Loans for Social Enterprises and Charities

Alongside the loan from Kent Community Foundation we also received a lot of support and mentoring for where we could take the charity in terms of developing the services that we offered. The mentoring and support we got made us think wider and into the long-term and helped us to take that leap of faith in borrowing the money, knowing what we could do with it made a huge difference, not just to us as a charity, but to how I felt personally as the Director taking the charity forward.

Katrina Adams, Operations Director – We are Beams

Our experience of KCF and the loan fund service was very positive and we have actually recommended KCF to others. I had never run a business and my weakness was book keeping, KCF were aware of this from the start and focussed on support in this area. KCF were incredibly supportive and met us times that were convenient to us. They gave us a wealth of knowledge and information, emailing links to websites that they thought would be helpful to us. They talked us through other services and gave us lots of general information about how things could be done or what was working or even things that didn’t work, which was equally important at the time. They looked over our business plan and sent back constructive critique. They supported us a lot and in the first year stayed in regular contact, giving us feedback and helping us stay on track.

Louisa Fry, Wood N Ware

KSELF was a game changer for us, funding the administration, systems, skills and team needed to reach many more young people. Thinking of the six who were overjoyed to get jobs last year, we simply could not have done it without the loan. James took great care to understand our methods, cash flow, and the challenges of education funding. His affirmation and rigour, and a kind visit from the loan panel Chair, made us feel genuinely backed during stressful times. KCF went further, connecting us with employers, influencers, and other funding. Our deepest thanks go to James and all at KCF for making our future growth and impact possible.

Matt Clifton, bemix

It has been the most wonderful facility and has made able for us to run every day of the year. When we calculated how much we lost through bad weather, in the winter it was up to 70% but people still wanted to come. KCF were invaluable in their help, their vision, their ability to empathise with what we wanted to do and we can’t praise them more highly. We are very grateful for what they have been able to help us provide.

Jo Murrell, Alkham Valley Community Project

When we put together our business plan for Smarden Community Store, Kent Community Foundation was there to support us with funding options. They engaged with us at an early stage giving us confidence that should we need it, finance was available. James Horne, the Grant and Social Loans Manager, has been ever helpful throughout the process and the funding has allowed us to focus on our core business aims and plan financially over a 5-year period giving us the stability to build upon.

Simon Hoyle, Smarden Community Store