Here at Good Finance, we’re proud to play our part in helping organisations to navigate the social investment process through tools, information, resources and connections – one acronym at a time!
As part of our commitment to promoting honesty and transparency on the social investment process and how it’s currently working for social enterprises and charities, we’re keen to hear from anyone who has taken repayable finance in the last three years and is up for sharing their key thoughts and takeaways on the process.
Read on to discover ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘why’ of this investee insight project.
Who can get involved?
We want to hear from an individual from a social enterprise, charity or community organisation who has…
- Taken on social investment in the last 3 years
- Was directly involved in the social investment application and due diligence process
- Is willing to share (anonymously) feedback on the process, what worked, what didn’t and anything you wish had gone differently
- Optional extra: share your social investment story with us to publish as a case study
What do we need from you?
In the first instance, you’ll just need to register your interest in getting involved via this quick and easy Typeform survey.
Then, if the criteria above has been confirmed, we’ll reach out with an example video of how this has been done previously, along with some suggestions for a quick 15-minute catch up via Microsoft Teams where we can capture your feedback – or 45-minutes for those also sharing a case study.
Finally, we’ll confirm the wording with you and ensure you are happy with the output, before including (anonymously) in the video asset.
We have a remuneration policy (£50p/h +VAT) for any time needed to prepare/attend this call for a maximum of one hour per investee. You will need to invoice us to receive this payment.
If you don’t quite match the criteria we’re looking for or we have any follow-up questions or clarifications on the information you provided, we’ll let you know via email.
When are we collecting this information?
We’re hoping to capture your thoughts and feedback over the next couple of weeks (from 31st March – 17 April) – before spending a couple of weeks putting together these assets, and sharing the assets outlined above before the end of May.
Why are we doing this?
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times. At Good Finance, we’re user-led.
Towards the end of 2024, a couple of advisors and social investees flagged with us both what they appreciated about the process (referrals, additional support alongside the capital, flexibility) and what could have gone better (transparency on timing, rejection feedback, expensive mistakes).
This invaluable feedback could help to promote a more equitable and effective investment process for all parties, but there is a power imbalance when it comes to the investee / investor relationship which can make it more awkward to share these constructive comments.
Enter Good Finance. Part of our overall mission is to be the single trusted source of information on social investment for charities and social enterprises, putting us in the perfect position to encourage an honest and transparent feedback loop between investee and investor.
We hope to end up with a video asset, using others from the sector to ‘voice’ the feedback. We’ll then share this with investors via our investor newsletter, social media and other investor-only events, along with an open letter to investors via the Good Finance blog to detail some of the key takeaways.
The overall aim of the investee insight project is to celebrate what’s going well, address what could be working better and ensure we are, in our own, small way, working alongside others in the sector for a more effective process.
To get involved, follow the Investee Insight Survey link to a quick Typeform to register your interest and we’ll be in touch via email to outline logistics and next steps.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know via email: aconstable@goodfinance.org.uk.