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Dormant financial assets should be used for scaling social impact

Dormant financial assets should be used for scaling social impact

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UnLtd employee

UnLtd position

Dormant financial assets should be used for scaling social impact

We urge Ministers to direct part of the £2billion of recently discovered dormant assets towards investment in incubation and acceleration support for impactful social ventures over the longer-term We welcomed the recent publication of the Dormant Assets Commission report to government. Money lying dormant in stocks, shares and securities could help the whole of the social impact sector overcome some of its biggest challenges – particularly addressing the issue of a sustainable source of funding and support for social ventures looking to scale up. Mark Norbury, UnLtd CEO, said: “Tackling society’s most complex challenges requires a radical shift in thinking and practice. Social entrepreneurs have solutions, but face challenges when scaling up and taking on investment. That is why we are calling for some of these funds to be invested in acceleration support for social entrepreneurs over the longer term. Our Big Venture Challenge accelerator has shown that this approach works, allowing social ventures to grow their impact and make a real and lasting change to British society.” There will be a temptation to use the new dormant assets to further expand the supply of social investment finance available to charities and social enterprises. However, unless matched by demand-side measures, this would risk overheating the social investment market. Already, there is evidence that the binding constraint to the social investment market is not more finance, but building a pipeline of impactful, growth-ready social ventures that can convert that capital into impact. The scale of the available dormant assets identified in today’s report offers an opportunity to think big and to deliver systemic change. Using some of the assets to set up a standing social incubator fund would be a bold move that would deliver social and financial return for generations to come. A series of accelerator programmes focused on place, industry or impact could leverage private investment through corporate social venturing. There is evidence that this approach works. Four years ago, we set up the Big Venture Challenge, backed by the Big Lottery Fund. This accelerator programme has supported 120 ambitious social ventures to raise investment and scale their impact. Big Venture Challenge has supported social ventures like Harry Specters, a UK-based artisan chocolate maker, dedicated to creating employment opportunities for people on the autism spectrum. Mona Shah, the founder of Harry Specters, believes this kind of investment could make a difference. She said: “Working with UnLtd’s Big Venture Challenge transformed our business. The funding, expertise and support we received from the team at UnLtd allowed us to overcome many hurdles we were facing; particularly around routes to market and scaling up our venture to meet increasing demand. From our experience, we have proved that social ventures can change lives and deliver new jobs for the people that need them the most. Let’s hope this allows us to do more of this.”