Patrick Minne is the Northern Ireland Manager for Charity Bank. The presentation discusses social finance options for non-profits, comparing grants to loans. It outlines that social finance providers look for social impact and repayment capacity in applicants. Skills like defining outputs, project plans, and costings transfer from grants to non-grant applications, but non-grant applications also require financial documents, forecasts, security, and team bios. The presentation concludes by listing other non-grant finance options like loans, equity, and crowdfunding.

1. Patrick Minne
Northern Ireland Manager
Charity Bank
Community House
Citylink Business Park
6a Albert Street
Belfast BT12 4HQ
P: 02890 244179
M: 07824 340889
T: @patrickminne
E: pminne@charitybank.org

2. Patrick Minne
Manager, Northern Ireland
Social Finance: What is it, and where does it fit in?
Slide 2 of 19

3. 1. Introduction
2. How do grants and loan finance compare?
3. When should a non-profit consider loan finance?
4. What do non-grant financers look for and why?
5. What skills are transferable between applying for
grants and applying for non-grant finance?
6. What other types of non-grant Finance exist?
Slide 3 of 19

4. Charity Bank in Northern Ireland
What we do
Deposits and loans for social impact
Developing third sector finance and business skills
Why we do it
To reduce dependency on grants
To improve sustainability and independence
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5. Sources of
Finance
Income Spectrum
Gift Economy
Donor
Grant Funding
Funder
Structured Market
Purchaser
Open Market
Consumer
Balance Sheet
Financing
Debt Finance Equity Finance
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6. How do grants and social
finance lending compare?
Slide 6 of 19
Grants
Can be high value Can be high value
Funds are guaranteed Funds are guaranteed
Loans
Business support available Business support available
Funder understands balance
between social and
economic objectives
Funder understands balance
between social and
economic objectives

7. How do grants and social
finance lending compare?
Grants Loans
Low cost Interest and admin fees payable
Low risk Repayments are mandatory
Restricted income Unrestricted income
Time consuming application Reliance on supporting evidence
Competition for one pot App viewed on its own merits
Onerous monitoring per grantor Existing evaluation processes
accepted Slide 7 of 19

8. 8

9. What do social finance providers
look for in an applicant and why?
Number 1: Social Impact
It’s their mission
It’s why investors and depositors support them
It’s why they’re obsessed with social impact
measurement
Slide 9 of 19

10. What do social finance providers
look for in an applicant and why?
Number 2: Repayment Capacity
It’s their mission
It’s why investors and depositors support them
It pays ethical depositors their fair rate of interest
It allows capital to be recycled to support new projects
Slide 10 of 19

11. Grant applications and loan
applications: the transferable skills
Needed for both grant and non-grant finance
• Ability to clearly define the project’s outputs and evidence the
social impact
• Ability to demonstrate how a proposal is aligned with
organisational mission
• The provision of a sound project plan plus robust project
management and delivery arrangements
• The provision of well-researched project costings
• Clearly defined risks and actions to mitigate them
Slide 11 of 19

12. Additional requirements for non-grant
finance
• Previous years’ accounts
• to gauge liquidity
• to evidence historical trends in spend
• to evidence the existing funding mix
• Budgets and cash flow forecasts
• to help form a view on how realistic the bridge is between historical spend and the new
project spend
• to help in risk-analysing projected sources of funding and carry out sensitivity analysis
• to ensure there is adequate loan repayment capacity
• Security (only on longer loans)
• to establish the loan-to-value ratio (which helps establish the interest rate)
• Trustee and SMT CVs
• to ensure an appropriate level of skills on the board
• to risk manage governance
• to ensure trustees are alive to risks and their management in the organisation
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13. Slide 13 of 19

14. Types and sources of finance for
community enterprise, asset
acquisition and development
Loans
1. Mainstream Banks
2. Social Finance Lenders
3. Peer to peer lending
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15. Slide 15 of 19

16. Equity Finance
1. Community Share Issues
2. Crowd funding
3. Venture Philanthropy
4. Social Impact Bonds
5. Patient Capital
6. Venture Capital
7. Business Angels
Types and sources of finance for
community enterprise, asset
acquisition and development
Slide 16 of 19

17. www.crowdingin.com

18. Slide 18 of 19

19. 1. Introduction
2. How do grants and loan finance compare?
3. When should a non-profit consider loan finance?
4. What do non-grant financers look for and why?
5. What skills are transferable between applying for
grants and applying for non-grant finance?
6. What other types of non-grant Finance exist?
Slide 19 of 19

20. “The first resource is spirit.
If you have that, you will find by hook or by crook
the other resources that you need.
If you don’t have spirit, your outlook is bleak.”
Clement Attlee, 1945.

21. Patrick Minne
Northern Ireland Manager
Charity Bank
Community House
Citylink Business Park
6a Albert Street
Belfast BT12 4HQ
P: 02890 244179
M: 07824 340889
T: @patrickminne
E: pminne@charitybank.org