CSG Members ‘Cautiously Empowered’ to Make Decisions on Investment

This blog summarises what Barking & Dagenham Giving’s Steering Group did in their fourth workshop where we explored our attitudes to risk and return.

What happened in workshop 4

In the fourth workshop of the Community Steering Group (CSG) we discussed and mapped our attitude to risk and return. Ably facilitated by Lara Norris and Chris Woods from Curiosity Society we were introduced to a model called The Quadrilateral and the principles that fund managers consider when making investment decisions:

1. Risk is the chance that you won’t get the return you expected from an investment. We reduce risk by understanding what guarantees attached to the return or by doing due diligence (our homework) on the investment.

2. Return – The amount (in money) we expect to get back from our investment. This is usually shown as a percentage gained over a set period of time.

3. Impact – The changes to the world we expect to see because of our investment. This could be  numbers of people helped, the amount of change or the creation of things that make the world better.

4. Liquidity – Refers tohow quickly you can get back the moneyyou have invested (without having to pay a penalty for taking it back).

The quadrilateral

Read about workshops 1, 2, and 3 then hear CSG member Wunmi’s thoughts in this 2-minute video. 

Wunmi describes the quadrilateral

What’s next for the CSG?

CSG members will now use the quadrilateral and The Bullseye to decide whether they want to put forward any deals they’ve found to the group.  Workshop 5, which takes place on 28th April 2022 is a significant milestone for the group as they will present their investment policy to BD Giving’s trustee board. The CSG is an advisory body, whose remit is to provide recommendations to the trustees. Our trustees will take the CSG’s views into account before any investment decisions are made.

Find out more

If you would like to find out more about the CSG or the Community Endowment Fund you can contact Cameron Bray at hello@bdgiving.org.uk or sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop with all our work in the borough.