We provide FREE independent support and signposting to new and existing businesses and to individuals who have an idea for a business but do not know where to start with the financial side of things.
British Business Bank is a government-owned business development bank dedicated to making finance markets work better for smaller businesses.
Whether you’re looking for finance to start a business, grow to the next level, or stay ahead of the competition, they deliver greater volume and choice of finance.
The Start up, Scale up and Stay ahead programmes may help to steer you in the right direction.
A range of current business funding opportunities can be found by visiting the British Business Bank website here. In addition to this, Doncaster Council offers its own discretionary grant for companies looking to invest and create jobs.
We provide support in accessing finance for your business, present the opportunities available now and in the future and assist with the development of a case for grant funding, loans, equity or consultancy support.
The Business Enterprise Fund is a not for profit social enterprise, set up to provide loans to SME businesses that will help them thrive and grow when other lenders can’t fully assist.
To learn more visit www.befund.org call 0800 080 3145 or email: info@befund.org
Our Key Account Managers understand how complex the world of finance can be when you are looking to invest. They are here to offer support and hands on guidance to assist and help you manage your business finances.
We offer help with any aspect of business finance and work closely with national, regional and private sector partners to pull together the right funding package for your business. Our comprehensive support also includes:
Click on the headers below to find out more about current funding opportunities.
The Tech Welcome Grant is a South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) funded initiative, bringing the brightest tech and digital companies into the South Yorkshire region which includes Doncaster, covering the costs of accommodation up to a twelve-month period. Also now open to tech businesses based in Doncaster and South Yorkshire looking for their first physical office.
The Tech Welcome Grant provides grants of between £5,000 to £10,000 to new and existing businesses including start-ups already here in Doncaster or wanting to relocate to Doncaster and create jobs in the region.
Download the Tech Welcome Doncaster leaflet here: DOWNLOAD
View the Tech Welcome Doncaster leaflet online here: VIEW ONLINE
Apply online now! Click the button below, which will take you to the Enterprising Barnsley Grant Portal. If you have any issues, please email: techwelcomegrant@barnsley.gov.uk
Businesses in South Yorkshire will benefit from a £3.4million investment to help them reduce their carbon emissions, improve resilience, and protect jobs.
Running until March 2025, the project will provide support to 260 small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham to help them understand the opportunities available to reduce their carbon footprint.
Businesses will benefit from a free energy audit to identify potential energy saving improvements such as low-energy lighting systems or insulation. Delivered by South Yorkshire’s local authorities, the project is part funded by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s Shared Prosperity Fund allocation.
Low carbon grants are also available to help businesses invest in solutions to reduce their energy consumption and costs, helping them to become more productive, resilient, and environmentally friendly.
As part of the package of support available, specialist advisors will provide comprehensive advice and support throughout the process.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a three-year UK Government funding stream that replaces European Structural and Investment Funds.
The South Yorkshire UKSPF allocation totals £46.2m. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) will administer UKSPF for South Yorkshire’s four local authority areas.
The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK, investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit GOV.UK: UK Shared Prosperity Fund: prospectus
One-to-one support from a specialist advisor
Our sustainability expert will guide you through every stage of the process. They will:
Carbon survey
You will get a free carbon survey of your business, to establish how much energy you use now and how you could save energy.
The report will identify energy saving improvements the business could invest in and provide a detailed breakdown of the carbon saving, cost, and return on investment for each, so you can decide what’s the right path to take.
Low Carbon Grants
The project includes a grant scheme through which businesses can apply for a financial contribution towards eligible costs of one or more energy-saving interventions.
To be eligible to take part in the scheme, your business must:
As part of the Low Carbon scheme, businesses will have the opportunity to apply for funding towards eligible interventions identified in their carbon survey.
The grant will part-fund interventions, with the business making up the rest of the funding itself.
For projects costing up to £24,999, you can apply for a 50% grant contribution of £12,500.
For projects costing more than £25,000, you can apply for a grant contribution of between 10% and 50% of the project cost.
The minimum grant you can apply for is £1,500 (for a project with a total cost £3,000).
To qualify for a grant through the project:
To find out more, including whether your business is eligible for support, please contact Business Doncaster on:
Tel: 01302 735555
email: info@businessdoncaster.com
The Rural England Prosperity Fund is a capital grant programme integrated into the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) aimed at specifically addressing some of the challenges faced by our local rural areas.
