New social investment pilot funds to be launched

Funds worth up to £10 million are to be launched for pilot schemes in the third sector by the Social Investment Business (SIB).

The SIB, which invests in a range of civil society organisations, told Third Sector that if the new funds are successful,  it will look at raising much larger sums of money.

Jonathan Jenkins, chief executive of the social lender, told the news provider: "If this works, we could look at raising a fund of £25 million or £50 million.

"Before we can raise that sort of money, though, we'll need a track record, which is why we'll have these pilots."

Although it has not yet settled on the criteria for applying for funding from the pilot fund, the SIB said it is already looking at ways of raising further money, with charity investments one particular area it is considering.

Although charities are increasingly considering social investments, research by WM Fund Monitor suggests that total amount invested by these organisations last year actually fell by 2.7 per cent.

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