A SOCIAL enterprise due to open its second community workspace is offering a bursary scheme to help those affected during covid.

Agile City is now on the verge of opening new premises in Glasgow’s Spiers Lock and has been given a boost through a vital grant and loan combination of £150,000.

They are opening Civic House, a workspace and venue and that supports creative learning and socially engaged approaches to city making. Located in Civic Street, north Glasgow, Agile City is the first investment for Foundation Scotland since merging with Resilient Scotland earlier this year.

And it is hoped building back from covid will be one area there they can help. Their plan is to run a bursary scheme from October for six months free membership for those people who have been negatively affected through covid.

It is hoped the building will host a thriving co-working space, venue and later a cafe that fosters a community of socially engaged practitioners through a programme of public events. They already have a site at the nearby Glue Factory building.

And it is hoped Civic House will become a leading case study of environmental innovation where management is creating Scotland’s first Victorian warehouse that has been retrofitted to International environmental sustainability standards with the project costing a total of £1million.

Rob Morrison, Director of Agile City CIC, said: "The support we’ve received from the team at Foundation Scotland has been instrumental in enabling us to plan, develop and launch our new central premises due to open in Glasgow later this month.

“We’re extremely grateful to have received such a significant sum across the combination of loan and grant funding but above this, the team have offered a real partnership approach to the finance, which has been so refreshing and supportive. They have taken the time to understand our business, the challenges and the opportunities presented.

“Foundation Scotland is providing essential support to ambitious organisations like us keen to build back stronger beyond the crisis. Together we have worked through scenario planning, discussed key issues we had not considered ourselves, and this relationship support continues beyond the funding decision – they continue to offer support through the length of the partnership.”

He said a key element was to support people as we emerge from the pandemic.

Mr Morrison added: “Starting next month we are running a bursary membership scheme to offer supported membership for six months. The first round of bursaries will run from October until April 2022. We are targeting this opportunity at those working across creative, cultural and social sectors whose practices have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and who will benefit from access to workspace and support through a peer network."

Foundation Scotland, Scotland's community foundation, received unprecedented levels of interest from social organisations eager to develop and expand. The team received a typical year's worth of enquiries in just four weeks, indicating the optimism, confidence and ambition across the sector.

The surge in enquiries followed the launch of the new ‘Investing in Enterprise Fund’ in May, the only blended grant and loan product in the sector. The new fund was created by Foundation Scotland following its integration with Resilient Scotland, widening the range of support available to organisations from the community foundation. The fund can invest up to £500,000 in social enterprises, community organisations and charities. Up to 50% (£250,000) of this can be in the form of a grant and the remainder as a repayable loan. With an interest rate of 6.1%, this is the most affordable loan offering in the sector, and Foundation Scotland invests all returned funds for additional social investment.

Before integrating with Foundation Scotland, the team at Resilient Scotland had already distributed over £11.6 million in blended grant and loan packages to over 100 organisations since 2012. Foundation Scotland has retained the experienced social investment team from Resilient Scotland, building on this success through the new 'Investing in Enterprise Fund’.

Chris Holloway, head of Social Investment at Foundation Scotland, said: "We've received a phenomenal level of interest in our new Investing in Enterprise Fund since launching in May. It has exceeded all our expectations and can only be viewed as a hugely positive sign as organisations seek to move beyond covid. We are in the process of recruiting a new Investment Executive to increase our team’s capacity and help manage the growing demand. Through our assessments, we are witnessing a clear sense of optimism, diversity and drive for development. Social enterprises are coming to Foundation Scotland for our partnership approach. We offer knowledge, support and experience in addition to the funding. Collectively, this offers significant benefits to Scotland's thriving social enterprises. We offer flexible repayment periods for all funded groups, which has never been more important in current circumstances. We are encouraging interested groups to get in touch to discuss the potential support available."