Social investment
Social Investments deliver our charitable objectives and contribute to JRF’s long-term purpose of a reduction in poverty and disadvantage.
Our Social Investments achieve a direct social impact (such as affordable homes, employment, low cost finance, affordable energy) and an expectation that the money can be returned, so it can be invested again. JRF’s definition of poverty is when a person’s resources are not sufficient to meet their basic needs, which includes the need to be part of society. Our social investments help solve poverty.
Why we make social investment
Our approach is to Research, Demonstrate and Influence. We research to understand the causes of poverty. We demonstrate by supporting the solutions identified by our research. We then influence, based on our research and demonstration findings, taking our findings to policy makers and the wider public. Our social investments fit firmly into the middle of this strategy, demonstrating solutions to poverty.
Current portfolio
At 31.6.2017 we had committed £9.4m of JRF’s total £15m allocation. We have made direct investments into charities and social enterprises such as Glasgow Together, Fair for You and Our Power. We have made investments into specialist funds such as Big Issue Invest and the North East Social Enterprise Fund. We backed affordable housing in the form of the London Community Land Trust and the National Homelessness Property Fund.
A full list of our investments can be found below.
| Name | Description | Size of investment (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Affordable Housing | ||
| National Homelessness Property Fund | £30m+ national fund to buy property to house formerly homeless people with St Mungos Broadway | 500,000 |
| Affordable Homes Rental Fund | £5.2m fund for affordable rental property for community land trusts | 500,000 |
| London Community Land Trust | £0.45m of development funds for the London CLT for affordable homes in London | 100,000 |
| Salamanca Funding Affordable Homes | £44m fund, target size £200m to fund affordable housing and other social purpose property | 500,000 |
| York Refugee Housing | £0.5m to purchase houses for refugees in York | 500,000 |
| Ashley Community Housing | £0.2m-£0.5m to fund ACH to purchase houses and flats for refugees in Birmingham | 500,000 |
| Total | 2,600,000 | |
| Social Impact Funds | ||
| North East Social Investment Fund | £12m fund to invest in charities and social enterprises in North East | 500,000 |
| Big Issue Invest SEIF II | £20m fund to support growth of social enterprises nationally | 500,000 |
| Bridges Evergreen Fund | £20m+ fund to hold long term investments in charities and social enterprises | 500,000 |
| Fair by Design - making life affordable | JRF with Ascension Ventures, Wayra, Big Society Capital to solve the poverty premium; £15m fund target | 3,000,000 |
| Total | 4,500,000 | |
| Financial Exclusion | ||
| Leeds Credit Union | Subordinated debt to underpin the capital base of this major Yorkshire based credit union | 250,000 |
| Fair for You | Charity to provide loans for white goods and beds, as an alternative to high cost rent to buy | 500,000 |
| Fair Finance Personal Loans | Support for personal microloans in London | 130,000 |
| Fair Finance Business Loans | Support for microbusiness loans | 50,000 |
| Street UK | Investment to loan portfolio (repaid in full) | 250,000 |
| Total | 1,180,000 | |
| Direct | ||
| Shared Lives | Development funding for replication of shared lives schemes nationally | 350,000 |
| Our Power | Provision of affordable energy | 500,000 |
| Project Snowball | Collective management of social investments across trusts and foundations creating a pooled fund | 20,000 |
| Glasgow Together Charity Bond | £2m bond to purchase land and derelict property for renovation by ex offenders | 250,000 |
| Total | 1,120,000 | |
| Total Social Investment Portfolio | 9,400,000 | |
Interested in social investment?
For more information on social investment, visit the Good Finance website. This includes background information, case studies and a list of advisors and providers of social investment. If you feel your proposal fits our anti-poverty mission directly contact our Head of Social Investment, Danyal Sattar.
Related contacts
