SPRING IMPACT LAUNCHES NEXT UK SCALE ACCELERATOR

Spring Impact has announced the launch of a new, issues-led Scale Accelerator, focused on scaling the impact of UK projects that help marginalised individuals facing multiple complex needs, like homelessness and substance abuse.

Backed by The National Lottery Community Fund since 2015, the Scale Accelerator is a highly regarded programme that helps UK charities and social enterprises to scale their impact and change more lives, by providing vital support, skills and perspective.

With those on the extreme edges of UK society rarely facing just one issue, there is a growing social need for a more systematic, person-led approach. Spring Impact is trialling a new tailored and targeted version of the Scale Accelerator to concentrate on this field of social innovation.

It is calling for mission-driven organisations championing a coordinated approach to helping adults facing severe multiple disadvantages, to apply for the new programme that will kick off in January 2020.

Joe Kallarackal, Director at Spring Impact said: “We’re piloting this new version of the Scale Accelerator as part of our mission to transform how the social sector scales impact. Projects that provide holistic support to adults facing multiple disadvantages face unique scale challenges.  We want to focus on how these challenges can be overcome and hope that working with a targeted group of organisations looking to disrupt the system will make the programme even more impactful. We aim to share learnings with funders and other key change-makers to foster a more enabling environment for scale in the UK.”

Lynn Mumford, Director of Development and Strategic Partnerships at Mayday Trust, who joins the Scale Accelerator’s advisory board, having taken part in the 2017 programme, welcomed the news:

“It’s really positive to hear that the next Scale Accelerator will focus on scaling the impact of more person-led, forward-thinking solutions. The programme was truly transformative for us, in giving us clarity, guidance and a plan that accelerated us forward! One of the most powerful things we got out of the Scale Accelerator was clearly identifying and defining the problem we were trying to solve. We found that it wasn’t ending homelessness, but rather the systemic institutionalisation of people when they fell on tough times through having to access siloed services which can dehumanise and trap people.”

Spring Impact will bring together a group of six like-minded organisations for the next Scale Accelerator, with participants benefitting from an intensive programme of collaboration and support, using Spring Impact’s five-stage replication process to develop a strong scale strategy.

The launch of this pilot follows earlier news that the Scale Accelerator will be expanded across the next three and a half years, thanks to £1.5 million in further funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

Joe Ferns, UK Director at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “We are delighted that National Lottery funding is continuing to support the Scale Accelerator, as it develops new ways to help organisations to grow and increase their impact. Thanks to the money raised by National Lottery players, ambitious projects across the UK will be able to scale up their effects, enabling more people and communities to thrive.”

Since 2015, twenty-four ambitious UK charities and social entrepreneurs at the frontline of addressing key societal issues have participated in the Scale Accelerator. As a result, many have increased their reach and impact, and gained funding for their next phase of growth.

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