Matt Smith

Chief Executive Officer, Keyfund

A respected figure in the social investment sector, Matt joined Key Fund in 2002 becoming CEO in 2015. His own experience of growing up in disadvantaged communities fuels a bullet-proof belief in equity of opportunity for all.

Matt has been instrumental in the development of funding models now at the forefront of the social investment movement, particularly blended grant and loan funds. A secondment at the Big Lottery Fund between 2013 and 2015 saw him contribute towards the early development of Access - The Foundation for Social Investment and their Growth Fund. Returning to Key Fund, Matt worked with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, shaping a new Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund in 2018. Responding to Covid-19, he worked with other partners to help secure the £18.7m Social Enterprise Support Fund, made possible by The National Lottery Community Fund. Under his leadership, Key Fund is no longer reliant wholly on grants, with diverse income streams and funding partners.

He is currently the interim Chair of the Social Investment Forum. Matt was awarded a CBE in the Queens 2020 Birthday Honours List, for Services to Social Investment.