Commercialising social impact investment means ensuring that the economic incentives exist for firms to align their actions with the goals of society. That’s the objective of Better Society Capital (BSC).
Founded in 2012 under the name Big Society Capital, BSC started with £400m from dormant bank accounts, alongside £200m from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest.
It commits capital to specialist fund managers and intermediaries, focused on delivering a positive impact. BSC describes itself as a “social impact wholesaler”, acting as a fund of funds for impact investors.
Its goal is to be a first mover, encouraging co-investments from other capital sources that will help to develop new markets, and commercialise social impact opportunities.
On today’s Stories of Transformation we’re joined by Gemma Bourne, a managing director at BSC who leads its social property investment strategy.
We cover how BSC works to create new markets (1:35); encouraging outside capital (2:34); BSC’s base of permanent capital (4:37); measuring social impact (5:36); social housing KPIs (8:10) and how BSC approaches mixed-use projects (9:35); manager selection (10:32); the attributes BSC are looking for (11:12); and balancing impact with financial returns (13:33).
