The challenge
The UK’s social investment landscape is evolving, but there remain many challenges and barriers to its potential as a transformative force for social impact. Those we have experienced and researched include:
- Philanthropic organisations need greater case studies, regulatory certainty and support to test new and innovative forms of funding
- Social purpose organisations need better information, access and engagement to identify appropriate funding types – whether grants, debt or equity – that best meet their needs
- The social sector needs to improve the quality of shared data and insights to identify and fill funding gaps
Our contribution
We are running an ongoing programme of research, discussion and collaboration with funders and partners across the UK’s social investment landscape including CAF Venturesome, Unltd and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. We aim to unearth evidence and data to better understand challenges and barriers, identify opportunities to open up new forms of funding, and share insights widely to empower different funders and organisations to make change. As part of this, we are always actively seeking collaborators and partners to test new approaches to social investment – especially patient, risk-bearing capital, following our research on this funding.
We recognise the need for different types of capital in this market with impact driven ventures often requiring capital that is patient, flexible and aligned to impact ambitions.
David Bartram, Director of Ventures at Unltd
So far…
- Consultation with leading charitable foundations
- Unlocking More Philanthropic Capital discussion paper highlighting best practice
- Research conducted with 300+ social purpose organisations in England and Wales
- Beyond Demand report revealing social sector’s need for patient, risk-bearing capital
- Calls for further research and enquiry
Research

Beyond Demand: the social sector’s need for patient, risk-bearing capital
May 29, 2020
Research conducted by Shift in partnership with CAF Venturesome, Unltd and principal funder Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

Unlocking More Philanthropic Capital for Social Investment: An Exploration of Best Practice
November 20, 2018
Improving the financial support for social entrepreneurs who are using non-traditional business models and structures
Comment
Back to the future: Redesigning social investment to deliver what we promised
In this blog we share our views on how social investment can be brought back to the future and re-designed …
Comment: Social investment needs to re-establish its true north
In this joint response to the Adebowale Commission on Social Investment report, UnLtd, Big Issue Invest and Shift confirm their …
Getting out of debt: Solving the equity equation for social innovation
Kicking off a series with Pioneers Post, Shift’s Commercial Director shares our own experience accessing social investment.
Beyond Demand: the social sector’s real need for patient capital
We’re publishing brand new social investment research that reveals a significant funding gap in the social sector. Here, Commercial Lead …
Improving the financial support for social entrepreneurs who are using non-traditional business models and structures
Alongside more traditional charities, a new generation of social purpose organisations has emerged, and the social entrepreneurs behind them are …
Coverage
Seb Elsworth: Why the sector needs patient finance now more than ever,
Third Sector, 10 June 2020