Santander UK and Crowdfunder have jointly announced a renewal of their partnership that provides funding for social enterprises and community projects across the UK. Santander UK will provide an additional £200,000 in funding for projects sourced by Crowdfunder following a successful pilot.
“At Santander supporting the communities in which we operate is integral to our purpose to help people and businesses prosper. The Changemaker Fund has helped bring some great ideas to life and enabled social enterprises and community ventures to grow,” explained Sue Douthwaite, MD of Santander Business Banking. “We are delighted to announce we are continuing our partnership with Crowdfunder and hope the extra funding will make a difference to even more lives across the UK.”
This is the second phase of the Santander Changemaker Fund where individuals or groups present their ideas on the Crowdfunder website and unlock matched funding if the crowd supports their ideas. The Changemaker Fund is open to social enterprises, small charities and community groups that help disadvantaged people in the UK. Eligible projects seeking funds of up to £20,000 and focus on skills, knowledge and innovation that get the crowd’s backing will receive 50% of their funding requirement from Santander.
To date, the Fund has provided nearly £200,000 to 33 projects, supporting initiatives all over the UK. Successful projects have included Change Please in London, which provides training for homeless people to become baristas, Chocolate Worx, a chocolate-maker in Devon that employs disabled people, and Curiosity Café, which builds confidence for dementia-sufferers in Northumberland.
“We have seen an incredible interest in the Changemaker Fund on our platform and are thrilled to be able to continue the partnership with Santander. We hope to help innovative businesses make great things happen, and this additional funding contributes a great deal towards that aim and opens up powerful opportunities between the banking sector and the next generation of ‘changemakers’,” said Phil Geraghty, MD of Crowdfunder.
The Changemaker Fund is part of Santander’s flagship community program, The Discovery Project, which aims to inspire people to have confidence in the future through projects that build skills, grow knowledge and support innovation. By working with Crowdfunder on the fund, Santander seeks to enable entrepreneurs and community groups to tackle social challenges and create positive local impact. All accepted projects will benefit from the Crowdfunding team specialists with education, enterprise and coaching support to unlock the further funds and create lasting impacts in communities across the UK.
