The Impact World this Week: 4 July 2025

Scoop of the week: The UK government is creating a new cross-departmental ‘Impact Capital Function’ – and it’s already recruiting for it. The new team will support partnerships between government and impact capital – including impact investing and philanthropy – around shared objectives, a government spokesperson told Pioneers Post. It will be part of the revamped Office for Investment, itself a joint unit of the Treasury, the Department for Business and Trade and Number 10. The Department for Business and Trade posted the advert for a head of impact investing and philanthropy this week, with a deadline for applications of 11:55 on Friday 18 July. The spokesperson said the new function reflects the government’s ambitions to build more strategic partnerships with mission-driven capital, such as impact investment and philanthropy, to combine public, private, and philanthropic resources to generate positive social and environmental impacts in communities across the country. 

• Read more: UK Government commits to ‘deepen collaboration with the impact economy’ in new industrial strategy

Global: Cooperatives in Rwanda, Liberia and Cambodia joined the International Cooperative Alliance in 2024, to bring the organisation’s total membership to 310 members from 105 countries. The organisation also restructured its global office over the course of the year, resulting in a €250,000 profit, following five years of sustained losses. This data comes from the International Cooperative Alliance’s 2024 Annual Report, published on Tuesday. 2024 also saw the organisation begin the development of a 2026-2030 strategy and launch the United Nations International Year of the Cooperatives 2025.

• Read more: Decent work and sustainable livelihoods - why street vendors need to create co-operatives

UK: A proposal to legally require company directors to balance shareholder profits with employee and environmental interests will be debated in parliament today (Friday 04 July). Section 172 of the Company Directors (Duties) Bill currently requires directors to act in the way they consider “most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole” – effectively prioritising shareholders above all other stakeholders. An amendment to section 172, spearheaded by Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley and inspired by the Better Business Act campaign, would instead require company directors to “balance their duty to promote the success of the company with duties in respect of the environment and the company’s employees.” Backers of the amendment say it has the support of “dozens” of cross-party MPs and over 3,000 businesses. 

• Read more: Legislating for all businesses to be purpose-led will boost UK economy, argues think tank

UK: Female-led businesses won 4 out of 5 of the 2025 Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Entrepreneurs, despite only 19% of active UK companies being led by women, according to the Gender Index 2025. The award winners were announced at a ceremony held at Deutsche Bank in London on Tuesday. Delivered in partnership with NGO MeWe360, the awards celebrate Black, Asian, and minority ethnic entrepreneurs in the arts and creative industries who are dedicated to achieving positive social impact through enterprise. The winners were Sicgmone Kludje and Vanessa Koranteng (Black Girl Knit Club), Caron Mcluckie (Bealies Adaptivewear), Imriel Morgan (Content is Queen), Romanah Buchanan (Eloquent Dance) and Kit Hung (Secure Storytelling Network).

• Read more: ‘If you want equality, it’s going to cost’ - women in social enterprise urge employers and investors to address ‘motherhood penalty’

UK: A former coal mine in Nottinghamshire is being transformed into a cooperative solar park. The Whiteborough Solar Park project, being developed by the Big Solar Co-op, will use recycled and ethically sourced solar panels to avoid the waste and carbon cost of new materials and the potential human rights abuses associated with the solar panel supply chain. The 3,000 MWh of electricity generated annually by the site will be enough to power hundreds of homes and cut up to 621 tonnes of CO2 each year. Last week direct impact investing platform Ethex launched a 90-day Innovative Finance ISA bond offer to raise £800,000 for the project, with a forecast return of 5.5%.

• Read more: 'Computer says no' – are grants and debt the only social investment show in town?

UK: A former bowling green in Dundee is the proposed location of a new Social Bite Recovery Village, which would provide a highly supported residential community for up to 20 vulnerable people struggling with addiction. There were 46 deaths linked to drugs in Dundee in 2023, up eight on the previous year and a 92% increase on 2013. The city has the second worst rate of drug misuse deaths in the country over the last five years. Scottish Social Enterprise Social Bite already runs a residential community in Edinburgh, where more than 100 people have lived since it opened in 2018. In a survey in 2020, 86% of residents said their time at the village had helped them build new relationships and improved their well-being. Social Bite is now running a community consultation process for the proposed Dundee village, ahead of submitting a planning application in the coming months.

• Read more: Scottish social entrepreneur sets out "purist" vision of social enterprise

UK: The world’s first LGBTQ+ cooperative distillery is being crowdfunded by Queer Spirits. The London-based spirits company is trying to raise £300,000 to fund the purchase of small-batch distilling equipment, fit out a venue and expand its product line to include alcohol-free spirits and ready-to-drink cocktails. Revenue from the coop distillery will be used to support LGBTQ+ bars, clubs, and community spaces, over half of which have closed since 2006 due to economic pressures. Investments in the distillery start from £50. Every investor in the coop gets one vote, no matter their level of investment. The business targets a return of 6% per year from year three onwards.

• Read more: How I built an intersectional investor roster

Figure of the week: US$35M is the amount of impact capital secured by newly created nonprofit Open Road Impact in the first half of 2025. Open Road Impact is the successor to the Open Road Impact Fund, a fixed-term investment fund offering fast, flexible bridge loans, which will wind down this year. The organisation says its new nonprofit structure will enable it to double down on its catalytic investment approach as it scales. As a nonprofit, it can now aggregate donations, grants, programme-related investments, and other charitable contributions to advance advocacy and innovative partnerships strategies. For example, earlier this year, Open Road Impact received grant funding to support former grantees of USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures portfolio.

• Read more: USAID shutdown ‘undermines global impact investing ecosystem’

Movers and Shakers

Heather Gerken will be the next president of the Ford Foundation. Gerken will succeed Darren Walker in November 2025. She is currently the dean of Yale Law School and Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law.

• Read more: Ford Foundation boss says philanthropists need to ‘get uncomfortable’ – and fund the troublemakers