Pathway Fund Welcomes Publication of Dormant Assets Strategy
Today, Pathway Fund welcomes the news that the Government has published its Dormant Assets strategy.
Pathway Fund is pleased to welcome the publication of the Dormant Assets strategy, confirming that £87.5 million has been allocated to grow social investment in underserved places and communities.
In turn, this strategy includes £12 million in scale-up funding, earmarked, for Pathway Fund, as outlined by the Community Enterprise Growth Plan (CEGP). The CEGP is a plan developed by a broad coalition of partners in the social investment and social enterprise sectors, with backing from business organisations, civil society, and philanthropy.
Pathway Fund welcomes the strategy’s noting of the recommendations made by the Adebowale Commission on Social Investment, particularly with regards to the need for a Black and Ethnically Minoritised social investment fund, to operate within the social investment space. It is also welcome to see the strategy referring to the need for £12 million to be allocated to Pathway Fund, to ensure that its recommendations are indeed fulfilled.
Dormant assets have been critical in growing the UK’s social investment sector from £830 million in 2011 to more than £10 billion in 2023. Pathway Fund looks forward to ensuring that the anticipated allocation sees the sector continue to grow, for the benefit of Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities.
Indeed, this announcement comes in the midst of Pathway Fund’s regional roadshow, which has seen the organisation go into each of England’s regions, to learn more about the needs of the social economy, within. We have found a need for investment, across the piece – that investment coming after a process of network-building, in many instances. These findings will be steering our 2025-30 Strategy, in turn.
Given the success of its recent programmes, like the Enterprise Development Programme – which has helped a series of organisations become 75% more likely to access the social investment market – Pathway will be working to ensure that any support provided to it, is used to catalyse our communities in those regions, where this investment has the potential to turbo-charge regional social economies.
We will be releasing further details on the consultation process associated to this announcement, in due course.
Pathway Fund’s Chair, Lord Dr Michael Hastings CBE, said:
“It is so positive to see the release of the Dormant Assets strategy and the clear support offered to Black & other minority communities, contained within. It is important for the Government to recognise the importance of the role that these communities can play, in catalysing, mission-driven, inclusive, economic growth, given the potential that they offer to UK PLC – as equal citizens and community builders.
Following last year’s riots and ahead of the progression of the Race Equality Bill, I have been calling on the Government to harness social enterprises with dormant assets funding for minority communities previously locked out of investment. To therefore see it now committing itself to providing them, with some £12 million, through Pathway Fund, is both timely and welcome. We are hugely excited to get to even more significant work.
Indeed, this funding will be used to scale and amplify Pathway Fund’s market-revolutionising work, which is seeing it reach new segments of that market, not previously touched by social investment. Crucially, those market-building interventions and programmes are working – and I look forward to leading Pathway as we see that work scaled, improving people’s homes, their health, and augmenting their wealth, too.”
Pathway Fund’s Chief Executive Officer, Asher Craig, has stated:
"This is a pivotal moment for Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities. The earmarked £12 million commitment to Pathway Fund is more than a financial investment — it is a powerful endorsement of the talent, innovation, and resilience that exists within the communities that have been historically excluded from mainstream finance.
For too long, structural barriers have prevented Black and Ethnically Minoritised-led organisations from accessing the capital they need to grow, scale, and thrive. This was identified by the Adebowale Commission on Social Investment. The Dormant Assets strategy begins to right those imbalances, by helping us to build a social investment market that is more equitable, inclusive, and fit for purpose.
At Pathway Fund, we are ready to scale our impact. We will be working, following this announcement, to unlock opportunities, grow the capacity of underfunded, mission-driven, enterprises, harness the potential of our younger generations, and shift power to leaders rooted in the communities they serve. This is about long-term, systemic, change and we are proud to play a central role in making it happen.”
Pathway Fund’s co-founders, Bonnie Chiu, Kunle Olulode MBE, and Stephen Bediako OBE, said:
“As Pathway Fund’s co-founders, we welcome the publication of Dormant Assets strategy. Dormant assets have created and sustained impact for communities, across the country. They have turbo-charged inclusive growth and as part of that, the UK’s social investment sector – that sector growing from £830 million in 2011, to more than £10 billion in 2023. This strategy marks another important step forward in the Government delivering on its mission-driven, inclusive, growth agenda and Pathway Fund looks forward to helping it deliver on those missions, following this announcement, in turn.
Indeed, we established Pathway, in 2022, following our own experiences as Black and Ethnically Minoritised leaders within the social investment sector. We set it up to fulfil a unique role within that sector: to catalyse Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities, providing them with access to social investment. The strategy’s earmarking of £12 million for Pathway, allows us to scale and seek match funding for its early wins, like the Enterprise Development Programme (EDP). Indeed, 75% of the EDP’s participants are now more connected to the social investment market. We now look forward to amplifying those outcomes.”
Further information on the news can be found on our partners’, Access - The Foundation for Social Investment’s website:
Further information can be found on the Government’s website: