We’re pleased to be developing the functionality of the Good Finance Directory, to enable advisory organisations to provide more information about the services they provide for social enterprises, charities and community organisations. 

1.    What do I need to know about the Good Finance Directory?

The Good Finance Directory is an interactive tool that allows our users to seach social investors and funds across the UK. The current ‘Fundmapper’ function is one of the most visited resources on Good Finance, with an average of one in three website users browsing the directory. It’s had 180,000 unique users and counting and we hope has been the start of many fruitful and important connections since it launched in 2018. 

The Good Finance Directory currently has 22 advisors listed alongside investors and funds, and we’ve known for some time that our users need a better experience when navigating the advisor element of the directory. 

2.    Why are we making these changes?

With the ever-changing landscape and tough economic circumstances for many social enterprises and charities, we’re hearing more and more from our users about the different types of support they need on their journey to social investment; whether they’re at the pre investment stage or well on their way to securing social investment.

At Good Finance, we recognise the need to support charities and social enterprises on various stages of their social investor journey which is where the advisor element of the directory plays a key role. We were also getting feedback from users that it was difficult to distinguish between advisors and social investors on the directory and that the icons weren’t clear.

Finally, the directory is also often referred to as the ‘Fundmapper tool’, which doesn’t suggest it signposts to advisory services as well as social investment. 

First and foremost, Good Finance is user-led and we recognised the need to respond and improve these user experiences. 

3.    So…what’s new?

We’re glad you asked - nothing yet! We’re currently working on the development side of things, so that users can:

-    Clearly distinguish between investors and advisors, and easily navigate to what they’re looking for
-    Filter advisors based on the type of support they may be searching for 
-    See important information about advisors, like their profile and contact information
-    Read “showcase” stories which are example of how an advisor has worked with charities and social enterprises previously to tackle a specific challenge. 

Finally, advisor profile holders will be able to make quick, easy updates directly to their profiles, which will be reviewing by the Good Finance team. By automating and simplifying this process, we hope that listings will be kept up to date and users can be confident that the information they are accessing is accurate. 

4.    I’m an advisor – where do I sign-up?

Firstly, take a quick look at this criteria and make sure you meet our listing requirements. If you don’t meet one or two of these and would like to discuss further, please email aconstable@goodfinance.org.uk and we’d be happy to chat this through. 

It’s quick and easy to sign up – please fill out this survey to express your interest in joining the Advisor Directory. The form will just ask for your name, organisation and contact email address. Once the website development is complete, we’ll send out detailed instructions to all advisors who register their interest on how to create, develop and manage your listing.

5.    I know an advisor – how can I refer them?

Perhaps you run a charity or social enterprise and have had a fantastic experience with an organisation that helped you, and would like to spread the word? 

Please pass this blog along to the advisor in question so that they can follow the steps above – you could also help them by supporting them to provide a showcase story! 

Next steps...

As with many things, our timelines are subject to change, but we’re really hoping to be able to gather all of this information in late August / early September, with the view to make the Advisor Directory available to users before October. 

We can then continue to add organisations to the Advisor Directory, building out this tool to help as many organisations as possible find what they’re looking for in terms of extra support. 

For now, you just need to register your interest and we'll be in touch with next steps by early September.