The social investment sector has a diversity problem. But there are pockets of progress: some are inviting new perspectives and rethinking the value of lived experience. What's working? And what can we learn from those challenging the status quo?
How do you make social investment truly inclusive? Three UK initiatives – Good Finance, Ubele Initiative and CAF Venturesome – working to widen access to support and funding share what they have learned.
‘Diverse-led’ social enterprises often miss out on access to social investment. An obvious solution: involve potential investees in the design of the fund. But it's not a quick win, as social investors UnLtd and Impact Hub Bradford tell us.
There’s a new wave of diverse-led social enterprises in the UK, many ambitious and ready to grow. Yet often they’re unaware of, or unable to access, the right support or investment – or they're discouraged to even try. What needs to change?
Social investors are starting to look beyond ‘fancy-pants bankers’, and welcoming more people with first-hand experience at charities or social enterprises on to their investment committees. It sounds simple, but for some organisations it’s a big shift.