Big Society Capital exists to improve the lives of people in the UK through investment with a sustainable return.
We are the leading social impact-led investor, restless for change.
Working with expert partners, we seek to understand people’s needs first. Then, using our knowledge and capital, we collaborate and invest with fund managers who also want to create a better, sustainable future.
They, and the social enterprises and charities they invest in, create the impact. Our role is to bring the most relevant experts from our network to the table, generating ideas and connecting capital to where it’s most needed.
Our Role
We work with expert partners, seeking to understand the issues, design and deliver investments and grow market participation, enabling a systemic and sustained impact to improve the lives of people in the UK.
We assess our investments on the social impact they will have and the financial returns they will generate. We also look at how they will help to build social impact investment in the UK and bring about changes to the system that can often make tackling social issues feel hard to address.
We work to create an environment which makes social impact investment easier and more effective. We can do this in a few ways…
1. Find partners to take the first catalytic steps, through capital, expertise, grants or networks.
2. Develop successful ideas from inception and grow them to the next stage, through further investment.
3. Develop other sources of capital, encourage replication and influence policy to help ideas succeed beyond Big Society Capital’s investment.
What Is Social Impact Investment?
Across the globe, investors are taking a more socially responsible attitude to their investments. They want to make a clear statement of intent. Some want to do good with their money, some think it will be rewarding to do so, or both. Many are investing in funds with environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration.
Other investors are making impact investments. These are made with the intention of generating a positive, measurable outcome for society and the environment while making a financial return.
Social impact investment provides repayable finance to enterprises with a social purpose like charities and social enterprises. The investment enables them to deliver products or services that create measurable, lasting social impact that improves people’s lives. It also aims to make a financial return for investors.
Further Reading