Cumulative figures from Big Society Capital have shown that since its inception in 2012 £104m has now been drawn down from the social investment wholesaler and its co-investors.
In a blog post, BSC chief executive Nick O’Donohoe highlighted unaudited year-end figures which reveal that from the £104.2m drawn-down, £36m is from BSC’s own funds while £68m is from its investors.
BSC has also now committed £158m of its capital across 36 different investments, up from £48m across 20 investments that were signed at the end of 2013.
BSC said that of the £36m drawn down, 31 per cent has been invested into property, mainly to help charitable service delivery.
Another 20 per cent is invested into asset-locked organisations, such as charities, community interest companies, community benefit companies, and companies limited by guarantee, as well as co-operatives.
And another 20 per cent has gone into critical social investment ‘infrastructure’, such as Charity Bank or ClearlySo.
O’Donohoe wrote that these infrastructure bodies have already lent or arranged “approximately four time the amount of BSC’s original investment”. He added that he expects this multiplier to increase further over time.
Nine per cent of the £36m is helping charities participate in social impact bond delivery, and 8 per cent has been invested by companies limited by shares.
The remaining 12 per cent is split between management fees paid to social investment finance intermediaries and cash balances remaining on SIFI balance sheets.
O’Donohoe wrote: “There is also, of course, a lot happening in social investment beyond BSC’s direct involvement, including continued investment from charitable foundations, the growth of community share and charity bonds issuances and the expansion of positive savings products.
“So all-in-all, we think there was some encouraging progress in social investment during 2014, whilst acknowledging there is still a lot more to do.”
However some sector figures are concerned that not enough money is reaching the front line.
David Floyd, managing director of social enterprise Social Spider and leader of the Alternative Commission on Social Investment, said he is concerned by how small this figure is and that in terms of getting money to frontline charities and social enterprises they have got a “very long way to go”.
He said: “There is a lot of money going into stuff that is not front line delivery and that is a concern.”
Floyd also said it is “worth looking at the quite high percentage of money going into quite marginal activities to the social sector”, mentioning the 9 per cent which has gone into social impact bonds as an example.
