The value of venture philanthropy grants, loans and investments in the UK has more than doubled in two years, to reach a total value of £166m, according to new research.

Research and fundraising consultancy Factary revealed in its report that there is now twice as many players in the local venture philanthropy market as there were two years ago, when it last produced a survey of venture philanthropy in the UK. Total income is also up 171 per cent at £274.4m. New entrants had a total income of £92.9m in 2012 so make up a large percentage of this figure.

Venture philanthropy is the practice of being philanthropic while applying some of the methods and models of the venture capital industry.

The report shows that there has been a 221 per cent growth in the number of charitable grants, loans and investments. Almost half of this growth is the result of new entrants in the sector however like-for-like growth has also been strong and is up 66 per cent.

Factary’s report accepts that the UK’s venture philanthropy sector is small, with its charitable grants, loans and investments only representing 0.8 per cent of the £21bn of total expenditure across 45,932 grant-making organisations in the UK.

However, it pitted the story as one of David and Goliath: “Venture philanthropy is small, but it influence belies its size, with large foundations and government increasingly drawing on the venture philanthropy model to manage their relationships with partners.”
 
Total sector assets are worth £2.8bn, up 75 per cent from the level found in Factary’s 2011 report. A lot of this growth is down to new players in the report, however a like-for-like comparison looking at the assets of the organisations featured in the 2011 report shows a 37.3 per cent increase in asset value.

The Factary report profiled the 22 venture philanthropy funds presently active in the UK.