Enterprise Case Study 2

Wales Council for Voluntary Action - Community Investment Fund

Wavehill undertook a detailed evaluation of the Community Investment Fund (CIF). The fund was a pilot project, based, in part, on the Future Builders model in England, where community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises were given capital on a commercial loan and interest basis.

The thesis was that by providing capital to a sector that cannot access commercial funding, it would be able to invest in assets, business development and business training over a longer term periods of time, which would allow organisations to expand their range of services and delivery footprint.

The issue of undertaking evaluations very early on in a project's cycle is that the project has not had time enough to mature and develop good practise or issues. In this evaluation study we were very careful not to be too prescribed about our recommendations as the scheme is still a pilot and needs a longer time period to test the thesis above.

The evaluation was a very important study as it helped to inform the WCVA and Welsh Assembly Government/WEFO on how to boost investment in the 3rd sector in order to raise the potential for these organisations to deliver more citizen focussed services.

Client: Wales Council for Voluntary Action