Enterprise Data 2022: Mapping UK social investment

  • Our 2022 Enterprise Data includes over 650 social sector organisations who have taken social investment in the form of lending during 2022. The Enterprise Data shows which social issues are being tackled by the charities and social enterprises featured, as well as where in the UK these enterprises are located, and whether the investment is reaching the communities that need it most (using IMD data as a guide).

    The Enterprise Data is a detailed view of £455m of the £611 million of the deals committed to social lending (lending to social enterprises and charities) that appear in Better Society Capital’s 2022 market sizing. The Enterprise Data also includes transactions back to 2011, but we are focusing on the 2022 data to paint an up-to-date picture.

    Our Enterprise Data shows how much social investment is flowing and which charities and social enterprises are accessing it. This data offers insight on who is accessing social investment, where they are accessing it, and why. It provides an opportunity to identify gaps in the market and suggests where growth might be targeted.

    The data examined three key areas:

    • Which social area the recipients of investment are addressing according to Good Finance’s Outcomes Matrix, a practical tool to help organisations plan and measure their social impact
    • The location of the recipients and the social need in those locations, according to IMD Indices
    • The median transaction size to provide more information on individual deals and provide insight into how much organisations are typically receiving

    Where does our data come from?

    • Our Enterprise Data release is focused on social lending. We collect this information through our own portfolio and requests to those who have contributed to our market sizing data.
    • The latest data release (as of December 2022) now captures over 6,200 commitments over the last 11 years totalling £3.1 bn of social lending into social purpose organisations such as charities and social enterprises.
    • Our enterprise data includes over £446m of new commitments made in 2022 into 677 organisations. This represents 73% of total deal flow within social lending captured in our market sizing publication.
  • 62% of investment is targeted at the 40% most deprived areas of the UK
  • 82% of organisations receiving social lending are based outside London
  • 67% of organisations in London were creating impact in the 40% most deprived areas
  • Based on commitments made in 2022

  • This tableau provides a visualisation of the data set, to break down where social lending has happened across the UK. Use the tabs to help explore.

    Who: Who are the investors proving loans to charities and social enterprises?

    When: What new deals are there? When have deals happened at enterprise level and how has the committed amount changed?

    Where: Which areas of the UK have received social investment? How do the investments map to the Indices of Multiple Deprivation?

    The data can be filtered in multiple different ways on each tab, including sorting by primary or secondary outcome area which categorises the investees by the area in which they are generating impact.

Highlights

We have pulled out some of the key numbers here:

Type of commitment and median investment

  • Funds and intermediaries: £51 million of social lending activity in 2022 was committed through funds and intermediaries across 278 commitments with a median investment of £65,000. This includes £6.7 million of investments through the social investors who are delivering The Growth Fund.
  • Social banks: £394 million was committed by social banks across 383 commitments into charities, social enterprises, and social purpose organisations, with a median investment of £546,000.
  • Foundations and trusts: The remaining £1.6 million of 2022 activity is spread across 16 commitments into charities and social enterprises made by foundations and trusts, with a median investment of £100,000.

This data set is public in order to provide a transparent view on the impact social investment is having and to encourage other investors to share data. The data set is collaborative and not a complete set of all social investment activity – we thank all contributors to the exercise and everyone who is investing for impact.

For a comprehensive estimate of the size and composition of social investment in the UK, please see our 2022 Market Sizing data.

The next release of the Enterprise Data will be for 2023 and will be published in 2024. If you are interested in contributing to our open data set, please get in touch.

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