In its first co-investment, the Private Equity Foundation (PEF) has joined forces with private equity firm Cinven to give follow-on funding to PEF portfolio charity School-Home Support (SHS), which provides emotional support for children and their families.

It brings PEF’s total contribution to SHS to over £900,000, which should enable the charity to double the number of pupils it helps to make the most of their education by 2012, according to the foundation. Of the latest £265,000 donation, £165,000 has been provided by PEF and £100,000 by the Cinven Foundation. PEF’s original grant of £650,000 was made in March 2008.

David Barker, a partner at Cinven, said “We are delighted to be working with PEF to support SHS, which is doing such fantastic work supporting children both in school and at home.  SHS is proving PEF’s model - that by giving a combination of money, together with a range of expertise from the private equity community, you can turbo-charge effective charities.”

PEF’s initial grant and input of pro bono support has already had a transformative effect on the charity, the foundation says.  In the last six months, SHS achieved a 17% growth in service reach, increasing the number of schools with SHS practitioners to 218 across England.

Shaks Ghosh, chief executive of PEF, said “This is PEF’s first co-investment and we would like to take this opportunity to thank the Cinven Foundation for joining us in backing SHS.  The amount raised is enabling the building blocks to be put in place for literally thousands more children to benefit from the charity’s groundbreaking work.”