Engaging social enterprises

Awareness of Social Impact Investment is growing, but it is still a difficult world to navigate for social enterprises and charities, and there is a pressing need for tools and resources for them. Good Finance is a collaborative project set up in 2016 with support from across the social sector and funded by Big Society Capital and Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, to be an independent and trusted source of information. Its mission is to help social enterprises and charities to have a clear and simple route to understanding when and how to best utilise social impact investment, and which type would be most suitable.

In 2021, users of the Good Finance website doubled year on year, passing the milestone of 300,000 unique users, with a new cost of capital calculator, animation and resources added to the site.

Social Investment Unpicked

Social Investment Unpicked is a free online training programme for anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of social investment. In 2021, it expanded to see more than 80 students graduate from the programme, with participants from across the ecosystem, including capacity building organisations, larger frontline social enterprises and charities, membership bodies and networks, grant funders, and current or potential investment intermediaries.

Addressing Imbalance programme

Good Finance launched the Addressing Imbalance programme with the first cohort of seven partners, including the Black South West Network, The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network and Caribbean & African Health Network, as a route to help address the barriers facing leaders from under-represented groups or communities, when trying to access finance.

Social impact

The Outcomes Matrix is a popular tool downloaded over 60,000 times, helping to support social enterprises and charities in communicating the impact they are looking to create, and to help them plan how to measure the change they make. During 2021, the tool was updated using user insight alongside feedback from expert practitioners to embed equality, diversity and inclusion throughout the tool.

Post-pandemic support

In addition to investment support, Good Finance also provided information for enterprises, to help them navigate the current challenges related to the pandemic. The Recover and Rebuild hub on the website was updated with new resources, which supported over 1,200 users. In addition, we ran 25 virtual events reaching over 1,300 individuals.