Better Society Capital’s Post

Lovely to see Stephen Timms shining a light on ways to bring new investment and impact investment into public service transformation. There is a lot of progress in asset and capital backed impact investment - albeit scope to do much more - and it would be great if this could be replicated in tackling the most complex social challenges. That's my area of interest and where I have worked my entire career. As a provider of services, an advisor, a commissioner and as an impact investor. There are many areas where we have evidence and data to support and scale impact investment approaches to tackle these challenges: education; skills & productivity; refugee integration; children's services; adult social care; mental health; employability/economic inactivity; financial exclusion; youth offending; homelessness; and so on. Over the last 30 years I have delivered and managed investments in all these areas and a few more. Much of this informs better ways to support early intervention and prevention - and create long term system change and ultimately system savings. In terms of social outcome partnerships - still a niche and emerging investment sector - it is also important that social and impact investors are repaid when those outcomes are delivered. This requires changes to commissioning approaches - and many people are working on that. I have an investment that has delivered c £960k of outcomes for a vulnerable client group but which the investor has not been able to have the investment repaid. This is a unique and complex situation and I am working with many people to see if a solution can be found. However, it is important to build the impact and social investment sector that we find these solutions. Otherwise, we will not be able to scale. Walking towards the difficult issues and developing new ways of funding innovation and new ways of working is hard. We will come across lots of challenges. As a sector, we need to work in partnership with government to find ways so that all impact investors are repaid when outcomes in outcome partnerships are delivered. So, I'll continue to support and applaud and develop these approaches whilst addressing the challenges in making the investment model work effectively. And of course learn from the decisions and mistakes along the way.

The UK will not grow without the engagement of the impact and Social Economy. Sir Stephen Timms is spot on in his analysis. I would go further in saying that the distinction between a so called ‘social economy ‘ and the other economy occupied by over leveraged water companies, and the influence this economy has on our politics is false, there is only one economy and its ether social or it is’nt. The current economic paradigm and the notion of the free market is a misnomer, one only has to note the growth of food banks, homelessness, illness caused by poverty form birth, poor housing and discrimination to know that someone always pays. This is’nt to say that I am against a market economy I’m not. I just think that the notion that it is a force of nature as opposed to a man (literally in too many cases ) made construct ansd therefore capable of being engineered and managed to decrease inequality and inequity while still producing profit, growth and innovation is for the birds. My own Commission on social finance published our report in 2021 showed the potential for growth if only the investments were made in the so called social economy. More to the point we also showed that we were leaving value and growth on the table by practising alarming discrimination in the investment against people who look like me and Stephen Bediako, women and people who don’t live in London all this is leaving opportunity on the table crippling the Uk economy not just from faster growth but also equitable growth that starts to fix the regional disparities that were defined in the largely failed attempt to ‘level up’. The New Govt needs to embrace the whole economy and make it service its intention of creating a better society for everyone not just those born with the winning ticket or the means to borrow it for a while. This is why #Social Enterprise Uk established the Future economy alliance in attempt to lift the eyes of our new government to the opportunity of creating growth and an economy fit for all of us.

It's pretty rare to see candidates pitching new policy proposals in the final throes of an election campaign - so this is a really interesting intervention by Sir Stephen Timms. It goes to the heart of a very important question about how Labour will make change happen in a tight financial environment. It sets out some new policy proposals on how we can harness philanthropy, social investment, impact investing (and specifically Blended Finance) and purposeful business in order to address entrenched issues such as homelessness, long-term unemployment or child poverty. #BlendedFinance #SocialInvestment #ImpactInvesting #Philanthropy #ImpactEconomy

#TheCherubsAreComing 👼 Was very interested to learn this morning that Gordon Brown and I share similar visions on investing for our little Cherubs 👼 . My 20yr Pledge for Cherubs 👇 To help facilitate £25m worth of ZVaR* Cherub NFTs for 7,000 1yr olds from poorer, underprivileged communities across the UK every year for the next 20yrs. *Zero Value at Risk Assets are purposefully designed to deliver Alpha without increasing investment portfolio risk. The Cherub Platform adopts Best Use Of Money (BUOM) principles and v2.0 of the 3PPS Framework is being built on the BUOM.app. The 3PPS Framework (v1.0) has a 14yr track record of delivering Alpha to 3 Cohorts, without increasing Investment Risk or adding extra 'Out of Pocket' expenses for Retail Savers until investment returns agreed at outset are delivered. This combination has been making UKFS history every payday since October 2010. BUOM has a focus on People and Planet outcomes, connecting Caring Founders, SMEs and Workers with Wealthy Philanthropic Asset Owners to help create a fairer, cleaner and more equitable financial eco-system. Cherub NFTs are part of a unique social impact experiment to educate Gen Alpha on Early Stage Investing, Investment Risk, Finance for Purpose, Philanthropy and Power of 10 (10×) Community Projects. #CaringIsSharing 💚 is core to BUOM's education principles. Our little Cherubs 👼 are Digital Natives and likely to require 100yrs+ of financial support and guidance. Fintech 2.0 must focus on Better Outcomes for Consumers and Society. BUOM principles seek to address unmet needs by investing at the earliest possible opportunity, in order to tackle Cost Of Delay Dynamics (CODD). It is time to address the big white elephant in Pensions La La Land and Retirement planning to ensure that our little Cherubs 👼 inherit sustainable wealth that lasts a lifetime. #BUOM ‐-----------------‐-------------- ♻️ The BUOM.app is a market leading Web3 Fintech Disruptor combining Green Finance, Pensions, Investment, Savings, Property and Professional Advisory sectors. 💚 If you would like to join a Financial Revolution for Good let's connect and explore synergies.

