The Cabinet Office and Design Council set out to better understand the reasons behind this and to identify the sorts of solutions that might help social ventures and funders align better. The design process starts by understanding the user needs – both those that are met by current products and services as well as those that are not – and only then starts to define what solutions might look like. This illustration, of the ‘Double Diamond’ visualises this approach. This report has completed the Discover and Define stages, articulating the experiences and needs of ventures in finding social finance and now aims to inform the Development and Delivery by providing tools that will enable social funders to design products and services that better meet those needs. This document is divided between two sections: Discovery phase and Define phase. The last section ‘What’s next’ offers a call for participation on developing solutions either as a self-initiative or in collaboration with other organisations.

By the Design Council