The key aim of the programme is to facilitate sustainable economic growth in the rural areas of Doncaster, through supporting the delivery of innovative project activity. This will enable businesses and communities whose activities reflect the landscape, environment, culture and heritage of Doncaster to survive, diversify and thrive.
Doncaster has been allocated funding to provide capital grant funding (investment in assets such as buildings, plant, equipment and machinery) across two themes:
Grants of between £2,500 - £12,499 will be available, but you must be able to match 50% of any funding for which you are applying. Payments will be made at the end of the process, so you will need to be able to fund the project fully yourself before any reimbursements are made.
The grant money may be used under the following categories:
Application and eligibility:
To apply, please follow the guidance and check your eligibility before completing your application form. Please check whether your postcode falls within an eligible rural area on the map here: https://magic.defra.gov.uk/magicmap.aspx If you are not in one of the rural locations, then you will not be eligible to apply for the grant.
Applications will be assessed on a first come, first served basis and subject to funding still being available. The scheme will be open for online applications from 10 July 2023.
If you have any questions or are unsure whether your project is eligible, please contact the Business Doncaster team on 01302 735 555 or info@businessdoncaster.com
The Business Productivity and Digitisation Grant Project is a £9.3m project which is delivered across South Yorkshire and is supported and part funded by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and has attracted £5.2m of investment through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus
The project brings together the four South Yorkshire Local Authorities and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) who will work in collaboration to support Small to Medium Sized businesses (SMEs) to identify and address their business productivity challenges.
The Aim of the Project
To support businesses in South Yorkshire to improve their productivity and digital innovation through the provision of capital or revenue grant, and to improve how they measure and report productivity gains.
The project will provide up to 50% grant funding for investments. The maximum amount of UKSPF grant that can be awarded per business is £12,499. The balance of the investment must be provided by you, the applicant.
Whilst the project is initially looking to safeguard businesses and jobs, priority will be given to those applicants that can best demonstrate how the investments will have a positive impact on productivity and the creation of potential new employment opportunities in South Yorkshire.
How Will the Project Work?
A Key Account Manager / Specialist Business Advisor from Business Doncaster will work with you to review your business needs and support you in applying for the grant.
The project will run as a competition with an Open Call inviting businesses to apply for grants of between £2,500 to £12,499 to support capital or revenue investment projects that will lead to clearly evidenced productivity improvements.
Businesses must have been trading for more than 12 months to apply for grants over £5,000. Grants are available towards both revenue (specialist business support) or capital investment (machinery, equipment and the fit-out of premises*)
The call will remain open until the funding has been allocated.
Projects
Productivity and digitisation projects will differ from sector to sector and business to business. Below are several examples of the types of projects that could be supported. If you are unsure if your project would be suitable for this project, please contact Business Doncaster who will be able to provide clarification.
Productivity Projects
Digitisation Projects
Eligible Expenditure
Grants will be offered to help fund solutions for SMEs that will provide significant business benefit and growth. This may include, but is not limited to:
Ineligible Expenditure
Below is a list of excluded costs, this isn’t an exhaustive list and the Programme Management Team have the discretion to omit costs if they deem them ineligible and/or not within the scope of the project.
How Do I Apply?
To apply, you must contact your Local Authority. This is defined by where you pay your business rates.
The contact details for Doncaster are: Sharon Finch, Business Doncaster - Tel 01302 737630 or by email Sharon.finch@Doncaster.gov.uk
Helping small and medium businesses realise their potential
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is an initiative launched by the government-owned British Business Bank providing commercially focussed finance through micro finance, debt and equity finance funds.
If your business has a funding gap, the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund may be able to help you start up, scale up or stay ahead.
It is a key part of the Government’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ vision, which aims to help reduce the North/South divide and create economic prosperity in the North of England on a par with London and the South East.
The Government firmly believes that smaller businesses (SMEs) form the foundation of the region’s future growth. NPIF, therefore, aims to nurture regional entrepreneurship by providing investment and support for SMEs. The funding will support new and growing SMEs, create jobs and encourage and attract additional private-sector investment.
Delivered by the British Business Bank, NPIF aims to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the North and to enable the transition to a net-zero economy, by supporting access to finance for smaller businesses.
There are three types of commercial finance: microfinance, debt finance and equity finance. These funds provide funding options designed to plug common gaps in the provision of finance, giving your business access to the funding it needs to help it grow.
