Two interesting stories today. The first discusses the considerable opportunity to improve orphans’ lives through better access to fostering.
The second is very interesting – a bond issuance for traditional (non-SIB) capital market bond structures to enable the third sector to borrow. Somewhere on a shelf gathering dust is a plan I wrote a year or more ago for a full SIB exchange platform – it’s not difficult to do well (well, I suppose, not when you are in our main office which is a leading consultancy on exchanges!) but clearly requires a bit of cash!
Have a good weekend!
UK’s First Social Impact Bond To Fund Foster Placements For Kids In Care
Angel News
UK’s latest Social Impact Bond, launched in Manchester, is the first to fund foster placements for children in residential care.
The ambitious project has been commissioned by Manchester City Council and will be run by Action for Children and funded by the Bridges Social Impact Bond Fund.
The charity will find specialist foster placements for young people who are currently living in residential care homes. The foster carers will be trained to provide multi-dimensional treatment foster care (MTFC), which helps young people with challenging emotional and behavioural difficulties move back into family settings.
Bridges Ventures has been working closely with Manchester City Council and Action for Children to structure this five-year programme. The Bridges Social Impact Bond Fund will provide £1.2m working capital for the scheme.
New Charity Bond Platform To Boost Social Investment Options
Charlotte Malone – blue & green tomorrow
A platform enabling charities to raise medium term debt through bonds listed on the London Stock Exchange will provide social investors more opportunities to have a positive impact with their money, whilst making a financial return.
Retail Charity Bonds, which launched this week, is designed to enable established UK charities, with strong credit worth, to raise capital market debt funding from retail and wholesale investors. Charities will be able to raise funds through five to ten year loans as an alternative to bank debt.
Allia, a charitable community benefit society, has established the initiative in association with Cannacord. It is also supported by a range of organisations, including Big Society Capital, Ecclesiastical Investment Management, Rathbones and Threadneedle Investments.
Tim Jones, chief executive of Allia, described the move as a “major step forward” in offering investors opportunities that provide a financial return whilst creating “tangible social benefit”.
The initiative allows private investors to take a direct approach to their ethical investment and support charities that are delivering social benefits in line with their personal values. This transparent way of operating gives investors the benefit of seeing the impact of their investment.