Timeline old

Launch of the Social Investment Task Force chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen

Sir Ronald Cohen sets up the independent Commission on Unclaimed Assets

Commission on Unclaimed Assets outlines how a wholesale financial institution – a social investment bank – could be set up

The Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008 passed by Parliament

Budget commits £75 million of dormant accounts to the Social Investment Wholesale Bank

Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the Coalition Government

Launch of the Big Society initiative, promising ‘every penny’ of dormant account money would go into a social investment bank

Project Merlin provides a new injection of capital, with £50 million each from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland

Sir Ronald Cohen and Nick O’Donohoe (former Head of Global Research at JP Morgan) submit proposal for the Big Society Bank. Cohen and O’Donohoe appointed as Chair and CEO respectively under a new name: Big Society Capital

Early-stage venture funds managed by Impact Ventures UK and Nesta receive £18 million equity investment from Big Society Capital

Publication of the Outcomes Matrix to help charities and social enterprises measure their social impact, the tool has been used over 20,000 times

outlining plans to build mass participation, improves access to finance for small and medium-sized social enterprises and charities, invest in innovative approaches to tackle challenges at an early stage, and to bring large-scale finance to tackle social issues

from Big Society Capital's investments in the FSE Group, Northstar Ventures, Social and Sustainable Capital and Social Investment Scotland

A connected UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing is established, chaired and managed by Big Society Capital. This later becomes the UK Impact Investing Institute

with £45 million from Big Lottery Fund and Big Society Capital to offer blended small loans and grants

a full deal level data set into all social impact investment transactions

(later renamed Capacity), a partnership by Catch 22, Interserve and Amberside Advisors Ltd created by winning the Business Impact Challenge

a group of trusts, charities and foundations convened by Big Society Capital

co-developed by JRF and Big Society Capital to eliminate the poverty premium by 2027

with £10 million from Big Society Capital to stimulate SITR investment by individuals

to Big Society Capital’s treasury portfolio incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance analysis and social impact objectives

research commissioned to call for developments of social pension funds in the UK

launched to support board members of charities and social enterprises

helping social enterprises and charities navigate the world of social impact investment

is the largest yet by a foundation into a single social investment fund. The £40 million fund enables community energy groups to acquire local renewable energy assets

managed by Social Investment Scotland. The £52 million fund was seeded with £30 million by Big Society Capital to scale the community finance sector serving SMEs in disadvantaged communities

to build infrastructure of social investment, delivered by Barrow Cadbury and supported by Access – the Foundation for Social Investment

with three focus areas: Homes, Place & Early Action

a social venture fund backed by Big Society Capital

convened by Big Society Capital and publishes research to lower barriers to making social impact investments

moves from being an informal group to within the Association of Charitable Foundations

evolving our approach based on learnings so far, including greater emphasis on system change, manager delivery and adoption of the Impact Management Project

a report in collaboration with Guys & St Thomas’ Charity and the Food Foundation

a research partnership with Wellcome Trust, Bethnal Green Ventures and Zinc to help support and scale mental health start-ups.

created for Donor Advised Funds

with Big Society Capital as a founding supporter, to further accelerate the growth and improve the effectiveness of the impact investing market in the UK and globally

Established by Big Society Capital and partners within weeks of the start of the pandemic, to support charities and social enterprises whose businesses were disrupted by the pandemic, with guarantees from the CBILS scheme

a report published by The Young Foundation and supported by Barrow Cadbury Trust and Big Society Capital that sets out how bring more diverse voices into social impact investment

an independent review of Big Society Capital

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allowing ordinary investors access to private market impact investment for the first time and bringing millions of pounds of additional capital to help social enterprises and charities.

aiming to double the size of the social impact investment market to £10-£15 billion by 2025. Learn more

identifying seven innovative programmes with the greatest potential to transform people’s lives in the UK through social impact investment. Learn more

following Big Society Capital’s campaign with partners to #SaveSITR, dedicated funds using SITR could be fully disbursed, releasing capital to the frontline organisations that needed it.

and helped secure over 9,000 jobs. At the 2021 UK Social Enterprise Awards, the fund won Social Enterprise Deal of the Year.

published Big Society Capital's disclosure statement and completed an Independent Verification of its impact management system with BlueMark.

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The Government conducted a consultation on how to allocate a further estimated £738 million of dormant assets for England. Big Society Capital worked in close collaboration with Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, Social Enterprise UK and many others, on the Community Enterprise Growth Plan to make the case for a portion of these newly unlocked funds to be allocated to social impact investment.

We reflected on our journey so far and recognised the progress made in growing the social impact investment market in collaboration with our wide range of partners across the sector. Learn more

Formed a community of VC's seeking to accelerate impact within venture and released the VC Impact Playbook, to help venture capital firms improve how they source, select and support high-impact companies.

highlighted the impact that has already been achieved by its investments – financing 160 frontline organisations and benefiting more than 160,000 people, with at least 90% from vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The report showed the Trust’s investments had generated a total of £55.6 million in near-term value as savings and benefits for households and the Government.

Following consultation period and proposal from the Community Enterprise Growth Plan, the government allocates £31 million of funding from dormant assets to support social sector organisations in becoming more resilient to high energy costs.

BSC becomes a B Corp, joining over 1,900 other companies in the UK Verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.

We published our 2023 impact report, highlighting the progress we're making on our mission to grow the the amount of money being used to tackle social issues in the UK via our Theory of Change framework model.

ImpactVC community now features more than 750 people from over 570 VC firms, who collectively manage more than £50bn of assets.