It is a simple concept. If you are a social enterprise looking for funds, come to us and we will be able to get you suitable investments and partners – from early-stage investment through to funds for ordinary investors for their ISAs, pensions or savings. We walk the talk. As a social enterprise ourselves we assess our own impact that the people we work with make, through Big Issue vendors and Big Issue Recruit.
If you are a social investor, such as pension funds, charities and endowments, we can place your money to match what social and financial returns you are looking for, and assess the positive societal impact. It’s about relationships, partnerships, joint ventures and products, all fuelled and driven by social entrepreneurs and backed by the social investors who are united in our social mission.
Way back in 1991, when the Big Issue was co-founded by Gordon Roddick and John Bird – now Lord John Bird MBE – Gordon was chair of The Body Shop, an international company listed on the London Stock Exchange that changed the face of the high street. From the very beginning, the Big Issue was launched as a business-like solution to the crisis – not a charity.
The path to what became Big Issue Invest came from what I’d seen in the US with social and community investment, and what John Bird was doing setting up a Social Brokers initiative – matching investors with social enterprises that needed it, such as Belu Water.
In the early 1990s magazine vendors were being mugged by other homeless people. So, we said, “OK, well, why don’t we put your money behind the counter? We’ll put it in the safe overnight, we’ll have a little book, and you can take it out.” This encouraged saving. What we didn’t realise, but were told, was that we were effectively running a bank.
We started off in lending as we understood the challenges to accessing finance that other social enterprises faced; ones that the mainstream investors didn’t understand. We then went into a very early-stage social venturing where corporates helped us nurture and develop social businesses – just as the Body Shop had done with Big Issue. We raised money from private sources, not from the sale of magazines, and that route continues today.
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Next, we went into our more long-term investment funds and pooled pots of money from the likes of pensions schemes and institutions.
Then around 2011, somebody at a City lunch asked me a question: “Why can’t the ordinary person, like a Big Issue reader, invest in your funds?” So, we started to go down that road of democratisation of capital and worked on the public listed funds where anyone could put their money to save for their retirement or an ISA.
One example is the relationship with Columbia Threadneedle for the UK Social Bond Fund, which started over a decade ago and whose investment philosophy is for a more geographically balanced and inclusive UK economy. Why are these collaborations important? It’s because of their huge reach. When you’ve got that big reach, those companies that have sales and marketing resources can get to so many more people and you can make things happen at scale.
So what do some of these organisations that BII invests in look like? One is a recruitment agency, Neuropool, setup for people who are neurodiverse to help them into employment. Another is Harry Specters, a chocolate maker. Its two founders have a son with autism, so they needed to find him work that was safe, and they settled on making chocolate. It is an incredible business and the workforce is made up of people with autism.
Another recruitment business we invest in was set up for offenders, SWIM (Support When it Matters). It works with people just before they come out of prison to reduce their chances of reoffending. The list goes on. You may have read about one of the most recent – Great Oaks school in Hounslow – an award-winning facility for pupils with special education needs.
I love the poet William Blake, and this quote sums up for me the pioneering and challenging spirit which runs through Big Issue Group and Big Issue Invest: “What is now proved was once only imagined.”
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
You can have a lot of ideas, but the key to realising them is having a great team of people. People who have one foot in the ideas camp and one foot in the ‘make it happen’ camp. They are the unsung heroes and heroines of the movement, and of the frontline social businesses we have invested in, preventing poverty for future generations over the last 20 years. Last year alone, we worked with 139 social enterprises, that work with 10,000 people and reach 1.9 million more.
And thank you to all those non-executive directors and advisors who have freely given their time, experience and commitment and who have helped take Big Issue Invest to where it is today.
Let’s just celebrate how Big Issue Invest has helped and enabled over 500 organisations in its first 20 years, and what it will achieve in the next two decades. It has changed lives in the same way the magazine has and continues to. It’s why we should be proud to be called social merchant bankers.
Any reference to past performance should not be treated as a reliable indicator of future results. As with all investments, your capital is at risk when investing and neither financial nor social returns can be guaranteed. Anyone considering an investment within the fund, should ensure they understand the risks of investing, and may wish to consider seeking the advice of an FCA authorised Financial Advisor.
Big Issue Invest: a timeline
2005 Big Issue Invest was born to extend Big Issue’s mission by financing the growth of sustainable social enterprises, with investment from HBOS and Government Phoenix funding
2007 Spark programme launched, precursor to Corporate Social Venturing (CSV) and Power Up programmes
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
2010-2013 £9.3m raised for first investment fund, Social Enterprise Investment Fund
2012 BII merged with the Social Enterprise Loan Fund
2012 BII raised £4.8m from the Regional Growth Fund
2013 First CSV, The Tech for Good Challenge, launched to transform young people’s lives
2014 Partnered with Columbia Threadneedle to launch CT UK Social Bond Fund with BII as Social Adviser – first public market fund collaboration for the Big Issue Group
2015 £10m raised from The Greater London Authority for affordable housing projects
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
2015 CSV II launched
2015-2017 Raised £24m to launch Social Enterprise Investment Fund II
2016 £5m raised to launch Impact Loans England
2017 £10m raised for Outcomes Investment Fund
2017 Partnered with Aberdeen Standard Investments to launch ASI Employment Opportunities Fund with BII as Social Adviser
2018 Launch of Power Up Scotland – corporate social venturing programme with £750k in loans for early-stage businesses
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
2021 Partnered with other social investors to deliver Social Enterprise Support Fund, distributing £2.7m grants to 105 organisations to help them restart and recover after Covid-19
2022 Raised £10m to launch Growth Impact Fund
2023 Raised £20m to launch Fund IV
2023 Launched Flexible Enterprise Lending Scheme – £3m programme
2023 Launched Power Up London, an accelerator programme for early-stage social businesses, supporting 39 ventures to date
2024 Launched Enterprise Growth for Communities, £12.1m loan programme
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
If you are an investor looking to create social impact, or a social enterprise in need of funding, get in touch with Big Issue Invest.
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