Spring Impact has selected a new cohort of ambitious UK-based organisations to take part in Scale Accelerator: Leaders of Scale, a 6-month intensive training programme which supports social leaders to build the skills, knowledge, and mindsets needed to grow the reach and impact of their organisations.

Scale Accelerator is Spring Impact’s flagship programme for UK-based charities and social enterprises. This new cohort is the last to include subsidised and highly-subsidised places by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, who has been generously supporting the programme since 2015. 

The programme is aimed at leaders of mission-driven organisations that are planning on replicating a proven solution and are ambitious about positively transforming the lives of even more people. The organisations selected for this year’s programme are a dynamic and diverse cohort from across the UK, including:

• Public Practice: a social enterprise with a mission to build the public sector’s capacity to improve the quality and equality of everyday places for now and for the future. 
• Inspiration for All: a 9-month programme matching school leaders with senior leaders in business to help both partners grow their leadership skills together.
• The Key: a programme providing young people with opportunities to discover what they are capable of and to form a growth mindset. The programme sees groups of young people take the lead and use their voices as they come together to think, plan, pitch, do and review their own projects.
• 2020 Change: a multi award-winning social enterprise leading the way to a more diverse and inclusive workforce in the UK.
• Young Ladies Club: an organisation raising aspirations in disadvantaged young women to achieve their education and career potential by providing mentoring, confidence building activities and career workshops from positive role models.
• Rhyl City Strategy (RCS Wales): a leading not-for-profit company based in North Wales with wellbeing at the heart of our mission; to contribute to individual, economic and social wellbeing through helping more people to enter, progress and thrive in employment.
• The Wave Project: a charity harnessing the power of the ocean to improve the mental health of children and young people. 
• Connect Futures: a not-for-profit working with young people, practitioners and communities to increase knowledge, resilience and confidence in preventing extremism and serious violence, challenging hate, and promoting equality and justice.

Participants will be guided by Spring Impact’s team of expert consultants through four key modules designed to enhance scale knowledge and build the capabilities needed to lead the scaling process strategically. By the end of the programme, leaders will leave with a clear, actionable plan for scaling sustainably, frameworks and tools to build the capacity of their wider team, and the knowledge and confidence to drive their organisation’s journey to scale.

Mohamed Osman, Chief Executive at Spring Impact said: “Congratulations to the new cohort for their well-deserved success in joining the programme. Every participant organisation’s social innovation provides crucial support to diverse communities across the UK. The opportunity to develop the abilities, plans, and capacity necessary to scale up is essential to ensuring leaders can bring their organisations’ vital work to more people. We’re thrilled to work with such fantastic organisations and look forward to supporting them to harness the power of their solutions and achieve even greater impact.”  

Emma Ackerman, Director of Funding Strategy at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players we are proud to support the Scale Accelerator programme and continue the growth of great ideas across civil society. This programme not only supports the growth and impact of organisations, but also helps people and communities across the UK to prosper and thrive.”

Scale Accelerator forms an important part of our work to enable mission-driven organisations and funders to scale social impact. Since 2015, over 47 UK charities and social entrepreneurs have participated in the programme and, as a result, many have increased their reach and impact, and gained funding for their next phase of scale.

For more information about Leaders of Scale, visit this page and register your interest to receive the latest updates about future cohorts.