A brief round-up of developments from the social investment world

Prepared by UKSIF

Big Issue Invest fund receives NESTA and Esmée Fairbairn funding

Big Issue Invest’s £10m Social Enterprise Fund has received a cornerstone investment of £1m from NESTA. This follows a £750,000 commitment from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
www.bigissueinvest.com

Clearlyso holds first social investment ‘speed dating’ event

The event provided an opportunity for 15 social entrepreneurs to pitch to socially-minded institutional investors, private investors and IFAs.
www.clearlyso.com

Vaccine Bond raises £266m from UK investors

The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) offer, issued by HSBC, which closed in May, raised this amount from retail and institutional investors. The funds are used to support vaccination programmes in developing countries.
www.iff-immunisation.org

CDFA’s Inside Out 2008 report finds continued growth in community development finance

The report identifies continued growth in the CDFI sector despite recession and changes in the funding environment. Investment and loan portfolios grew 15% to £331m in 2008.
www.cdfa.org.uk

Government publishes draft legislation for Credit Union reform

The legalisation proposes allowing credit unions to extend membership to new groups including social enterprises and businesses and that credit unions will be able to choose to pay interest on savings instead of a dividend.
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

Adventure Capital Fund evaluation identifies benefits of patient capital

An independent evaluation of the impact of the Adventure Capital Fund has found that the gross income of the trust’s investees grew by over 160% in six years. This compares to an average of 19% for all similar sized registered charities. The fund has also announced with Futurebuilders England the adoption of a new trading name, the Social Investment Business, to bring together all their funds and programmes.
www.adventurecapitalfund.org.uk

Good Deals 2009 social investment conference announced

Good Deals conference is being held on 29th October. Confirmed speakers include David Blood, James Bevan, Antony Ross and Faisel Rahman.
www.good-dealsuk.com

If you require any further information on these stories or have a social investment news item, please contact Adam Ognall, UKSIF deputy chief executive, at adam.ognall@uksif.org