This report has been written with the aim of examining the burgeoning UK social finance sector, identifying the challenges it faces and the
opportunities it presents.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with experts from the sector, the...
External publications
October 2012
Ellie Howard
September 2012
This document sets out key initiatives across government to grow the social investment market and make it easier for social entrepreneurs to access capital. Social investment has the potential to support many thousands of social entrepreneurs in...
September 2012
Adrian Brown and Adam Swersky
The social investment market is developing at pace. With the launch of Big Society Capital in April, increasing interest from commercial and other investors, and growing demand for capital from social organisations, there are reasons to be...
July 2012
Cabinet Office
In the last twelve months, significant progress has been made in developing the social investment market. We have seen the launch of the first social investment institution of its kind in the world in Big Society Capital; the development of...
July 2012
Dan Gregory, Katie Hill, Iona Joy, Sarah Keen
This report aims to promote a better understanding of how to help UK organisations in the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector prepare to secure repayable finance. Investment readiness, or
lack of it, appears to be a...
June 2012
Antony Elliott, Gavin Francis and Geoff Knott
This report is focused on understanding how social investment opportunities may be considered by the segment of the UK wealth management sector that provides regulated investment advice to retail clients. This includes those making personal...
June 2012
Susannah Nicklin
Introduction to the Report
By Susannah Nicklin
As the first Bridges Fellow, my remit was to research the current state of investment advice-giving in the UK for sustainable and impact investment. The central...
May 2012
McKinsey on Society
There is considerable buzz in the United States about whether a new “pay for success” model of financing social solutions currently being piloted across the Atlantic could work on American soil. It’s called a social impact bond (SIB), and the...
May 2012
Sarah Hedley and Iona Joy
The charity sector is facing considerable changes to the billions of pounds of government funding that it receives every year (£13.9bn in 2009/2010). Reforms to public services, the deficit reduction programme and the coalition government’s Big...
February 2012
CDFA
The past decade has seen the UK’s community finance sector take root. With over £800m of loans made to some of the most underserved areas of the country, community development finance institutions (CDFIs) have created and sustained tens of...
January 2012
Calvert Foundation and Hope Consulting
This report, "Gateways to Impact", is based on a nationwide survey of 1,065 financial advisors currently managing client money. The report provides financial services firms with key insights into the demand among financial advisors for...
January 2012
National Council for Voluntary Organisations
A diverse range of social ventures, including charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises, will contribute significantly to the growth of the UK economy over the coming years. But as we face
ongoing economic uncertainty and as the...
December 2011
Kevin Marsh, Evelina Bertranou, Kunal Samanta
Be Active is a scheme provided free of charge to all Birmingham residents who live within the Birmingham City Council. The aim of the scheme is to tackle health inequality and associated deprivation levels, by offering access to free physical...
November 2011
Benedict Rickey, Iona Joy, Sarah Hedley
Social investment has attracted huge attention in the UK in recent years, with support coming from a growing number of investors, including philanthropists and grant-making trusts. The Labour government stimulated the development of this market,...
November 2011
IESE Business School
The notion that the success of an investment should be measured by financial return alone has always been contested and has been more hotly disputed in the wake of the financial crisis. Specifically, there is a growing belief in certain financial...
November 2011
Adrian Brown and Will Norman
The UK has a long history of developing innovative approaches to meeting social needs. With the establishment of Big Society Capital and the development of new products such as social impact bonds the UK is leading the world in this area. A new...
October 2011
Charity Commission
This guidance is about how to make decisions about investing charity funds.
All charities are able to invest, and investments can be a major source of funding for them. However, investing also exposes charities to risks which, if not...
October 2011
Rupert Evenett, Karl Richter
This review sets out the state of play in providing capital for the
social sector and puts forward practical solutions for its sustainable
funding. Today’s social impact investment market is sufficiently
evolved to see the...
July 2011
Katie Hill
Commissioned by City of London Corporation, Bridges Trust and Big Lottery Fund, this piece of ground breaking research studied the appetite for investment within the City. Report author Katherine Hill interviewed approximately 60 investors to ask...
