June 2015 – Knowledge Bank

Section/Subsection / Title / Link / Description
Starting up – How to start a social enterprise
Useful contacts and links for start-ups / NatWest SE100 Index / / The NatWest SE100 Index tracks data from all the top social enterprises. It is the only live, open-access platform for social enterprise.
Social Enterprises which join the SE100 can benefit from increased exposure amongst peers, investors and decision-makers and become part of an ever-growing community of socially and environmentally responsible businesses.
Business Toolkit for Start-Ups / Winning Together: a guide to successful corporate-startup collaborations / / Winning Together: a guide to successful corporate-startup collaborations aims to help corporates reap the benefits of collaboration with start-ups. Specifically, the guide aims to:
  • help executives and innovation managers understand what value working with start-ups can bring to their organisation;
  • provide them with a three–step approach and framework to evaluate and select suitable programmes to engage with start-ups;
  • empower those who want to champion start-up engagement inside their company with case studies and stories that clearly illustrate the transformative benefits of collaborations.

Measuring your impact / Impact
measurement
in impact
investing - learning from practice / / Impact measurement in impact investing - learning from practice discusses how Nesta has implemented evidence and impact measurement into its investment process and support for investees. Nesta now integrate impact measurement into their day to day activities and balance that impact with the commercial aspects of running a company. This report presents five key lessons which they have learn throughout this process.
Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology to account for value for money of public health interventions: a systematic review / / Increased scarcity of public resources has led to a drive to account for value-for-money of interventions. The social return on investment (SROI) methodology has capacity to measure broader socio-economic outcomes.
This review provides an overview of SROI application in public health, explores lessons learnt from previous studies and makes recommendations for future SROI application in public health.
Growing a Social Enterprise
Finance and Equity / Impact investing top tips / / This publication contains top tips from Nesta Impact Investments for social entrepreneurs raising investment.
Policy / Code of Practice for Reducing Bureaucracy in Grant Funding to the Voluntary and Community Sector / / The Code of Practice will be applicable to all central government funders involved in providing revenue grants to Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations and is geared to reduce the administrative burden associated with grant funding, allowing for a greater focus on the deliverables/outcomes to be achieved by the project.
Social Enterprise Knowledge Vault
Social Clauses / How Barcelona City Council Totally Wins at Social Clauses / / Case study of how Barcelona City uses social clauses in procurement to create social inclusion.
Social Enterprise News and Media / Deputy First Minister of Scotland backs social enterprise / / The Deputy First Minister spoke at the Social Enterprise Summit in Inverness, saying social ventures were central to the Scottish government's aims.
Social Enterprise and the Private Sector / Corporate Social Impact Strategies – New Paths for Collaborative Growth / / New research by the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) reveals that the level of interest in investment orientated corporate social impact initiatives is increasing.
The report highlights success stories in collaboration and co-investment between corporations such as Danone and venture philanthropy and social investment organisations such as PhiTrust.
Social Innovation / Insights on innovation: lessons for the not-for-profit sector / / This report, commissioned by ActionAid and NPC, brings together essays from a wide range of sector leaders on the topic of innovation. The aim of the report is to consider how the sector could be strengthened through a bolder, more innovative approach to its work.
Contributors include Oxfam and Women’s Aid, Capita, BBC, the Jamie Oliver Foundation and NCVO. The essays include ideas ranging from specific ground-breaking projects, to honesty about risk and failure, to developing completely new models for financing charities.
Big Data and Analytics / Performance data of social investment released for first time / http://data.gov.uk/dataset/engagedx-dataset1-sirc-performance-data-of-social-investment-released-for-first-time/ / The EngagedX SIRC Dataset1 represents the largest aggregate study to date of historic social investment performance. Commissioned by the Social Investment Research Council and Royal Bank of Scotland, it uncovers the financial characteristics of deals, including their risk and return.
The data reveals the financial performance of more than 400 closed investment deals in the UK social investment market.
The data model was developed by EngagedX to produce comparable benchmark data, which can help demonstrate the history of social investment and build confidence in the market. The anonymised performance data offers a snapshot of investments, ranging from £2,400 to £2.7m. The data was provided by CAF Venturesome, Key Fund and Social Investment Business on both debt and equity investments made between 2002 and 2014.
Benefacts / / From early in 2016, Benefacts will provide an online portal allowing anyone to access current information on all Irish non-profits.
This will include a listing, developed on a phased basis, for every non-profit currently active in Ireland, with information about their purposes, their governance and – where this is available – their finances and sources of income.
Users of the data will be able to get a picture not just of the sector and its component parts, but also the contribution of the sector at large to Irish society.