Big Society Capital has pledged to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized charities and other social sector organisations as part of its three-year strategy.
The social investment wholesaler published its strategy yesterday, coinciding with the second anniversary of its launch.
It plans to make greater availability of smaller-sized investments to small and medium-sized organisations, while working with partners to increase awareness of social investment among charities. It also plans to pilot an awareness campaign for charity trustees.
Scaling-up organisations
Big Society Capital says it will bring "far greater financial scale to bear" in the financing of social issues.
The strategy says: “We believe some social organisations can be larger, the social economy as a whole should play a larger part in the overall economy and mainstream financial institutions can play a much greater role in providing and channelling capital to social causes.”
Another focus of the strategy is innovation. Big Society Capital aims to provide capital that allows the most innovative approaches to tackling social problems that can quickly be grown and replicated.
At an event last night to celebrate its second year, chief executive Nick O’Donohoe, said it wants to ensure that it is supporting social innovation and entrepreneurs.
Mass participation
The final focus of the strategy is to build mass participation in social investment and to see millions of people contribute to social change through their personal finance choices.
Big Society Capital will "encourage products that use the new social investment tax relief, and investor take-up" as well as advocate for a “right-to-choose ethical or social products in private pensions”, it says.
O’Donohoe said: “If you look at this year's annual report and all the potential opportunities we have to grow the market by being a champion investing in that market, it is difficult to not be excited about what is happening in social investment, particularly in this country.
“I think we’ve made significant progress in the last two years, we’ve always said it is a marathon and not a sprint and that is still the case. But I do think the annual report illustrates the progress we have made.”
At the event Nick Hurd, minister for civil society, praised the success of Big Society Capital in its first two years. He said: “It really feels like it is coming of age, this idea of social investment and this idea that we can mobilise private capital on a large scale to help us drive the better social outcomes we need.”
Yesterday, Big Society Capital announced that it committed £93m to the sector in 2013. It’s annual report showed that its investment had reached 57 frontline organisations.
