Access commits £1m to drive more UK social investment into diverse communities

Social investor Access committed more than £1m this week to drive more social investment into the UK’s diverse and underserved communities. 

Access, the Foundation for Social Investment, is backing the Diversity Forum with £530,000 and the Equality Impact Investing Project with £510,000 to run complementary projects, both aiming to encourage more equitable social investment.

The move follows a damning 2022 report by the Adebowale Commission on Social Investment which said the UK’s social investment market had a serious problem with inclusion and equity and needed comprehensive structural reform. Since then, the chair of the commission, Lord Victor Adebowale, who is also chair of Social Enterprise UK, has expressed growing frustration at the slow pace of change; in October 2025, he told Pioneers Post that progress was “glacial”.

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Announcing the funding, Seb Elsworth, CEO of Access, said: “Access’s vision is of an investment ecosystem which works for all charities and social enterprises. This cannot be realised without diversity being embedded throughout the social investment sector and more capital flowing to equality impact.”

Equity is not a nice-to-have in social investment, it is essential to achieving better outcomes and greater impact

The Diversity Forum is a campaigning group established in 2017 to help the UK social investment sector become more diverse and representative of the communities it aims to serve. All social investors funded by Access are expected to commit to the Diversity Forum’s manifesto. The new funding will enable it to focus on embedding equity, diversity and inclusion across the social investment sector for the next four years. 

The Equality Impact Investing Project launched in 2018 to promote the concept of ‘equality impact investing’, social impact investing focusing on SDG 10 – reducing inequality – in the UK and beyond. The organisation will use the new funding to focus on growing both supply and demand for equality impact investing.

Access pointed out that both projects complement the role of the Pathway Fund as a racial equity-focused wholesaler.

Victor Adebowale (pictured) told Pioneers Post that he welcomed the £1m commitment as “an important recognition that a fairer social investment market does not happen by accident; it requires intentional action, leadership and sustained commitment.”

He added: “The Adebowale Commission found that too many social entrepreneurs and communities with the greatest potential still face the greatest barriers to accessing capital. The funding recognises a simple truth: equity is not a nice-to-have in social investment, it is essential to achieving better outcomes and greater impact.”

Moving beyond good intentions

Speaking on behalf of the Diversity Forum, Patricia Hamzahee, co-founder of the Black Funding Network, said: “This investment reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that equity, diversity and inclusion remain central to the future of social investment…We’re excited to continue building the infrastructure, relationships and evidence needed to drive long-term systemic change across the sector.”

Ceri Goddard, founder of the Equality Impact Investing Project, said the funding was an important milestone for the project, “enabling us to scale our work to harness more capital to play a proactive role in tackling inequality and advancing social justice”. 

The challenge now, pointed out Adebowale, was “to move beyond good intentions to measurable outcomes”.

“Success should be judged by whether more diverse social enterprises can access capital, grow sustainably and deliver lasting impact for the communities they serve.”

If this was achieved, he said, “it will not only make social investment fairer, it will make it stronger”.

Header image: Pixabay