Community lender supports groups in Coleraine to grow impact
Social enterprise Community Finance Ireland (CFI) has been helping sports clubs, community projects, faith-based groups, and other voluntary organisations in Coleraine to more than triple their impact in the last year.
That’s according to its Social Value Report 2023, which states that for every euro it loaned, a value of £3.69 in social return was achieved.
Since 2001, CFI has committed more than £110 million to hundreds of voluntary organisations throughout Ireland, funding initiatives that make a difference in local communities. The multiplier effect of the funding has enhanced groups’ delivery on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their local area, in particular, “Innovation & Infrastructure”, and “Health and Wellbeing”.
In Coleraine,CFI funds were used by Compass Advocacy Network to enable the purchase of an 11-acre site and farmhouse outside Ballymoney, and the subsequent installation of phase-3 electricity and upgrade of the farm’s outbuildings.
Between January and December 2023, CFI loaned a total £5.4 million to 50 organisations across Ulster.
The analysis was calculated by economic development specialists Rose Regeneration using its Social Value Engine (SVE). Rose Regeneration’s SVE is used by public bodies across the UK and follows several key steps when calculating a loan’s social value, such as examining agreed project outcomes, to give them a financial value.
CFI Group Chief Executive Dónal Traynor said calculating the social return of their investments helped the charity understand the wider impact its loans were having.
“We’re delighted to see how this report reflects the positive impact our loans have on the wider community and how they support our clients to achieve the SDGs.
“For more than two decades, CFI has been helping sports clubs, community projects, faith-based groups, and social enterprises to make a difference and we strive to create a lasting social impact in every community on the island.”
Speaking about the support from Community Finance IrelandJanet Schofield, Chief Executive, Compass Advocacy Network said: “As a user-led organisation, the people we support are at the heart of our decision making. As well as social and leisure opportunities, our social enterprises which include recycling, upcycling and retail, give our users real work-based training towards employment.
"The social finance support and advice from the team at Community Finance Ireland that allowed us to purchase and carry out improvement works at Lislagan Farm, has been invaluable.
“The CFI team really understand and encourage our plans for growth and development. We couldn’t have made our plans for the farm a reality without them.”
For more information about CFI, visit communityfinanceireland.com.
Photo Caption:
· Janet Schofield, Compass Advocacy Network and Peter Smyth, Community Finance Ireland.
About Community Finance Ireland
Community Finance Ireland delivers social finance solutions that support local communities and drive social impact through sports, community projects, faith-based groups, and social enterprises. It is the most progressive social finance/community loans provider across the island and delivers a social return on investment that creates a multiplier effect of 3.69 times the initial investment.
Community Finance Ireland is part of the Ulster Community Investment Trust Group, established in Belfast in 1995 and now supports a diverse portfolio of clients across the island of Ireland from Bantry to Ballymoney, and from Dublin to Donegal.
Community Finance Ireland was recently awarded The Social Enterprise Mark- an independently assessed accreditation that recognises organisations operating as social enterprises. This means that they are using business to create social and environmental impact, and are committed to reinvesting their profits back into their mission.
Currently, Community Finance Ireland is the only Irish and UK member of FEBEA, the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks.
For further information, visit www.communityfinanceireland.com or @ComFinanceIrl.
About Social Value
Although Social Value has been part of the legislation in England and Wales since 2013, and Scotland in 2014. That has not been the case in Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland.
However, since 1 June 2022 public sector tenders in NI must include a minimum of 10% of the total award criteria to score social value.
This minimum will apply to contracts for services and works above the threshold where the Procurement Regulations apply, that is services contracts valued above £122,976 (€145,312) and consultation contracts valued above £4,733,252 (€5,593,524).