Funded by Power to Change and Access – the Foundation for Social Investment. In partnership with Locality

Booster Fund – expression of interest

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Please fill in the expression of interest form below.

Please read the Booster Fund application guidance to check what support is available and eligibility before completing this form.

 

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Declaration
Any information you enter on this website will not be given to anyone else other than the project partners – Locality, the Plunkett Foundation, Co-operative and Community Finance and Community Shares ICOF, as well as our funders Power to Change, Access Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Fund and our contracted assessment panel members, governed by our Booster Panel Terms of Reference. Beyond this, we will not share it unless we can't withhold it without breaking the law. We may use some of the data you give us for research purposes to help inform our research work but only as anonymised statistical information.

You can read our privacy policy which explains how data will be stored and used. You can find it via this link.
Who is applying
Please provide details of the person filling in this form. We need to be able to contact you in case there are any issues with the Expression of Interest form.





Your community business
Organisation details
Please use the official name and address of your organisation. If it is already registered, please use the exact name that is registered with the relevant regulatory body, for example the Financial Conduct Authority or Companies House.

Please use the official name of your organisation. If it is already registered, please use the exact name that is registered with the relevant regulatory body, for example the Financial Conduct Authority or Companies House.



Please provide the full postcode of your organisation (if already registered, this will be the postcode of your registered address). It must be in the correct format for example, M2 1BB, CB2 1QA or BS32 0BQ.

Please select the region where your community business is based.
Please select the region where your community business is based.
Further information



To issue a community share offer, you will need to be incorporated as one of the following: 
  • Community benefit society 
  • Charitable community benefit society 
  • Co-operative society 
The Booster fund can support you to convert to one of these legal structures if you are not already set up as one.
Please visit our website for support on how you can convert your existing business to a co-op



Sector



Please select another business sector you currently work in. 

  

Please tell us a little bit about your community business. We want to understand what lies at the heart of your community business and what impact it has or it will have. What are your main activities and who benefits most from them? 
Your project and share offer
We need to get a rough sense of the amounts of money you need so we can make sure your potential involvement in the Booster Fund works alongside your wider plans.
  

Please provide a name for the project you are raising money for.
  

We only fund community businesses that operate for a charitable purpose and reinvest their profits for the benefit of the community they serve, rather than for the private profit of individuals.

  

Please tell us briefly about the project that you are raising money for. Why should we or your community want to invest in your project? What is the need and how will your project meet that need? What positive impacts will your project have on your community? Tell us enough to make us want to learn more in a full application. 
  

Please only add numbers - do not include symbols (e.g. £)
  

Please only add numbers - do not include symbols (e.g. £).
You will be asked to provide detailed costs if you invited to full application. We only need you to give us a rough sense of the scale of your funding targets at this stage. We understand they may change as your project progresses.
  

For applications from diverse communities, younger people (aged 35 and under) and those furthest from being ready we can offer some pre-grant support first. This will usually be up to four days advice from a community shares expert.

Click on the type of funding to find out more about what is available under each option. You can find out more about the difference between grant and equity in the Booster Fund Guidance. 
  
Grant funding

Please only add numbers - do not include symbols (e.g. £).
We expect to award development grants of between £2,000 and £10,000, averaging around £5,000. This grant funding is to help you get ready for investment and to finalise your community share offer. This may include further work on your business plan, community engagement work, governance structure and legal registration, the share offer document and the promotional campaign.
  
Equity funding

Please only add numbers - do not include symbols (e.g. £).
The Booster Fund Panel will look at your investment needs, business case and how well you fit the investment priorities to determine how much we could invest. Investments could range from £10,000 to £100,000, although the typical investment is expected to be £20,000-50,000. 

Through this equity investment, Co-operatives UK and/or Community Shares ICOF becomes an institutional investor in your community share offer. We invest on the same terms as all your other community investors, with the same voting rights and terms as laid out in your share offer document. The only difference is that as a larger investor, we will only request to withdraw our investment at a pro-rata rate, so that we do not take priority over other community investors. 

