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Ask the Experts

In the fifth workshop, at the request of CSG members, we brought some experts in to talk about their experiences of social investment
Social InvestmentIs the use of repayable finance to help an organisation achieve social impact. The investment can take various forms, commonly a loan, or debt type form with interest, and is often used to develop new or existing activities that generate income. The requirement to finance a loan usually means that the investment should not be used as a substitute for a revenue stream; if an organisation is not trading it may not have a way of repaying the money and therefore should not consider taking on social investment.
. 

The first panel was made up of Amir Rizwan; Big Society Capital’s Relationships Director, Chris Wood, also a social investment expert; has been our guide for the last four workshops, and Alex Jeremy who is Head of Partnerships at Poplar HARCA and a Trustee for BD Giving.

I found the discussions with the CSG to be a great insight into how communities can play a more active role in shaping the way resources are distributed and how programmes are designed. I was very impressed with the questions being asked by the group and the real passion they had in looking at how this programme could play a role in reshaping the borough as well as the role that investments can play at a local level in growing impact and facilitating meaningful long-term social change.

Amir Rizwan

This panel was followed by a second panel which, it was revealed on the evening, was made up of the CSG members themselves.

As a group, they bring a diversity of experiences and perspectives that are important to the integrity of our decision making, and the last four months of research, training and team building qualifies the CSG members as experts.

You can watch that panel here: 

What next? 

The CSG are still actively researching investment opportunities, which they will be assessing against, their investment tools, the quadrilateral and the bullseye before our next meeting on the 28th April.

In that meeting, BD Giving’s trustees and the CSG will come together to share a draft investment policy
Investment Policy A strategic document that outlines how an organisation will manage their investment assets (the “Portfolio”), with often a set of financial (and sometimes impact) objectives and boundaries.
. They will collaborate on the development of the policy before it is finalised in May. 

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

Find out more about the CSG members here.

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More notes

In the fifth workshop, at the request of CSG members, we brought some experts in to talk about their experiences of social investment
Social InvestmentIs the use of repayable finance to help an organisation achieve social impact. The investment can take various forms, commonly a loan, or debt type form with interest, and is often used to develop new or existing activities that generate income. The requirement to finance a loan usually means that the investment should not be used as a substitute for a revenue stream; if an organisation is not trading it may not have a way of repaying the money and therefore should not consider taking on social investment.
. 

The first panel was made up of Amir Rizwan; Big Society Capital’s Relationships Director, Chris Wood, also a social investment expert; has been our guide for the last four workshops, and Alex Jeremy who is Head of Partnerships at Poplar HARCA and a Trustee for BD Giving.

I found the discussions with the CSG to be a great insight into how communities can play a more active role in shaping the way resources are distributed and how programmes are designed. I was very impressed with the questions being asked by the group and the real passion they had in looking at how this programme could play a role in reshaping the borough as well as the role that investments can play at a local level in growing impact and facilitating meaningful long-term social change.

Amir Rizwan

This panel was followed by a second panel which, it was revealed on the evening, was made up of the CSG members themselves.

As a group, they bring a diversity of experiences and perspectives that are important to the integrity of our decision making, and the last four months of research, training and team building qualifies the CSG members as experts.

You can watch that panel here: 

What next? 

The CSG are still actively researching investment opportunities, which they will be assessing against, their investment tools, the quadrilateral and the bullseye before our next meeting on the 28th April.

In that meeting, BD Giving’s trustees and the CSG will come together to share a draft investment policy
Investment Policy A strategic document that outlines how an organisation will manage their investment assets (the “Portfolio”), with often a set of financial (and sometimes impact) objectives and boundaries.
. They will collaborate on the development of the policy before it is finalised in May. 

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

Find out more about the CSG members here.

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Barking and Dagenham Giving is supported by City Bridge Trust, the funding arm of The City of London Corporation’s charity, the Lankelly Chase Foundation and the National Lottery Community Fund. Barking and Dagenham Giving is registered in England | Registered number: 9922379 – Charity number: 1166335 | Registered office: 50 Cambridge Road, Barking, Essex, IG11 8FG