Social investment, in a nutshell, is investment that’s intended to deliver a positive social impact, as well as a return on the original investment. Social Investment is offered to organisations with a primarily social objective, such as charities, CICs and Registered Societies. Investment capital is commonly provided in the form of repayable loans, with greater flexibility than bank loans, but can be provided as quasi-equity or social impact bonds.

The following list contains a variety of links for anybody interested in finding out more about social investment:

·       The Good Finance website aims to improve access to information on investment and finance for charities and social enterprises. You can explore information about social investment, social impact measurement and the Good Finance project itself.

·       Big Society Capital was set up to help charities and social enterprises find appropriate sources of repayable finance. The following are links to a number of sections on their website which you may find useful: FAQs, Glossary, Social Impact, Outcomes Matrix (and builder), Social Investment Research, Case studies, SITR

·       Social Enterprise UK is the national trade body for the social enterprise. The following link is for Social Investment Resources page on their website: Social Enterprise UK

·       Funding Central offers a smart guide to over 4,000 grants, contracts and loans. Here’s Funding Central’s guide to Social Investment: Funding Central

·       Big Potential is funded by BIG Lottery and provides grant funding to VCSE organisations who are looking to increase their social impact. 

·       New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) is an independent think tank offering consultancy, strategy and advice to charities, social enterprises, grant-makers, donors and corporate clients. Here’s NPC’s Charity Guide to Social Investment. 

·      This link is for the Cabinet Office’s collection of reports, data and guidance on the social investment market and what the government is doing to improve access to finance for charities and social enterprises: Cabinet Office

·       Social Investment Scotland is a registered charity and the largest not-for-profit provider of third sector business loans in Scotland. Here’s a link to the Frequently Asked Questions page of their website: FAQs

·       CAN Invest supports voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) to build sustainable businesses by providing capital and business support. The following is a link to CAN’s guide to Social Investment containing various links and resources.

·       Access Foundation is a charitable foundation set up to provide finance and support to charities and social enterprises who are at an early stage in their development. Here’s a link to their website: Access Foundation

·       The Global Social Impact Investment Steering Group (GSG) website offers a broad view on the importance of social impact investment, containing various reports from around the world.

·       The Corporate Social Venturing (CSV) programme is central to Big Issue Invest’s mission to prevent poverty and create opportunity. They achieve this by providing collaborative mentoring and investment to early stage social businesses.

·       Explore visual data of social impact and stories of change from the charities and social enterprises that Charity Bank support.

·       Northstar ventures have answered some frequently asked questions about our first Social Investment fund.