UnLtd, a registered charity supporting social entrepreneurship in the UK, is inviting applications for awards to help social entrepreneurs start up or grow ventures and create long-term social impact.
Two types of financial support are available:
- Starting Up Awards – up to £8,000 for social entrepreneurs whose venture has not started trading or has been trading for less than one year.
- Scaling Up Awards – up to £18,000 for social entrepreneurs whose venture has been trading for between one and four years and has earned at least £18,000 in traded income over the previous 12 months.
Alongside funding, Award recipients will be supported through one of UnLtd’s dedicated programmes, providing support aligned with the needs of their social venture.
To be eligible, applicants must:
- Be aged at least 16, live in the UK and have the right to work in the UK.
- Be the founder or leader of a social venture.
- Be seeking to create long-term social impact.
- Require both financial and non-financial support from UnLtd.
- Have a social venture with a clear social purpose and a clear need.
- Mainly benefit people or places within the UK.
- Have a venture that has been operating for less than four years.
- Have a venture that is either unincorporated or has been incorporated for less than four years.
- Have turnover of less than £250,000 in the last financial year.
- Demonstrate potential for the venture to become financially sustainable with UnLtd’s support.
Starting Up support can cover essential start-up and running costs, but not the applicant’s own time. Scaling Up support can be used for venture costs, living costs or salary, or a combination of these.
UnLtd has stated that it aims to allocate 50% of its awards to Black, Asian and minority ethnic social entrepreneurs and/or disabled social entrepreneurs.
Each application round is capped at 650 submitted applications, and the portal closes once the limit is reached.
The deadline for applications is 30 November 2026.