Henry Smith Foundation Announces New Enterprise Gateway Fund for UK

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Part-funded by Access – the Foundation for Social Investment through the Dormant Assets Scheme, the Henry Smith Foundation has announced a new £6 million, three-year fund will open on 28 October.

This funding opportunity is for organisations who want to become Intermediary Partners for the Fund, which is designed to help small voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations and social entrepreneurs develop new sources of earned income and strengthen long‑term financial resilience.

The Intermediary Partners will recruit and support a cohort of eligible organisations and social entrepreneurs and with the funding be able to offer a package of support that combines:

  • Grant funding.

  • Practical enterprise development support.

  • Opportunities for peer learning and mutual support.

  • Connections, networks and other support that can help participants develop their enterprise ideas.

Enterprise Gateway aims to reach organisations and individuals working in the Henry Smith Foundation's strategic priority areas:

  • Getting started (Families and Early Years)

  • Building Independence (Young people)

  • Safer Futures (People leaving prison

  • Refugees and asylum seekers.

  • Domestic abuse survivors.

Intermediary organisations can apply for between £500,000 and £1.5 million to administer onward grants and deliver capacity building activities with:

  • £4 million ring fenced for asset-locked organisations in England

  • £2 million for UK wide non-constituted organisations and individuals.

Eligible applicants will:

  • Have an established track record of supporting organisations or social entrepreneurs to develop enterprise or trading activity.

  • Have experience of managing onward grants, including appropriate grant making processes, financial controls and data management.

  • Be able to design and deliver practical enterprise development support alongside grants.

  • Be able to facilitate opportunities for participants to learn from and support one another.

  • Have established networks that enable you to reach organisations or social entrepreneurs that have traditionally had limited access to enterprise support.

  • Be able to contribute to learning about how enterprise support for smaller organisations can be strengthened.

  • Have an annual income of at least £500,000 per year.

They do not need to operate across the whole of the UK. Applications are welcome from organisations with strong reach into specific communities or geographic areas where enterprise support is limited.

There is a two-stage application process.

Expression of Interests open 28 October 2026 (9am) and close 25 November 2026 (17:00). For more information, please visit Enterprise Gateway - Henry Smith