SharedImpact has launched a retail social investment product with a £1 minimum donation.
The public will now be able to invest in the Midlands Together Bond from just £1, instead of the previous minimum of £20,000, by opening a SharedImpact account.
The Midlands Together CIC Bond, arranged by Triodos Bank, supports employment opportunities for ex-offenders. The bond had so far raised £3m to purchase and refurbish substandard properties. Its restoration will be completed by ex-offenders, who will be employed, trained and monitored throughout the process.
Paul Cheng, chair of SharedImpact, said: “SharedImpact believes that social investments such as the Midlands Together Bond should be easily accessible to everyone. Now this has become a reality because individuals can now donate to the bond starting from just £1 though the SharedImpact platform.”
He continued: “The difficulties that ex-offenders face when leaving prison have never been greater, and we believe that providing genuine employment opportunities for them not only makes their lives better, but also reduces reoffending, with all the cost benefits to the taxpayer that implies.”
Cheng revealed to civilsociety.co.uk in September that it was planning to buy a charity bond and break it into chunks for its account-holders.
The Midlands Together Bond is a 4 per cent fixed rate secured bond for a term of five years. Returns will be paid into the donor's SharedImpact account for redeployment to other causes, but not returned to the donor for personal use.
Money raised from the bond issue will enable Midlands Together to buy and refurbish approximately 15 properties a year over the five-year life of the bond. This will lead to an investment of over £2m into the wages, training and mentoring of up to 150 ex-offenders.
Some 58.2 per cent of short-sentenced offenders reoffend within 12 months of being released at an estimated annual cost of £9.5 - £13bn to the UK economy.
SharedImpact is an online platform that allows donors to recycle their charitable donations by buying social investment products.
