What is social investment?

At Social Investment Business (SIB) we finance social change. Through a mix of funding, investment and innovation, we back the organisations that make up the social economy – those tackling inequality, improving lives, and driving positive change every day. Our role is to provide the support, flexibility, and trusted partnership they need to thrive.  

While social investment is defined as the use of repayable finance, like loans or shares, to help charities and social enterprises, our work at SIB goes beyond this. As well as repayable finance, we provide a wide range of support to the social sector including grants, blended finance, expert support and innovation. 

As one of the UK’s largest social investors, we’ve deployed over £0.8bn in loans and grants since 2002. We’ve supported more than 6,000 charities and social enterprises to build a fairer society, while using our expertise to research, innovate and advocate for the sector.  

Our priorities

We believe in the power of the social economy to build stronger communities and a fairer society, and see our role as backing those organisations that create positive change every day.  

Driving our work are three core priorities:  

• Green Transition: Tackling the challenges of climate change for the social sector and harnessing the opportunities available from the green transition across energy and nature. 

• Community Infrastructure: Enabling the social economy to maintain and grow sustainable community assets including housing, community buildings and land. 

• Public Services: Ensuring the social economy is at the heart of the renewal and restructure of public services, including design and delivery. 

These priorities represent where we see the opportunities and challenges for the sector, helping to direct our work. 

Read our full 2030 strategy.