Scope seeks loans with donations in venture philanthropy pilot 1

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 1 Jun 2010

Scope has begun its first foray into leveraged fundraising with a scheme which will ask high net worth individuals for loans as well as donations.

The pilot scheme will see the disability charity ask wealthy supporters for a donation of £2,800 (worth £3,500 with gift aid), accompanied by a three-year loan of £7,000. Against this investment of £10,500, Scope will be able to secure a commercial loan of £7,500.

Scope hopes that the scheme, called Grangewood Venture Philanthropy Project, will raise £1.8m for the building of 15 new flats for disabled adults in Essex.

The charity has guaranteed to pay back 80 per cent of the loans, on which it will pay back zero interest. It is attempting to entice supporters with the pledge that, after securing higher rate tax relief from their donation, the loan/gift will have cost the donor £1,750, against which the charity will be able to secure £18,000 per donor for the project.

In an information pack which reads more like an investment offer rather than a case for support, the charity outlines risks associated with the investment intermingled with service users’ stories.

The proposition has gained early support from the City, with Alex Macpherson, from the ventures team at Octopus Investments, saying it could appeal to investment professionals who are used to financing start-ups with risk capital.

While there is no financial return on investment offered by Scope, Macpherson said the project is still “significantly more efficient than a traditional donation-based model”.

Directory: Scope

Place a comment

Anon
Fundraiser
RNS
3 Jun 2010

Well it seems necessity is the mother of invention in this case - creating a more complex funding model to (hopefully) better suit another level of donor.

Although tax regimes will differ, it'd be beneficial to investigate what other solutions have been thought of worldwide to address a growing need for "An Ask with Benefits".

[Reply]

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.