Good Finance

Social enterprises and charities had no simple route to understanding when and how to best utilise social impact investment, and which type would be most suitable. There was also a lack of independent, unbiased and trusted information collected and presented clearly in an accessible place.

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.

In 2016, Big Society Capital and Access - the Foundation for Social Investment helped to bring together key representatives from the social enterprise, charity and social investment sectors to launch a collaborative initiative tackling the challenges facing organisations seeking social investment. The key goal was to ensure every organisation that can benefit from investment has access to the right tools and information they need to make informed decisions.

As a result, Good Finance was created with a mission to be a trusted source of information. And after an extensive period of user-centred research and design workshops with charities and social enterprises across the UK the website was launched. The website addresses lack of knowledge with jargon-busting tools and case studies. It has a diagnostic tool that helps organisations make informed decisions about whether to take on repayable finance in minutes. Also, the first-ever directory of investors and advisers was created to connect social sector organisations with the right investors.

Over time, Good Finance has also developed an offline presence with a series of events - Let’s Talk Good Finance and Good Finance Live.

Access - the Foundation for Social Investment

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

Good Finance Steering Group