Pension funds now make up one-third of social impact investing market, finds research published today, with institutional investors gaining confidence in several social impact asset classes, in particular affordable housing.
EXPERT INSIGHT: UnLtd, the UK's foundation for social entrepreneurs, has spent the past year working with a group of founders with ambitions to create lasting system change, tackling some of society's most deep-set problems.
The Sanergy Collaborative's circular economy system uses toilets, flies and agricultural waste to produce food and sequester carbon. But can the Earthshot Prize finalist convince farmers to switch to organic fertiliser made from insects?
Challenges affecting primary and secondary school children, female healthcare and people with dementia are the focus of six entrepreneurs chosen to pitch for funding at the live IGNITE final in central London.
After incumbent president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a shock election victory against climate-sceptic Flávio Bolsonaro, we asked Amazonian impact investor Marcelo Cwerner what the result means for restoring the rainforest.
EXPERT INSIGHT: Hundreds of thousands of people live in refugee camps for decades. Emergency aid is not the only answer, says Sazini Mojapelo. Supporting refugees to start their own businesses can transform their lives.
While there’s a strong sense that the current economic system is not working, there’s no consensus on what should replace it. Is this mix of perspectives a positive thing, or hindering progress? Anna Patton reports from the P4NE conference in Bonn.
This week: Church of England remains “committed” to £1bn slavery reparation fund despite rightwing lobbying campaign; MacArthur Foundation increases allocation to impact investing to US$750m; Too Good to Go expands beyond food, and more.
The £300,000 pilot will invest exclusively in refugee-owned or led businesses, aiming to lead to a £10m follow-on fund as refugee entrepreneurs are too often cut off from VC investment. We speak to TERN co-founder Charlie Fraser to find out more.
OPINION: The UK is entering a period of significant wealth transfer yet how we connect impact capital to impactful organisations feels like a niche conversation. We need a way to bring them together, says NPC boss Jonathan Simmons.
EXPERT INSIGHT: Although most social enterprises think they’re financially sustainable, most of them are not, argues Thaddaeus Hubbard. He has devised a simple sustainability test.
The social economy community emerged from last week's Labour Party conference full of hope that the PM and his government were truly committed to engaging with the sector – but there's a long way between a stage performance and one-the-ground reality.
This week: Belu celebrates £6.5m of donations to WaterAid; Nearly 120,000 ‘for-purpose’ organisations in New Zealand; Funding CDFIs unlocks affordable lending, investment and financial inclusion, confirms analysis; and more...
Increase in private capital towards blended finance deals is “encouraging”, but scarcer concessional capital will have to be used “surgically” for market to truly scale, according to research published this week.
