Charities are often reluctant to take on loan finance, preferring instead to rely on grants from trusts or individuals.

“Are you investment ready?” You’ve probably heard this question a lot if you’ve explored social investment. You might also still be wondering what it means. Thankfully, help is at hand…

A new report called Designing Social Investment: User Research has just been published on Good Finance.

We’ve known for a long time that social investment can seem both complex and inaccessible to the very organisations it’s seeking to serve.

The concept of a theory of change has been around for decades but over recent years they have gathered traction in the funding and social investment community.

As a policy maker, my team’s starting place for working with graphic, digital and UX designers isn’t an obvious one.

Making social investment user-centered was our remit.

Social investment can play an important role in the growth and sustainability of social enterprises and charities, but it’s not always plain sailing to secure a deal.  

I distinctly remember my first meeting at Big Society Capital.

When Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) asks its members about the biggest barriers to their sustainability or growth, access to appropriate finance is consistently one of the primary obstacles named.

Last week we had the second meeting of the steering group for this project to develop improved information services for charities and social enterprises exploring their options for finance and investment.

I've worked for Big Society Capital for nearly three years now, and one thing that we keep hearing is that social investment (and indeed all types of finance and investment) remains pretty complicated for many charities and social enterprises.