SFHD project with Do It Now Now shortlisted for PILnet Local Impact Award
We’re thrilled that our pro bono project, intermediated by Prime Advocates in collaboration with Freshfields, has been shortlisted for the PILnet Local Impact Award 2025.
PILnet celebrates legal initiatives that drive positive social change, recognising innovative ways that legal expertise supports communities and social enterprises. The Local Impact Award highlights projects that have made a tangible difference in local communities through collaboration, creativity, and strategic legal support.
This shortlisting recognises the efforts of Prime Advocates and Freshfields in supporting Do It Now Now Enterprise CIC (DINN). Through the Social Finance Hot Desk, the firms worked together to establish the Make it Big Fund and Big Business Round 1 Grant Fund, with £440,000 to allocate in grants for black and minorities’ social enterprise acceleration. These funds provide catalytic capital to early-stage Black and minority-led social enterprises, helping them access funding, scale their impact, and tackle systemic inequality.
This project was enabled by SFHD’s intermediary model, whereby Prime Advocates worked with DINN as its long-term legal partner, providing high-quality legal support efficiently and affordably, and leveraging collaborative pro bono support. Our mission-focused model allowed DINN to direct more of its capital towards beneficiaries, scale its activities to include multiple funding rounds and establish a sustainable advisory framework. This partnership demonstrates how our innovative, intermediated pro bono model can align legal, financial, and social impact sectors to build replicable, systemic solutions for underrepresented communities.
“I am so grateful to Freshfields and Prime Advocates. Thank you very much to the SFHD team for giving us the opportunity to receive this support. The team was unwaveringly committed to ensuring I felt informed, protected, and confident every step of the way.”
A huge thank you to Freshfields, and everyone involved in making this project a success. It’s inspiring to see how collaborative pro bono work can create real-world impact and be recognised at such a high level.
The winner will be announced at the PILnet Global Awards Dinner on 13th November 2025, and attendees can also vote for this project in the Popular Choice Pro Bono Award category - we'd love to have your supporting vote!