Santander's crowdfunding partnership surpasses £1 million in funding for social enterprises

  • Santander’s Changemaker Fund has exceeded £1million through the match funding scheme and support from the crowd
  • More than 60 charities, social enterprises and community projects across the UK, including Madlug, Made in Hackney and GoCode, have benefited from the Fund

Santander’s Changemaker Fund has surpassed £1 million in matched funding and support from the crowd for charities, social enterprises and community projects across the UK. The Fund, in partnership with Crowdfunder, supports organisations looking to deliver social change in their local communities.

The Changemaker Fund is open to any social enterprise, small charity or community group that helps disadvantaged people in the UK. Eligible projects seeking funds of up to £20,000 and focused on supporting skills, knowledge or innovation that get the crowd’s backing receive 50% of their total funding requirement from Santander.

Since its launch with a pilot scheme in October 2016, the Fund has supported more than 60 projects across the UK. Projects that have benefitted from Changemaker funding include: Madlug, a Northern Ireland-based enterprise that provides children in care with bags for their possessions, which in turn supports further employment for disabled people; Made in Hackney, a community food kitchen which teaches vital food growing and cooking skills; and GoCode, a coding academy where 6 to 18 year olds can learn computer programming.

Sue Douthwaite, Managing Director of Santander Business Banking, commented: “We’re incredibly proud of the projects that we have contributed to through Crowdfunder over the last few years and it is great to see the tangible differences this funding has made in local communities across the UK. It’s been inspiring to watch them grow and see how they help local people.

"The Fund has proven exceptionally successful in raising funds for local projects, particularly in backing organisations that provide skills training, development and employment.”

The Changemaker Fund, www.crowdfunder.co.uk/changemaker, is part of Santander’s flagship community programme, The Discovery Project, which aims to inspire people to have confidence in the future through projects that build skills, grow knowledge and support innovation.

By working together with Crowdfunder, Santander aims to enable entrepreneurs and community groups to tackle social challenges and create positive local impact. Eligible projects seeking funding of up to £20,000 and focused on skills, knowledge and innovation that get the crowd’s backing receive 50 per cent of their funding requirement from Santander to ensure the enterprise reaches its target.

As well as access to the matched funding from Santander, projects benefit from crowdfunding team specialists with education, enterprise and coaching support to unlock further funds and create lasting impacts in communities across the UK.
 

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Notes to Editors:

Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 31 March 2018, the bank has c19,500 employees. It serves around 14 million active customers, via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking; and 64 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.

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Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It has a meaningful market share in 10 core countries in Europe and the Americas, and is the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization. At the end of 2017, Banco Santander had EUR 986 billion in customer funds (deposits and mutual funds), 133 million customers, 13,700 branches and 200,000 employees. Banco Santander made attributable profit of EUR 6,619 million in 2017, an increase of 7% compared to the previous year.

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