A brief state of the world follows a half right analysis by Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett. I tend to agree that social enterprise is merely a wrapper on what is a normal company structure and will prove a fad which is absorbed but SIB is different, that had a future and he is quite wrong to deprecate the concept.
Social Investment Is A ‘Passing Phase’, Says Trustee Of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Susannah Birkwood – Third Sector
‘The public doesn’t care – and nor do I,’ says Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett, former chief executive of Marie Curie
Social investment is a “passing phase” that will be have been forgotten in 15 years’ time, a trustee of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the UK’s biggest investor in social impact bonds, told delegates at the Lord Mayor’s Charity Leadership Programme Charity Chairs Conference yesterday.
Speaking at the event in London, Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett, who was CEO of Marie Curie Cancer Care until 2012, said that Esmée Fairbairn had been internally polarised in its views about the value of social investment and social impact bonds – despite having made at least 63 investments totalling £23m through its social investment fund since 2008.
The Most Important Things In The Social Investment World Right Now
Isabelle de Grave – Pioneer’s Post
US to consider passing a Social Impact Bond Act. US Congressmen John Delaney and Todd Young have introduced the Social Impact Bond Act in the US, a new piece of legislation, which if put in place would enable the U.S. federal government to allocate $300 million to SIBs. Intended to save taxpayers money, a social impact bond (a public-private partnership not a bond) uses private capital to fund a social sector organisation as it delivers a contract to address a social issue for the government. If specific social outcomes are made investors get a return on their investment. The legislation would scale up the use of Social Impact Bonds fostering public-private partnerships that harness philanthropic and other private-sector investments to scale up social and public health programs across the United States.
South Korea looks to implement social impact bonds. CEO of Korea Social Investment Chongsoo Lee announced last week at the Social Enterprise World Forum in Seoul, that South Korea is currently working towards being the first country in Asia to implement a social impact bond model based on those in the UK. “We are currently looking at implementing social investment – particularly Social Impact Bonds – similar to that in the UK and at becoming the first Asian country to do this,” Chongsoo Lee told Pioneers Post at the SEWF 2014.