to talk about our challenges and exploring how they can support us going forward.”
Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth Stephanie Peacock MP, said: "I thank everyone at Key Fund for their efforts in supporting the growth of organisations that deliver for communities across the North of England and the Midlands.”