Project: Supporting Social Investment in Suffolk

Grant: £60,000

Community Action Suffolk (CAS) aims to increase the number of organisations in Suffolk receiving social investment. To do this, the project will work with both sides of the social investment market: to provide diagnostic and investment-readiness support for potential investees, and to extend the range of social investment offerings in Suffolk.

The project will be delivered by CAS, in partnership with a number of local organisations and agencies, and the main part of the grant will be used to fund a new post of Social Investment Officer who will coordinate the work and, importantly, act as a bridge to match needs of VCSE organisations with the development of social investment models and offers. Activities will include mapping current social investment opportunities and, on the investee side, consultation and analysis of need, delivering awareness raising and investment readiness training to local and establishing peer support networks.

On the investor side, the project will include exploring how needs can be met through different social investment products with the aim of developing a “step up fund” and/or blended finance.  Finally, the partnership will produce a Suffolk VCSE Social Finance Strategy, which will form part of the County Council’s overall Finance Strategy. With this project CAS expects that the understanding of impact measurement will be improved both for investors and investees, and the social investment landscape in Suffolk will be larger and better understood, with an increased amount of social investment coming into the county.