Over the coming months, we’re sharing 7 lessons to help you. Inspired by ‘Is taking on debt, good finance? Lessons from those who’ve done it’, by Melanie Mills, we’re answering some of the most common questions we hear. In this post (the second of the series), we’re looking at why social impact matters & why you should take the time to measure yours.

5 top tips for startup success, for social entrepreneurs on the journey to social investment, by Maarten Rooney - Co-Founder CEO of Singlify.

New to the world of social investment? Over the coming months we’re sharing a series of 7 posts to help you.  Inspired by ‘Is taking on debt, good finance? Lessons from those who’ve done it’, by Melanie Mills, we’ll delve deeper into her 7 lessons learned. Follow this series to help cut the wheat from the chaff on the topic of social investment.

When Carol Botten joined VONNE in 2014, she was asked to think about what more they could do to meet the organisation’s strategic aim to “support the sector to be effective, ambitious and enterprising”. After being appointed CEO in 2018, here she shares their journey so far:

It’s been a whirlwind of a year here at Good Finance. This year, we’ve had over 63,000 users of the website to date, listed 62 investors and advisors and reached more than 1,000 people through events. And we gained a new team...

Only one thing is certain when you’re a social entrepreneur: every month will be different from the last. You’re on a constant learning curve, whether your organisation is starting, scaling or shrinking. You feel like your to-do list is toppling over with tasks you’ve never had experience of tackling before. It can feel overwhelming. You need short-cuts to access the knowledge you need. Hopefully, the suggestions below will be a helpful starter for 10.

Considering social investment too often puts the cart before the horse. Here's how Access’ new Enterprise Development Programme is helping organisations like Primal Roots to take back the reins.

Big Society Capital's new Engagement Manager, Katie Fulford-Smith, shares her first impressions of the social impact investing world and her introduction to Good Finance at Good Finance Live in Newcastle.

Together with Good Finance, Vonne and Access - The Foundation for Social Investment, Big Society Capital was delighted to be part of the first ever Good Finance Live. It's aim was to provide a space where social enterprises and charities who were actively looking for capital could meet with a wide range of social investors - all in one place. 

Social impact is a term that's thrown around all over the place - about 3,610,000,000 search results on Google. But there's no one-size-fits-all definition for it.

After 32 Let’s Talk Good Finance (LTGF) events, there has been a lot of learning about what social investment is and what it isn’t. Here, we take a look at the highlights from that learning.

It’s often pretty darn expensive to help people in need or tackle environmental issues, as well you know. Trouble is, the grants won’t keep coming forever, donations to charities are dropping, and public-sector funding is as elusive as an agreed deal on Brexit.

We often get asked what the differences are between the various tax reliefs available to charities and social enterprises. This is why, together with Bates Wells Braithwaite (BWB), we are pleased to publish A Simple Guide to Tax Reliefs. As well as covering the relatively new Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR), it also covers SEIS, EIS, CITR, IFISAs and Gift Aid. 

In memory of Mike Britten, Founder and CEO of Goodwill Solutions CIC. 

While there is plenty of research available on the demand from investors for social investment opportunities there’s far less knowledge and understanding of what charities and social enterprise want from the social investment market.

The Bevy sees itself as “more than a pub” re-opening its doors in 2014 to provide a vital range of community services to the people of Moulsecombe and Bevendean.

Many ex-offenders are reconvicted within one year of release. There is plenty of research to say that many prisoners think having a job is a vital part of keeping them out of prison. The problem is finding employment on release can be difficult, particularly for those who were unemployed before they were convicted.

If you’re visiting this website it’s probably because you were thinking about social investment and wanted to understand more about it.

Last year Cass Business School published some practical research into social investment, specifically focused towards charity and what they want from it.

Coming from Quaker Social Action’s creaking and “characterful” offices in Tower Hamlets, my director and I were a little out of our comfort zone.

As always, it was fantastic to be at Social Enterprise UK’s Social Enterprise Awards in November to celebrate the achievements of so many organisations.

What makes an organisation suitable for social investment?  This is a question we’re often asked by potential investees. As providers of simple finance for UK charities and social enterprises, we do of course receive many applications for finance from organisations who simply aren’t ready for investment.

I spent seven years looking after my mum before she died. Caring for someone with dementia is a lot harder than most people realise. I often felt lost and overwhelmed by the task ahead and soon realised I had to find new ways to keep Mum busy and give her a sense of purpose, otherwise she’d spend all day staring at the TV.

South Bristol Sports Centre is a charity created to serve and provide facilities for the local community. We pride ourselves on being able to provide activities and facilities which cater for a wide range of public need.