In our 2023 market sizing, we published, for the first time, an analysis of the types of investor providing capital to the UK social impact investment market. It was an experimental exercise, and a time-consuming one, both for us and for the organisations who shared data with us, so we did not repeat it last year. This year we have returned to it, because we believe that understanding where the market’s capital comes from is one of the most useful insights market sizing can offer the sector.
Building this picture means drawing together several sources. This includes data self-reported by fund managers, intermediaries and social banks through our annual data collection; data we hold on the funds in our own portfolio; publicly available information such as annual reports and accounts; and, where no data exists, reasonable proxies and extrapolations based on comparable funds or earlier years.
Despite our best efforts this year, we are not fully confident that the detailed figures would withstand close scrutiny. Gaps remain in the data, and closing them has required a significant number of assumptions, proxies and extrapolations. For this reason, we are publishing this analysis only at a high level, without breakdowns by asset class, and with these caveats clearly stated.
We do believe the overall shape of the picture is sound. That means the relative size of the different investor pools, and the broad direction of travel since our last analysis two years ago. We would encourage readers to focus on these patterns rather than on any specific figure. All figures should be read as indicative.
We have chosen to publish because we believe this analysis has real value for the wider sector. It can help investors, policymakers and social purpose organisations understand who is funding social impact investment in the UK, where participation is growing, and where it may be falling short. We would rather share an honest, if imperfect, picture than none at all. We see this as a foundation to build on, including by exploring new approaches, such as the use of AI, to access a wider range of data sources, and we welcome conversations with anyone who can help us strengthen it in future years.
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32%
Pension Funds (2023: 21%)
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13%
Endowments & Charities (2023: 14%)
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10%
Asset/ Wealth Managers (2023: 13%)
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8%
Government bodies, local authorities & non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) (2023: 8%)
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Who are the investors?
Pension fund capital has nearly doubled in two years, from £2.1 billion to £4.0 billion, and insurance capital has more than tripled, albeit from a small base. Many groups whose share has fallen have not shrunk in absolute terms, the market has simply grown faster around them. Endowments and charities, government bodies (not including public finance institutions), banks, trade unions and individuals all hold more capital in the market than they did in 2023.
It is worth noting that the listed social housing REIT segment has contracted through wind-downs and consolidation, which has led to an associated decline among investors that require listed holdings, including some asset and wealth managers and corporates.
To estimate the investor composition, we have followed the methodology below:
- The methodology is centred around our co-investor data for the funds that BSC have invested into to calculate the split by investor type
- This is supplemented by the survey we shared with our external contributors to share the % of their investors by investor type
- The primary data sources above are supplemented by a combination of estimates from publicly listed funds, investor engagement publications and proxies using our investor data to provide a full market view.
Our research covers a broad range of impact allocators from charities and foundations, government bodies and pension funds, through to individuals and families.
- Pension Funds: Large institutional investors managing retirement funds, such as Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS).
- Endowments and Charities: Organisations with philanthropic goals, often seeking investments that align with their mission.
- Asset and Wealth Managers: Firms managing investments on behalf of individuals and institutions.
- High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) & Family Offices: Family offices are private companies that manage the financial assets of a family. Social impact investing can offer individuals and family offices opportunities to invest their private wealth aligned with their values and mission.
- Government Bodies, local authorities & non-departmental public bodies: This includes state-owned funds and non-departmental public bodies, investing to achieve public policy objectives.
- Banks: Includes a mix of social banks, mainstream high street and investment banks.
- Corporates: Companies investing capital for strategic or financial reasons.
- Trade unions: These are focussed within social banks as both shareholder capital and social bank depositors.
- Individuals: Includes individuals investing in crowdfunding platforms in charity bonds, community shares and those with depositor accounts in social banks.
- Fund/Fund of Funds: Wholesale or direct funds
- Insurance companies: Insurers utilising their investment portfolio to allocate funds to social impact.
- Housing Associations: Non-profit organisations that invest their income into providing affordable housing
- Universities: Funds or assets donated to universities as an endowment
Investing in social and affordable housing
Pension fund and insurance capital invested in the social and affordable housing market is increasing year on year and is set to continue to be a source of growth for this market in the future. LGPS funds are looking to this asset class for its ability to generate long-dated and inflation-linked income alongside demonstrable local impact at scale.
Pension investment is also not limited to the LGPS: defined contribution (DC) master trusts have also started to invest. In 2025, now:pensions, a master trust with over two million members, made its first private markets investment into a social and affordable housing fund. In addition to the long-dated income, these investments support member engagement - pension savers can see the real homes their pensions are helping to provide, which is a tangible link between their retirement savings and the communities they live in.
Lending to social enterprises and charities
The headline picture remains similar to 2023: the investor base varies by type of lending. Each segment offers different features and investors have different requirements; where the two are well matched, we tend to see particular investor types cluster and the segment grow.
For example, larger institutional investors tend to favour segments offering larger, more secured investments and steady income. Charity bonds, for instance, have attracted local authorities and other public bodies, as well as family offices and endowments.
Across non-bank lending, the mix reflects the role of policy priorities, as well as the connection to organisational mission and individuals’ values. Individual investors remain a large group, primarily through crowdfunding and the community shares markets. We also see government bodies as an increasingly large investor pool, often alongside policy-linked guarantees and other forms of blended finance. This is particularly true of the state-owned British Business Bank (BBB), notably through its support for community development finance institutions (CDFIs). This year is also the first time we have included eligible transactions from the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB).
Given the size of bank lending relative to other parts of the market, it will be increasingly useful to understand the mix of depositors driving the capital available to lend across the different banks’ business models. Similarly, as social banks grow and build their track record, we are interested in whether they could offer attractive opportunities to new types of shareholders.
Other market sizing efforts
We are pleased to see an increasing number of market sizing efforts that cover both the UK and Global impact investing market. Each of these efforts vary in terms of their geographic coverage and scope. Some examples include: Global Impact Investing network market estimate, the Impact Investing Institute and Impact Europe.
In September 2024, the Impact Investing Institute released its second report on the size of UK impact investing market, revealing substantial growth and increasing sophistication in investments that aim to generate positive social and environmental outcomes alongside financial returns.
In October 2025 The GIIN estimated the size of the worldwide impact investing market to be $1.76 trillion, marking the first time that the organization’s widely-cited estimate topped the USD 1 trillion mark.
In November 2024, Impact Europe calculated the size of the European private impact investing market at €190 billion within their report.
Social outcomes
Finally, in social outcomes, we see potential for new investors in the coming years to build on the work of those who have pioneered the space.
This includes early-adopting LGPS groups, strategic mission-aligned endowments, and international institutions looking to learn from a UK market that is leading the way globally. The market’s profile, and its direct connection to deep, local and measurable impact, should become increasingly attractive as it scales.