Big Lottery Fund

“With demand for funding being greater than ever, now is an important time to look for new ways to bring improvements to communities, especially ways of attracting investment from outside the public sector.”

Nat Sloane, England Chair

Social enterprise and social investment are of increasing interest to funders and funded organisations alike.

But these are complex and difficult areas for all involved. While there is great interest in encouraging private investors to consider social enterprise, the practical difficulties can be great. So BIG, along with the City of London and the City Bridge Trust, commissioned a study to find out more about what might attract investment into this area.

Some key findings follow:

• Investors look for levels of return that match or come close to matching returns that they can find elsewhere. Mitigating investment risk is also important.
• Investors are also interested in social return; highlighting and providing robust evidence of social return can help make a stronger case.
• Offering investors the chance to pool funds can make opportunities more attractive.

You can read more about the report here

Please contact us if you have any comments or questions.