Government wants to make social investment part of the ‘mainstream’ funding environment

Howard Lake | 23 June 2014 | News

• Tagged with:
• funding
• social finance

A fund aimed at making organisations “investment ready” for social ventures has been established by the Government as part of its new strategy to make social investment part of the “mainstream” of voluntary sector funding.
Announced last week, the new £60m fund will support social ventures that have high potential but “struggle to access finance”.
Funded through loan repayments to the Futurebuilders Fund, the new fund will be based on the Cabinet Office’s £10m investment for Contract Readiness Fund.
The new fund was announced in the government’s 2014 progress report on growing the social investment market, which outlines its news strategy to support social investment.
“We know that more needs to be done to help… investment reach the frontline,” Nick Hurd, the minister for civil society, says in the report. “One of the key strands of our strategy for the next year will be Government playing its part by securing funds for investment readiness support over the next decade.
“Over the past five years we have seen vision turn to reality. The aim of the next year is to turn reality to mainstream.”
Other proposals in the strategy include:
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• Pilot a guarantee fund to support crowdfunded social investment alongside an evaluation study to into the effectiveness of credit enhancements in the social sector
• Re-assess financial promotion rules as they currently apply to social investments
• Explore how institutional investors – particularly pension and insurance funds – can more easily participate in social investment
• Enlarge the Social Investment Tax Relief Scheme by seeking state aid clearance of a larger scheme, consulting on options for indirect investment and accrediting social impact bonds.
• Open up new markets through awareness and marketing campaigns and events to promote the effectiveness of social investment.

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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.