💡 In City AM this week, former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Sir Stephen Timms argues that if Labour wins the #generalelection, they should forge a strategic partnership with the #ImpactEconomy – social and impact investors, philanthropists, and purpose-driven businesses able to contribute to Labour’s ambitions.   We agree that the next government will need to be imaginative in mobilising resources to help deliver their ambitions; the #ImpactEconomy is essential to drive this progress.   Stephen's calls for an Office for the #ImpactEconomy within HM Treasury – which could unlock *up to £50bn of additional #SocialImpactInvestment over the next decade* – are extremely welcome. Blending public investment with private will be essential.   🎯 We support calls for an increased use of #SocialOutcomesContracts to tackle entrenched issues such as child poverty and long-term unemployment; the approach generates nearly £9 of public value for every £1 spent. Advocates include former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who proposes a £1 billion children's fund supported by outcomes contracts, to give every child the best possible start in life.   🏠 Any future government could also extend the National Wealth Fund model to other key priorities like affordable housing, where #SocialImpactInvestors have kept 3,300 people facing homelessness out of temporary accommodation.   Read how a future government can effectively leverage #SocialImpactInvestment 👇 https://lnkd.in/e8KU2DGP   #ImpactEconomy #InvestforImpact #BlendedFinance #Philanthropy #PurposeDrivenBusiness #SocialInnovation

Fantastic to see the case made today in City AM for how impact investing could help an incoming government address its social and environmental priorities. Plus great stats in this post from Dominic Llewellyn on the potential economic benefits. Sir Stephen Timms, former Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, explains how, "a strategic partnership between Government and the impact economy is essential to mobilising the resources, expertise, and innovation to drive transformative progress." He highlights the power of using public money to attract private capital, so there is more investment going where it is most needed - into communities across the UK, housing, and green energy. At the Impact Investing Institute, we work to accelerate this approach to investment. We partner to come up with fresh solutions that help private finance address societal challenges like preventative health, left-behind neighbourhoods, and a fair transition to net zero. There are plenty of models for how we can do it, and plenty of appetite to do more of it. Let’s harness this opportunity, and embed and extend this way of working across government and the private sector to unlock resources towards shared goals at scale. #ImpactEconomy #ImpactInvesting

The investment leveraged by the third sector is very rarely mentioned or properly valued in economic development policy and practice, yet is a key mechanism for increasing impact whilst reducing pressures on the public purse. At a time of rising need, and reducing public spend, it's great to see ideas like this being fronted. Through the lens of place, focusing on key urban centres like Glasgow City Region, how might we galvanize the collective efforts and shared investments across all levels of Government (UK, Scotland, Local) to leverage and maximise wider investments to drive impact in our communities and economy....

Thrilled to see former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Sir Stephen Timms champion the creation of an Office for the #ImpactEconomy in City AM — and delighted that this echoes ideas in our #GoodBusinessManifesto! With constrained public spending, the next government has a game-changing opportunity to harness the power of the #ImpactEconomy — a coalition of purpose-driven businesses, social & impact investors and philanthropists — to unlock a potential £700 billion for national priorities. Previous attempts to collaborate with the Impact Economy have failed to fully tap into its potential. Prioritising partnerships with businesses, social & impact investors and philanthropists could help tackle the UK’s most pressing social, environmental and economic challenges. Here’s what an Office for the #ImpactEconomy could help achieve: 📈 Boost UK GDP by £149 billion and business R&D by £116 billion annually, and increase capital investment by £86 billion 💷 Support a £5.3bn pay rise for the lowest paid 💡 Unlock up to £50bn in social impact investment to tackle social issues and inequalities 🏢 Boost employment and reduce benefits payments by nearly £1 billion 🏡 Increase social housing availability tenfold by 2035, contributing £50 billion towards social & affordable housing  🌱 Double environmental philanthropy to £5.4 billion  🎯 Establish a £1bn Missions Fund for social outcomes partnerships to tackle child poverty, reduce reoffending and improve youth outcomes, generating nearly £9 of public value for every £1 spent 🏥 Deliver around £2 billion of fiscal savings on health spending 📢 Show your support by re-sharing this post with #ImpactEconomy. Read Sir Stephen Timms’ article: https://lnkd.in/e8KU2DGP Read our #GoodBusinessManifesto: https://lnkd.in/eiV4Tree

Great to see Sir Stephen Timms arguing for the important role of impact investment and philanthropy to deliver wellbeing outcomes. The same is true for the mainstream economy. If it is not delivering wellbeing outcomes, where is its legitimacy? My blog makes the case for a #WellbeingEconomy and summarises why the current economic model delivers unsustainable outcomes. https://shorturl.at/WAFXm https://lnkd.in/eZTybvZ9

Great to see Sir Stephen Timms call for an Office for the #ImpactEconomy - an idea we also put forward in our #GoodBusinessManifesto. As a joint Treasury-Business and Trade unit, this would draw in support from business, impact investment and philanthropy and have game-changing impact on the UK's toughest social, environmental and economic challenges. ➡ https://t.ly/XgSAo