A slightly more philosophical push from London to appeal beyond the metropolis while ‘down under’ an Australian billionaire leads the SIB movement forward in the state of Melbourne. Great stuff!
Australia – Waislitz Launches ‘Social Impact Bonds’(subscription)
Damon Kitney – The Australian
Billionaire Melbourne investor Alex Waislitz has challenged the state and federal governments, the Future Fund, and institutional and wealthy private investors to back using social impact bonds to help channel more private sector funding into supporting the nation’s most pressing social needs.
Mr Waislitz, who is also deputy president of Collingwood Football Club, made the rallying call as he announced a plan to raise $100 million through the issue of social impact bonds for the Magpie Nest Housing Project, which provides affordable accommodation and mentoring support for homeless people.
Last year he revealed plans to give $50m to social venture capital projects over at least the next 10 years, using the principles honed at his private investment group, Thorney.
Two years ago the Waislitz Foundation and Thorney teamed up with the Pratt family’s Pratt Foundation, run by Mr Waislitz’s wife Heloise, the Collingwood Foundation and The Salvation Army to tackle the issue of homelessness through the launch of the Magpie Nest. The group now runs a number of houses for homeless people in Melbourne and Mr Waislitz wants to expand the program.
Social Investment Is Important Outside Of London Too
Geetha Rabindrakumar – Civil Society
Social finance is not just relevant to large London-based charities, says Geetha Rabindrakumar of Big Society Capital.
We often hear that social investment is only of interest to policy makers in Westminster and ex-City bankers – and that social investment is irrelevant for smaller locally run organisations. In meeting organisations around the country over the past few months, I’ve found it really refreshing to see the interest and examples of social investment being used in practice – the insights from these organisations will continue to help to shape our work to increase access to social investment for charities and social enterprises.