We were established in 2012 with a dual mandate: to provide wholesale capital to the UK social impact investment market and also to build and develop the market itself. This was a new and at the time unique role, there was no blueprint and we were very much on a learning journey. We had to understand how to invest our capital sustainably while using a range of available tools to grow the market. All with the aim of increasing the amount of investment capital available to the social enterprises, charities and other social purpose organisations tackling social issues and improving lives throughout the UK.
12 years on, the market has grown more than ten times to over £9.4bn. We are ambitious to go further, while also recognising that we have learned some valuable lessons along the way. We know that there are an increasing number of organisations and initiatives – in the UK and globally - looking to build markets and take a systemic approach to impact investing. Engagement with many of those organisations inspired us to share our learnings so far.
This is of course not intended to be a ‘how-to’ guide and we will never have all the answers. However, as we have learned from others along the way, I hope this will be a useful source of information for partners, potential partners and others with similar missions. It is evident from the report that we have not been on this journey alone and everything we have achieved has been in collaboration with a wide range of partners.
