We’ve provided details of Nesta’s Arts & Culture Impact Fund, which is a loan scheme, today as we’ve recently been receiving an increasing number of emails from arts and cultural organisations that are struggling to attract major investment. Although loans are often the option of last resort for many not-for-profits agencies, they may nonetheless be worth considering in some instances.

Nesta supports arts and cultural organisations that benefit the lives of individuals, communities and society through their work and uses its investments to help organisations to become more sustainable and resilient.

Nesta’s Arts and Culture Impact Fund is a £23 million social impact investment fund for socially driven arts, culture and heritage organisations registered and operating in the UK.

The purpose of the Arts & Culture Impact Fund is to:

o Attract additional investment into the sector to help organisations thrive.
o Develop the financial resilience of borrowers.
o Provide organisations with appropriate and bespoke repayable finance.
o Promote the wider positive impact the arts, culture and heritage have on society and support more organisations to benefit individuals and communities through their work, and
o Support organisations to better monitor, evaluate and communicate their social impact

The scheme offers loans of between £150,000 and £1 million repayable, which are repayable up to May 2030. Interest rates are typically between 3% and 8.5%. The following fees also apply:

o A 1% completion fee
o A 2% per annum, pro rata holding fee (minimum holding period is six months), and
o No early repayment fee.

Eligible organisations must meet the following criteria:

1. Be able to demonstrate measurable social impact on individuals or communities in the UK.
2. Be registered and operating in the UK. Digital organisations will need to demonstrate their primary audiences are based in the UK.
3. Have a clear social mission, reflected in its structure and governance.
4. Have core operations or primary activity in the arts, culture and heritage, and
5. Work in one or more of the following disciplines:
> Architecture.
> Archives.
> Combined arts. 
> Comedy.
> Crafts.
> Culture and heritage in the natural environment.
> Dance.  
> Fashion design.
> Film.
> Graphic design.
> Heritage.
> Libraries.
> Literature. 
> Museums. 
> Music.
> Textiles.
> Theatre and performance.
> Touring, and/or 
> Visual arts.

Loan funding is not available for:

o Individuals.
o Partnerships.
o Sole traders, or
o Unincorporated bodies (unless their partners/members are exclusively corporate bodies).

Further information, guidance and details about how to apply is available on Nesta’s website.

Applications may be made at any time.