Growing enterprises and building resilience to improve people’s lives
Social enterprises, charities and small businesses play an important role in their communities. They support vulnerable people, create jobs and contribute to the local economy. Many viable and sustainable enterprises struggle to access affordable finance. This is because they lack security, a track record, and traditional lenders perceive them to be high risk.
The role of social impact investment
Social impact investment can help support a wide range of organisations to access affordable finance in some of the most disadvantaged communities. From small loans to charity bonds, social lending can help enterprises grow their trading income, provide working capital, and increase resilience.
We’ve invested alongside others to support both experienced and new fund managers, and social banks, all of whom work hard to understand the organisations they support. We’ve used a range of tools including repayable investment, guarantees and subsidies such as tax relief and catalytic capital. And we have worked with trusted partners to provide a blend of grant and repayable capital, significantly increasing the number of organisations we reach. As a result, we are supporting many organisations in some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country.
- £3.5bn Size of social lending markets
- 64% Percentage of enterprises that have received investment are located within the most deprived areas of the UK
- £270m In 33 blended capital funds to broaden reach
Blended finance
Our goal is to make social investment accessible and useful – both to a broad range of front-line organisations and investors alike. Blended finance, bringing together different kinds of capital from different partners, is one tool we can use to achieve this goal.
Supporting a diverse range of enterprises
Across our portfolio, organisations are supporting people in some of the most overlooked communities.
The Solutions Collective: Social Lending Insight Forum
We recognise the importance of partnership and of ensuring that user insight and lived experience are embedded in our design and development processes. The Solutions Collective is an initiative to support the growth of the social lending market in the UK.
Learn more
More on social lending
Social lending funds
Get in touch with the team
If you're interested in investing or finding out more about social lending, our dedicated team of experts are here to help.