The funding options are:
Microfinance - small business loan - £25,000 - £100,000
Debt Finance - business loans - £100,000 - £750,000
Equity Finance - early stage or late stage equity funding - £50k - £2m
If you are a business looking for finance support please call: 03330 00 00 39 or email: growthhub@southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk
Innovate UK EDGE’s highly regarded Scaleup Programme provides one-to-one, bespoke and funded support centred around innovative scaleups’ specific needs.
Participants are assigned a Scaleup Director who works with them as their designated single point of contact, to identify key scale up challenges and enablers that the collective resources, skills and connectivity of the board can address. A high level Strategic Advisory Board in turn provides another layer of connectivity and access to resources.
It is available to those scaleup companies achieving, or with the potential for, 50% compound annual growth rates (CAGR) and over.
It features a board of high calibre ‘Scale Up Directors’ who provide a matrix of skills and connectivity across domains such as finance, M&A, international markets, IP, supply chains, scale up leadership and talent management.
The Yorkshire Content Fund is a public-private investment fund for the TV, film, video games and digital sectors in Yorkshire and Humber, open to producers either based in Yorkshire or wishing to film or establish a base in the region.
The YCF has been established to provide finance to businesses in the Yorkshire & the Humber region who are unable to raise sufficient finance from existing conventional sources for investment into creative content such as film and television programmes, games, web and mobile applications and interactive media. The YCF will aim to work with conventional financiers to enable funding packages to be completed.
Grants of up to £15,000 are available to charities, voluntary and community groups, local authorities, clubs, schools, and other not-for-profit organisations delivering sports and physical activities to improve the health and wellbeing of disadvantaged communities in England.
Schools are eligible to apply if their sports facilities are open for use by the wider community.
The funding is made available through Sport England’s Small Grants Programme which aims to encourage inactive and less active people, regardless of age, background, or level of ability, to become more active.
Funding could be used for coaching, volunteer training, service and facility alterations, and equipment.
Sport England is also particularly keen to support projects seeking to reduce their impact on the environment through the goods and services they use to deliver the activity.
The Business Events Growth Programme forms part of Government’s commitment to grow the business events sector. The programme supports the attraction of international business events, which align with the Government's priority industry sectors, the growth of the international profile of business events in the UK, as well as the creation of new business events. Through the programme, VisitBritain supports all organizations in hosting international business events in the UK. Whether you would like to win international events or to develop, grow and internationalise your events, the Business Events Growth Programme can support.
This grant provides lorry parking operators with support to improve HGV driver facilities through the provision of welfare facilities, parking and improved security.
National Highways is promoting a funding scheme of up to £20m to improve lorry parking facilities used by heavy goods vehicle drivers who rely upon good quality, safe and secure rest areas (the “Scheme”). The Scheme is part of the National Highways Users and Communities Designated Fund.
Motorway service area operators and operators of service areas that provide facilities for professional drivers at rest areas operated by the private sector on major trunk roads close to the strategic road network (up to radius of 5km) can apply for funds to improve their facility providing it offers benefits to professional drivers. Applicants must provide match-funding of at least 50% of the cost of the projects for which funding is sought.
National Highways will fund up to 50% of the capital cost of an improvement project. The funding ratio will be confirmed in each funding agreement. In your application you must be able to demonstrate that the improvement project will be completed by 30 March 2025.
Urban Tree Challenge Fund provides funding to support the planting and establishment of standard trees in urban and peri-urban areas in England, particularly in areas of low canopy cover and high social deprivation. The fund encourages community involvement and education while providing benefits to wider society including health and well-being and addressing climate change.
Innovative, ambitious businesses can benefit from the facilities and expertise provided by Catapults and Research & Technology Organisations (RTOs) through Innovate UK EDGE.
RTOs are specialised not-for-profit knowledge organisations dedicated to the development and transfer of science and technology to the benefit of the economy and society. They include hubs, laboratories, testbeds, factories and offices for cutting edge R&D. The Catapult network of technology and innovation centres established by Innovate UK supports businesses to transform great ideas into valuable products and services.
We can offer applicants with a suitable project a grant for 100% of eligible costs to a maximum of £15,000.
Businesses that are looking to grow & scale through innovation can use this grant funding to access Catapults and RTOs to:
Is your business eligible for funding?
Please note:
Helping entrepreneurs to navigate the funding landscape.
The programme includes:
Online sessions cover:
By joining you will:
*Selected Businesses Only
For further support from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority click here:
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