Big Society Capital (BSC), Access - the Foundation for Social Investment and the Association of Charitable Foundations have come together to commission a piece of research on the nature of catalytic capital. The report is the first in-depth study on the use of catalytic capital in the UK and aims to provide insight into the opportunities and challenges that exist when it comes to improving access and growing the supply of catalytic capital here in the UK.
BSC believes this type of capital is essential for growing the market for social impact investment, enabling more social purpose organisations and impact investment funds to improve lives.
Stephen Muers, chief executive of BSC says: “The scale of investment needed to tackle significant social issues in the UK is many times what is currently available. This report points to ways in which catalytic capital can be part of the solution: we have increasing examples from the UK and globally of using capital in a smart way that catalyses many times that in investment and impact”.
Seb Elsworth, chief executive of Access adds: “The report powerfully shows the scale of unmet demand for catalytic capital in the UK, with the potential to leverage vast sums to drive impact. Access has been contributing blended finance to meet part of this need for the last 8 years but no one source will be able to meet this need. Foundations and government will need to use all tools at our collective disposal to rise to this opportunity”.
More information here