Investing so society profits

Despite difficult economic times interest in social investing has never been stronger. Sparked by TV programmes like the Secret Millionaire, wealthy individuals are increasingly looking to put something back and make a difference in their communities.

Social Enterprise, Create has been one organisation which has benefited from this trend. “Donations in both cash and kind from a variety of individuals have meant that we’ve been able to help lots of homeless and disadvantaged people” said Gary Stott, Deputy Chair.

“Individual generosity has been a huge help in getting us this far”  said CEO Sarah Dunwell, “but as we look to grow faster we know we need to make it easier for people to invest, by putting an appropriate structure in place and making it more effective”. So Create have talked to the experts at accountants PwC and lawyers Addleshaw Goddards and as a result have now launched a brand new investment scheme which will allow anyone interested to invest anything from £10,000 to £2 million in total. 

“After I graduated from a business growth programme, led by Goldman Sachs and Leeds University Business School, “I knew I needed more investment if I was going to expand the service we provided to homeless people” said Sarah. “Raising investment will mean more people can get involved in what Create are doing and that we can help even more people to rebuild their lives”.

Create launched the investment scheme, the first of its kind in the UK to be used in this way, last month at a networking event in central Leeds.

So what’s next? “There’s no time to rest on our laurels, I’ve had some great mentoring from the boss of Goldman Sachs, and that really gave me the confidence to expand, even in these tough times”, says Sarah Dunwell “we are launching our next Create Business Centre in Salford next week, and look forward to working in partnership for change across the community” The Salford launch will be the first of the new Create Business Centres funded through social impact investing.