We are excited to announce the launch of our 'Pay-It-Forward' model for our e-learning programmes. This is designed to tap into the power of community and shared responsibility by enabling investors and commercial organisations to contribute to a fairer, more inclusive learning ecosystem.
At Good Finance, we seek to be a trusted source of information for charities and social enterprises navigating the world of social investment.
Our e-learning programmes have been developed to support learners from across the social economy to build and develop their knowledge of social investment - whether to make an informed decision for their own organisation, support or signpost others, deepen understanding, or build confidence to be part of the decision making process. From feedback gathered, we recognise that our programmes provide immense value for learners from a wide range of organisations and areas of expertise.
To date, we've supported over 250 learners through e-learning programmes including Social Investment Unpicked, Investment Committees of the Future and Bitesize modules - Legal Structures and Due Diligence.
Sector reports and findings have identified that access to social investment is inequitable, and often leaders who are minoritised due to race or disability face disproportionate barriers to accessing investment.
To play a small part in removing a barrier around access to information and contribute towards building a more level playing field, we introduced bursaries. Our goal was to financially support leaders who face barriers to be able to take time out to fully engage with our e-learning programmes.
To date, bursaries were made possible through funding from The Connect Fund, managed by Barrow Cadbury Trust and Access: The Foundation for Social Investment, enabling us to support over 25 leaders to complete Social Investment Unpicked. While the grant we received to provide bursaries has come to an end, we recognise the need to continue to provide financial support to remove the barrier to participation that some leaders may otherwise face.
What is the 'Pay it forward' model?
Our e-learning programmes have, until now, been offered free of charge for all users. It's important for us to emphasise that this will remain the case for the majority of people taking part in our learning. We're asking people, whose organisations' have the means, to pay towards their participation in our learning so we can repurpose 100% of this funding as bursaries for leaders who might otherwise be unable to take part.
We will carry out a pilot in January 2025 for Social Investment Unpicked and take forward any learnings for future e-learning cohorts.
As part of this pilot, learners who meet the following criteria will be invited to 'pay it forward':
- Learners who belong to organisations who are providers of funding/social investors or have a primarily commercial focus;
- Learners who have access to a training budget within their organisation, or whose organisation is able to pay on their behalf.
Everything we do at Good Finance is user tested, and this approach is no different. We tested assumptions around payments with a group of social investors and will incorporate feedback into our pilot. We'll further review this via the pilot and commit to being open and transparent around fees, bursaries and the success of this programme.
Who can access bursaries?
While we recognise that there are many people who would benefit from financial support to take part in e-learning, we prioritise leaders who meet this criteria. This is based on the demographics identified in sector research and reports as being most likely to face barriers when considering or applying for social investment.
When you pay it forward, you're helping to create pathways for talented and passionate leaders to develop knowledge and understanding of social investment. You'll be part of a broader movement towards building a more inclusive social investment ecosystem, and your contribution will make a real, measurable difference.
We’ll communicate on an annual basis the number of leaders who have been supported through our e-learning programmes thanks to the ‘Pay-It-Forward’ model.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us on this journey so far - and we look forward to sharing 'pay it forward' updates with you.