Project: Impact Investing Reconnecting to the Crowd

Grant: £28,000

Big Issue Invest (BII) has seen from its own portfolio that product affordability and failure to provide patient repayment structures contributes to the majority of failed applications. BII has previously tested a more patient approach using corporate funding through the Corporate Social Venturing (CSV) programme, which supported early stage social businesses through investment, business development and cross-sector partnerships. BII now wants to develop a finance facility that enables it to offer similar patient products on a broader scale, with low interest rates and flexible repayments. If this project is successful, BII will be able to create a fund or suite of products that enables it to offer an alternative to short-term lending. The increased availability of small loans with low interest rates and flexible or longer-term repayment periods will increased the number of organisations that social investment is suitable for.