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Essential funds will be made available to capital projects in local communities across the north including Newry, thanks to a brand new £13m loan fund managed by Community Finance Ireland (CFI).
Previous recipients of funding from Community Finance Ireland include Newry-based Camlough Rovers FC with loan from CFI assisting the construction of a new car park and improvements to the pitch and changing rooms.
The unique Financial Transactions Capital (FTC) fund, made available by the Department for Communities, will be used to address social need through targeted funding to help communities meet objectives set out in the draft Programme for Government.
Donal Traynor, Group Chief Executive of Community Finance Ireland (CFI), welcomed the new tranche of funding, saying “This new programme offers the most substantial capital intervention to the social finance space in Northern Ireland, ever.
“As the most progressive community lender with over 20 years of history working with local communities in Northern Ireland, our team are ready to speak to community and social enterprise projects seeking financial support, and to channel the distribution and management of this capital.
“Loans of £10,000-£500,000 will be available for terms of up to 15 years, with no penalties for early repayment. Where community projects demonstrate a need for a larger loan amount, we can consider making match funding available.
“CFI has a current social value return of £3.42 to every £1 invested, meaning that we can help organisations to create significant positive change in their communities that far exceeds the face value of the loan. It’s an exciting opportunity for communities and we look forward to seeing the impact from new projects.”
Minister for Communities, Gordon Lyons said the scheme would provide targeted funding to the VCSE sector: “The Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector is hugely important for our local economy, providing much needed employment opportunities as well as vital community support.”
Minister Lyons added: “This scheme goes beyond the benefits these bricks and mortar projects will deliver. It also increases accessibility to facilities and builds community confidence, offering sports, cultural and social enterprises access to sustainable funding. “Funding streams like this one can offer the VCSE sector a financial lifeline at a time when organisations are facing challenging budgetary conditions.”
The £13 million investment will be made by the Department for Communities in three tranches to 2025/26. £4.333m has already been released to the scheme and loans totalling £576k have recently been made available to three projects.
Community Finance Ireland will apply their existing business model to prioritise projects for investment and manage repayments.
