Our first Let’s Talk Good Finance virtual event hosted in partnership with Community Action Suffolk and Voluntary Norfolk.

Rebecca White, CEO of Your Own Place CIC talking about her organisations’ experience of taking on social investment from Sumerian Partners, just before the covid-19 hit. Listen to hear more about her patient equity investment deal that has allowed Your Own Place to scale up activity and employ a new member of the team.

Let’s Talk Good Finance is a series of events, currently taking place virtually in light of the coivd-19 pandemic, offering charities and social enterprises the opportunity to learn about social investment as a tool to help them be more sustainable and to scale-up operations.

For more on Let’s Talk Good Finance and other upcoming events visit: https://www.goodfinance.org.uk/latest/post/events

Our Project Manager Ishita Ranjan spoke with Mark Newcombe, a founding member of The Craufurd Arms. The Craufurd Arms is a pint-sized community owned pub in Maidenhead that is tackling social isolation and a hub for creating long-lasting relationships.

The pub is well known for bringing people together, and has received funding via grants and various types of social investment and crowdfunding, but how are they finding ways to still ensure cashflow amidst a changing world?

Our Senior Director Melanie Mills hosted a chat with Geetha Rabindrakumar, the Director of Social Change at homelessness charity Carboard Citizens. Geetha previously worked as the Head of Engagement at Big Society Capital.

Cardboard citizens has been making life-changing theatre with and for homeless people for more than 25 years, now they've been pushed to find ways to adjust to a more digital demanding world, which is now more significant than ever with staff working from home.

ToolShed work with young people (15 to 19) who have had a difficult time at school and lost their confidence. They strengthen this confidence so they leave ready and focused on earning their own living.

We enable the young people to achieve a level 1 qualification in construction crafts and obtain their CSCS Card. They are then ready to leave us confident they have the relevant skills and experience to earn their living in a construction role.

They used a loan from UnLtd to start the construction service which in turn enables us to offer enriched learning experiences for the students and to be more ambitious in the learning they offer.

Gloucester-based sports company SoFab specifically works with young adults with learning difficulties. They received social investment from two sources, which they used to open new shops to help young adults with physical and learning disabilities into work. It's also helped them to become more sustainable.

They received social investment from UnLtd in the form of blended finance (part grant and part loan) and more recently from Resonance using Social Investment Tax Relief.

If you’re new to the world of social investment, or you just want to hear more about individual experiences, we're sure you'll find this podcast helpful.

Ray Hughes, Wellington Orbit, took on SITR and community shares to transform an HSBC building in Wellington. From a bank to a new arthouse, cinema and café bar. In this podcast Ray shares how they made the vision a reality.

Ray's story is unique and something any social business can learn from during their social investment journey. The money has enabled them to lease the building and to carry out a substantial amount of the development work, giving a centre to the town that will not only boost community spirit but also upskill local people.

Tracee McAtear is a Pastor for Connect Church UK. A vibrant city centre church based in Birmingham.

We don't often hear about funding challenges for faith-based organisations in the social sector, so we're sure you'll find this podcast really interesting.

After all, funding a church must have different rules and regulations to a regular social enterprise? Or does it...

The reality of course is that no two social enterprises have the same funding story.

In fact, despite us having a fair amount of coverage on social enterprises and charities in Birmingham, this is our first story of social investment being used to help a church in Birmingham.

The world of social investment can be pretty hard to get your head around, so we're delighted to share this podcast with you to help you understand a real experience of the process.

Spitfire provides free, confidential and impartial advice for people in Birmingham. To date, they've rescheduled more than £2million worth of debt. In 2018 alone 130 people accessed their employment service.

We all know the arrival of people fleeing their homes to move to the UK is an ongoing global crisis. A crisis which the UK isn't fully resourced to support. But what is less discussed is the role social investment play in this.

Richard Thickpenny shares insights into the development of 'Yield Sharing Finance'. Richard works for social enterprise Ashley Community Housing (ACH). Together with Resonance Limited, a social investor, the two organisations created the Yield Sharing Investment Model. Compliant with Islamic Law, this fund also provides a return to investors.

This is an ethical and innovative Sharia-compliant financing model, which is being used to purchase properties to house refugees. An interesting and unique approach to the way social investment can help improve lives across the UK.

To learn more about social investment, subscribe to our channel and go to www.goodfinance.org.uk

Stacey-Jade Mason formed Creative Optimistic Visions inspired by her own life experiences.

They took on investment for the purpose of securing a salary for two full-time members of staff and approximately 5 volunteers, in turn increasing service delivery and social impact, generating sustainable revenue from sales of services rather than reliant on grant funding. The investment supported securing an additional unit to deliver our services.

In this podcast, Stacey-Jade gives you an inside look into the challenges she faced when going for investment. She also shares some top tips for anybody feeling hesitant around taking on a loan.