Investment by either Co-operatives UK or Community Shares ICOF will not exceed 50% of the society’s overall withdrawable share capital, so that neither becomes a majority shareholder in the society. 
Loan finance

Please only add numbers - do not include symbols (e.g. £).
Loan Finance is also available through our partner Co-operative and Community Finance. If you are interested in this please give us an idea of how much you need and we will follow up with further details
Subscription underwriting

Please only add numbers - do not include symbols (e.g. £).
We can help members of your community to buy shares through instalments, rather than up front. For instance individuals pay £10 per month over 10 months to buy £100 of community shares. We call this subscription underwriting. The full amount is advanced to you upfront and you repay over a fixed period, typically 12 months. This is provided by our partner Co-operative and Community Finance, typically up to £25k and is fee free.
Stage of development 

Please select one.
  • Early stage – We are interested in finding out more, but haven't taken any steps towards the community share pathway
  • Preparing to launch - We are preparing for our share offer but still have some way to go
  • Ready to launch - We are ready to launch our share offer
  • Already launched - Our share offer is live
We need to get an  idea of where you are on your community shares journey so that we can offer you the best level of support through your potential involvement in the Booster Fund
   


Please select all that apply.  
This will give us a sense of how much you’ve reached out to and engaged with your community.
 

The Community Shares Standard Mark is awarded to share offers that meet national standards of good practice. The Standard Mark ensures that community share offers are clear, honest and transparent. They also ensure that investors are presented with all the facts they need to make an informed decision and these facts are supported by annual accounts and/or the business plan. 

If you do not have a Standard Mark, part of the grant funding we offer can be used to work with an accredited practitioner to apply for a Standard Mark as part of the process when preparing your community share offer.

For more information please go to the guidance notes on our website
Alignment with our priorities
Please provide up to three postcodes where the project you intend to fund through community shares is situated or will operate.



These may be different from your organisation’s postcode. 

Please provide all postcodes in full and in the correct format, for example, M2 1BB, CB2 1QA or BS32 0BQ.

We will match the postcodes given against the IMD (Multiple deprivation index), which classifies the relative deprivation of postcodes across the UK. This will be one of the criteria used to assess your application. 

We are looking for projects from all over England that show high levels of community impact, innovation and engagement.

The Booster Fund is placing a high priority on supporting organisations working in the most disadvantaged areas (IMD 1-3).
  

The Booster fund is keen to support organisations led by under-represented groups, in particular minoritised ethnicities. 
By minoritised ethnicities we mean individuals and minority groups who have been minoritised in a UK context through the political and social discrimination and barriers that they face. 

Please pick the statement that applies best to your organisation

• Primarily led by minoritised groups – at least half of our board and senior management team is made up of people of minoritised groups.

• Represented by minoritised groups – at least one member of our board and senior management teams is from a minoritised ethnicity, but people of minoritised ethnicities are not in the majority.

• Primarily for the benefit of minoritised ethnicities - not primarily led or represented by minoritised ethnicities but working primarily for the benefit of minoritised ethnicities.

• Some minoritised ethnicities representation or benefit - minoritised ethnicities are represented in our team but not in leadership roles, and there are some minority ethnicities among our beneficiaries

• No minoritised ethnicities representation or benefit – our board and senior management team does not have any representation from people of minoritised ethnicities and there are no minorities ethnicities among our beneficiaries.
  

The Booster Fund is keen to support organisations and projects led by and for young people (aged 35 and under)

  • Youth led – primarily led by young people, at least half of our board and senior management team are younger people.
  • Youth represented – primarily represented by young people, at least one member of our board and senior management teams is a younger person, but younger people are not in the majority.
  • No youth represented, but working for benefit of youth – primarily for the benefit of youth , not led by young people, but largely working for their benefit.
  • No youth representation or benefit – our board and senior management team does not have any representation from younger people.
   
Which of the following statements best describes your Board and senior leadership team?

Please select all that apply
  

Please select all that apply
  
Which of the following best describes the groups your work supports and benefits?

Please select all that apply
  

Please select all that apply
  

Please select all that apply
  

Please select all that apply

We recognise that community businesses already play a major role including through improving local green spaces, generating renewable energy and promoting community commitment to climate action. This information helps us understand what climate and nature related action your organisation is taking.
Alignment with our priorities


  

To be of special historic interest a building must illustrate important aspects of the nation’s social, economic, cultural, or military history and/or have close historical associations with nationally important people. There should normally be some quality of interest in the physical fabric of the building itself to justify the statutory protection afforded by listing. See Historic England's website for details.
  


  

That is the end of this form, if you would like to amend anything you can go back and edit your answers. If you are happy then press submit and we will review your form and be in touch.
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Contact Information

Community Shares | Booster Fund