Charity Bank kicks the January blues with £250k investment
Charity Bank, a leading provider of social finance in the UK, has received £250,000 investment from the Barrow Cadbury Trust.
Since 2002, Charity Bank – which accepts savings from both individuals and organisations in order to lend money solely to social sector organisations – has made loan approvals of over £250m.
The investment from the Barrow Cadbury Trust will allow the institution to make more loans to charities and social enterprises going forward. In providing the share capital the Barrow Cadbury Trust will join NCVO, the Vodafone Foundation and a number of Charity Bank’s other social sector shareholders.
To receive endorsement from such a major trust as Barrow Cadbury is a very positive start to the New Year
The Barrow Cadbury Trust was founded in 1920 by the grandson of John Cadbury, who earned a fortune through his world-famous family-run chocolate business. The Trust’s current chair Helen Cadbury said: “We believe it is important that foundations continue to play an active part in social investments as they are the ones which can provide genuine risk capital for social ventures engaged in new solutions – particularly those organisations at an early stage which might otherwise find it difficult to raise funds.”
The announcement follows other significant funding milestones achieved by Charity Bank in recent years. In March 2015, Mercers’ Charitable Foundation invested £1m in the bank and 12 months previous to this Big Society Capital agreed to make its largest single investment – up to £14.5m of ordinary shares in Charity Bank in three successive tranches between 2014 and 2016.
George Blunden, chairman of Charity Bank, said: “To receive endorsement from such a major trust as Barrow Cadbury is a very positive start to the New Year.
“Every single one of our shareholders is either a charity or a social purpose organisation. What drives us isn’t profits, but a shared idea about the world we want to live in and it’s this shared vision that sits at the heart of our plans for sustainability and growth.”
He added: “Capital is vital to our mission. Without capital to underpin the bank, we wouldn’t be able to leverage our savers’ money. Because of this leverage, every £1 of capital invested allows us to lend £12 or more to charities and other organisations that help improve and enrich the society we live in.”
Photo credit: Kazuend