May 2011
Emma Disley, Jennifer Rubin, Emily Scraggs, Nina Burrowes, Deirdre Culley RAND Europe
The aim of this report is to identify early lessons from the development and implementation of the Social Impact Bond (SIB) at HMP Peterborough. Such lessons may inform future SIBs or wider payment-by-results (PBR) pilots under consideration by...
May 2011
Camilla Nevill and Tris Lumley
This report is part of NPC's Measuring together series which aims to help charities to overcome barriers to impact reporting by working together and sharing methods and approaches. Most youth justice charities aim to reduce re-offending and agree...
April 2011
Cynthia Shanmugalingam, Jack Graham, Simon Tucker and Geoff Mulgan
This report is the first comprehensive survey of the state of the institutions that support a dynamic and emerging sector of social ventures. These organisations, known as social venture intermediaries, play a vital role in supporting social...
April 2011
Antony Elliot, The FairBanking Foundation
This report presents compelling evidence which shows that many of the more affluent wealthy individuals (over £100k of investment assets) can be motivated to try social investments.
A combination of research approaches reaches the...
April 2011
Joe Ludlow, Jonathon Jenkins
The Big Society Finance Fund has supported the development of 20 pilot capital-raisings by social investment intermediaries. This exemplar portfolio, set out in detail in this publication, was chosen to illustrate the demand for different types...
April 2011
Iona Joy, Lucy de Las Casas and Benedict Rickey
The Big Society Bank should start making investments in the third quarter of 2011. The aim of this research is to:"set out the nature of current and future demand for capital from social finance intermediaries and to develop an understanding of...
March 2011
Fair Pensions
New research by FairPensions calls for an ‘enlightened fiduciary' model for institutional investors to parallel the new duties of company directors introduced in 2006. The report argues that such a provision would provide a valuable ‘nudge'...
February 2011
HM Government
We want social ventures to take full advantage of these opportunities and create positive change in our society. To achieve this, we need to make it easier for them to access the capital and advice they need. There is a growing social investment...
February 2011
Charities Aid Foundation
The UK social investment market has now reached a critical juncture. Although there is some evidence of coordinated market-building efforts, the market remains fragile. By reviewing the development of the global microfinance industry, this...
November 2010
J.P. Morgan Global Research
Impact investing offers a new alternative for channeling large-scale private capital for social benefit. With increasing numbers of investors rejecting the notion that they face a binary choice between investing for maximum risk-adjusted returns...
May 2010
JPA Europe
This paper attempts to give an overview of social investment market in the UK in early 2010, outlining its development since 2001. It sets out some key dimensions of the social investment market including an overview of investor motivation,...
April 2010
Social Investment Task Force
It is now some ten years since the Social Investment Task Force (SITF) first met. Its specific remit was “to set out how entrepreneurial practices could be applied to obtain higher social and fi nancial returns from social investment, to harness new...
September 2009
Venturesome
This paper is an update to Venturesome (2008) Financing Civil Society, prompted by the Office of the Third Sector’s consultation regarding a Social Investment Wholesale Bank. It was written as a discussion paper, providing context for a CAF-...
September 2009
Venturesome
This paper discusses the meaning and practical implications of wholesale banking in the context of the UK social investment market, prompted by the Office of the Third Sector’s consultation regarding a Social Investment Wholesale Bank.
June 2009
Antony Bugg-Levine
Provides an overview of the proliferation of innovation occurring in the Impact Investment sector globally and addresses the structural causes and likely prospects of the sector’s growth in light of the current financial crisis.
January 2009
Monitor Institute
Examines the emergence of impact investing, exploring how it might develop and how leaders can accelerate the industry's evolution.
September 2008
Venturesome
Practitioner’s view of the UK social investment market.
July 2008
UKSIF
Review of UK Social Investment Forum’s 2008 activities including useful figures on the sector.
January 2008
New Economics Foundation
Considers how foundations use part of their endowment for mission connected investment.
January 2008
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Policy and implementation guide for foundation trustees.
October 2007
Said Business School
Paper on the social capital’s market structure, operation and innovation.
March 2007
Commission on Unclaimed Assets
Overview of the Third Sector and role of a social bank within it.
October 2003
Jed Emerson
Snapshot of international players and institutions within the social investment sector.