Charities are often reluctant to take on loan finance, preferring instead to rely on grants from trusts or individuals.

“Are you investment ready?” You’ve probably heard this question a lot if you’ve explored social investment. You might also still be wondering what it means. Thankfully, help is at hand…

A new report called Designing Social Investment: User Research has just been published on Good Finance.

We’ve known for a long time that social investment can seem both complex and inaccessible to the very organisations it’s seeking to serve.

Good Finance , a website and collaborative project to help charities and social enterprises navigate social investment, has launched after a year of research and co-design with the sector.

The concept of a theory of change has been around for decades but over recent years they have gathered traction in the funding and social investment community.

As a policy maker, my team’s starting place for working with graphic, digital and UX designers isn’t an obvious one.

Making social investment user-centered was our remit.

Social investment can play an important role in the growth and sustainability of social enterprises and charities, but it’s not always plain sailing to secure a deal.

I distinctly remember my first meeting at Big Society Capital.