Why this guide exists
Most social entrepreneurs spend months figuring out who their community is and why they're best placed to help them. If you've been through the justice system, you already know. That's your competitive advantage. Here's what one person did with it.
Founder spotlight
Derrick Twum
Founder, MEM Academy CIC
“I founded MEM Academy CIC in 2015 while working as a personal trainer. As an ex-offender, I knew the barriers to employment better than anyone in the room — and I used that to build something funders actually wanted to back.”
What he built
“Not bad for an ex-offender, right? Your lived experience isn't a weakness. It's the reason you'll succeed where others won't even know where to start.”
Now go through the guide below — and build yours.
Section 01
Three quick questions. We'll match you to a recommended structure.
Section 02
An interactive practice run of the Companies House CIC36 form.
Complete Section 01 to unlock this section.
Section F
The funding landscape for lived-experience-led CICs.
There are funders who don't just accept applications from people with lived experience of the justice system — they actively prioritise them. Here's who they are, what they fund, and what they need to see.
You've already drafted your community interest statement above. You'll use it in every one of these applications.
Do It Award
Up to £15,000 (no repayment)
Early-stage social entrepreneurs and CICs.
Lived experience advantage
UnLtd explicitly prioritises founders with lived experience of the issues they're addressing. Your background is a strength in their assessment — not a risk.
Awards for All
£300 – £20,000
Community projects with clear local need.
Lived experience advantage
The Lottery funded MEM Academy with £350,000. They fund what communities actually need — and a justice-leaver knows that need better than any consultant.
Tackling Inequalities Fund
£10,000 – £50,000
Projects removing barriers to physical activity.
Lived experience advantage
Justice-leavers are explicitly named in Sport England's priority cohorts. Your CIC directly addresses their stated funding priorities.
Grants programme
£5,000 – £100,000
Sport and physical activity with community impact.
Lived experience advantage
LMCT gave MEM Academy £80,000. They fund sport that changes lives — justice-leaver fitness programmes are exactly what they mean by that.
Social investment
£50,000 – £500,000 (repayable finance, not a grant)
Social enterprises with a trading model and clear impact.
Lived experience advantage
Big Issue Invest was founded to back people the mainstream won't touch. They provided £50,000 social investment to MEM Academy. Understanding your background is core to their mission.
Enterprise grants + readiness support
£5,000 – £25,000 plus investment readiness support
Social enterprises building toward social investment.
Lived experience advantage
Access specifically supports organisations that struggle to access mainstream finance. A justice-leaver-led CIC is exactly the profile they exist to back.
Outcomes-based payments
Outcomes-based payments
Services achieving measurable outcomes for vulnerable people including justice-leavers.
Lived experience advantage
This fund pays you when your CIC gets people into work and keeps them out of the system. Your lived experience makes your outcomes more credible to commissioners.
Realistic funding journey
These ranges are based on MEM Academy's own funding journey and comparable lived experience-led CICs. They are realistic — not guaranteed. Build your trading income first. The grants follow the evidence.
Section G
Model PT trading income + grant funding across three years.
Let's be specific. Here's what a lived experience fitness CIC looks like financially across three years — combining PT trading income with grant funding and eventually social investment.
Annual trading income
£25,920
12 × £45 × 48 weeks
Estimated grant income
£15,000 – £35,000
Year 1 · Major city
Total estimated income
£40,920 – £60,920
Trading + grant range
The dividend cap means you can distribute up to 20% of CIC profits to yourself as a shareholder on top of your director's salary. Trading income is in your control. Build it first — the grants follow.
Section H
Mock UnLtd Do It Award — up to £15,000, no repayment, no equity.
The UnLtd Do It Award is the best first grant for a justice-leaver starting a fitness CIC — up to £15,000, no repayment, no equity. Your community interest statement from Section 2 is your foundation. Now build the application around it.
Be specific. Quote a statistic. Connect it to your personal experience. 'Around 50% of people released from prison reoffend within 12 months — I know because I nearly became that statistic' is stronger than any third-party needs assessment.
Name specific activities, not goals. 'I will run 3 fitness sessions per week for people on probation at [venue]' is better than 'improve outcomes for justice-leavers.'
This is your lived experience section. Be honest, be specific, be proud. UnLtd funds founders with personal connection to the problem. This is where you win.
Name 2-3 measurable outcomes: sessions delivered, participants, employment rate, reoffending comparison. UnLtd wants to see you've thought about impact from day one.
Complete every field to the minimum word count to unlock the UnLtd application link. Your draft auto-saves as you type.
Section I
Social enterprises built by people with lived experience.
You're not the first person with a record to build something fundable. Here are social enterprises built by people with lived experience of the justice system or disadvantage — who turned that into funded, sustainable organisations.
Derrick Twum
MEM Academy CIC
Founded MEM Academy CIC in 2015 as a working PT and ex-offender. Raised over £800,000 in grant and social investment funding — £350,000 National Lottery, £80,000 London Marathon Charitable Trust, £50,000 social investment from Big Issue Invest. MEM Academy now operates a national digital platform connecting fitness professionals with facilities and delivering self-employment pathways for justice-leavers.
What you can learn
Start as a PT. Build the evidence that the model works. Then use that evidence to unlock the funding.
Redemption Roasters
Coffee roastery + training
The world's first prison coffee roastery — founded inside HMP The Mount. Now a B2B coffee brand supplying major hospitality chains and training prisoners in barista and entrepreneurship skills.
What you can learn
You don't need to wait until you're out. The enterprise can start inside.
Bounce Back
Construction & employment
A social enterprise employing ex-offenders in construction, cleaning and decorating. Founded by an ex-offender — now holds contracts with housing associations and local authorities.
What you can learn
Local authority contracts are accessible to lived experience-led CICs — they are actively looking for providers who understand the cohort.
Fine Cell Work
Needlework + reinvestment
A social enterprise teaching needlework skills to prisoners — selling products commercially and reinvesting profits into prison programmes.
What you can learn
A trading model makes you fundable and financially resilient. Grants are a bonus — not the foundation.
Running a fitness social enterprise or CIC already? Share your story — we'll feature it here for the next cohort.
Share my storySection 03
A read-only explainer of exactly what happens when you file.
Complete Section 02 to unlock this section.
Section 04
Practice the report you'll file every year.
Complete Section 03 to unlock this section.
Section 05
10 questions to check it stuck.
Complete Section 04 to unlock this section.