The new Chair of the Enterprise Grants Taskforce, Tim Davies-Pugh, shares his journey into enterprise grantmaking - and invites others to a showcase event to find out more
Emerging ideas: match trading with development support
As I begin my role as the new Chair of the Enterprise Grants Taskforce, I reflected on my history with this innovative way of supporting charities, social enterprises, and community businesses.
It started for me in the London head office of The National Lottery Community Fund on a snowy December day back in 2011. This was the first (of now many) meetings with the wonderfully entrepreneurial Ali Wilson, CEO of the School for Social Entrepreneurs. He was pitching this simple, but at the time unused and untested idea of Match Trading: mixing grant and earned income to incentivise social trading organisations to develop and grow, combining this with an offer of development advice and learning opportunities.
A successful model - for social organisations and funders
Now in 2025, it has been great to see this idea being put into practice, with enterprise grants now used by a range of funders (trusts, foundations and others) to deliver a way of putting social organisations that want to trade, more in control as they start and grow.
For a funder, enterprise grants offer a way of working with charities, social enterprises, and community businesses who are looking to generate their income through trading, while also recognising that these organisations are working in challenging markets and often do not have access to the support offered to other types of businesses. For the funder this can be simply about matching the earned income to grant payments, but importantly with training and support included to help make these organisations more successful. At my organisation, Power to Change, we have seen the value this delivers through our Trade Up and now Trading for Good programmes.[i]
[i]Trade Up and Trading for Good enterprise grants programmes for community businesses which Power to Change runs in partnership with the School for Social Entrepreneurs, The Dulverton Trust, The National Lottery Community Fund and Voice4Change.
I sense that enterprise grant-making could be of interest to a much wider range of funders, and this feels like a suitable time to share our learning more widely.
Indeed, for charities, social enterprises, and community businesses funded through enterprise grants, the benefits of combining financial and learning support in this way can be considerable. Drawing on Power to Change’s experience with Trade Up, our data showed that the average earned income for a community business on the Trade Up programme increased by more than 50% over a three-year period compared to its pre-participation level, and the business saw a boost in its confidence about its future growth.
Others involved in enterprise grants will have similar stories to tell, and the Enterprise Grants Taskforce has been working with a group of early adopters to help them share their experiences and learning among themselves.
An invitation to join us
I sense that enterprise grant-making could be of interest to a much wider range of funders, and this feels like a suitable time to share our learning more widely. So, if any of this has piqued your interest, I invite you to come and find out more.
On 1st May, we are holding a showcase event, bringing several enterprise grant recipients together to explain how this form of support (financial and practical) has enabled them to grow and strengthen their charities, social enterprises, or community businesses. There will also be an opportunity to talk to funders who are using enterprise grants as a means of funding. The event will be held in central London (exact location tbc) between 10am to 2pm.
