Arts & Culture Finance is now part of Figurative

Impact Investment

Our impact investment funds support cultural and creative organisations that benefit individuals, communities and society through their work.

Impact investment is a form of repayable finance that places importance on social or environmental outcomes as well as financial returns. We specialise in social impact investing for the cultural and creative sector. Find out more about our available funds, and impact investment more broadly, below. Generally, our interest rates range from 3% to 9%. Eligibility criteria and terms of investment are available on each fund page.

Before launching as Figurative, we operated as Arts & Culture Finance, a former division of Nesta. We are now an independent organisation.

Active
Repayable finance

£150,000 – £1,000,000

An £18 million social impact investment fund for socially driven arts, culture and heritage organisations registered and operating in the UK. The Arts & Culture Impact Fund provides affordable repayable finance that can be used, among other things, to acquire new assets, improve built infrastructure, develop new ventures or scale up existing revenue streams. Currently accepting applications.

Inactive
Repayable finance

£25,000 – £150,000

The Cultural Impact Development Fund offered small-scale repayable finance to socially driven arts and cultural organisations working with the people and communities in greatest need. This fund is now closed.

Inactive
Repayable finance

£150,000 – £600,000

The Arts Impact Fund was the world’s first impact investment fund specifically for the arts and cultural sector. The Fund offered unsecured finance repayable over a period of three to five years. Between July 2015 and September 2019, we committed £8.8 million across 27 organisations. This fund is now closed.

Speak To Our Team

Example Case Studies

The educational arts charity used a £600,000 credit facility to purchase and develop property.

The School used a bridging loan to provide working capital to open its new London premises in Paris Gardens.

The theatre company trialled a pay-for-success donor programme underpinned by a co-produced impact framework, enabling the expansion of their schools programme.

The historic institution developed new programmes preserving the voice of Holocaust survivors using novel technology.

Our Work

We raise and manage funds, support philanthropy, run programmes and offer research and advisory services tailored to the cultural and creative sector.

Get bespoke support to realise your investment, business or impact goals.

Explore our open funds and find out if impact investment is right for your organisation.

Expand your philanthropic networks and local partnership opportunities

Browse our research library exploring how finance, culture and impact intersect.

Image credits:

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Nutcracker auditions. Photo by Andy Paradise. Find out more about our work with the organisation here.