Alternative Commission On Social Investment Roundtable

Many in the NI VCSE, and across the UK, believe there is a significant gap between the rhetoric and reality around social investment and the Alternative Commission on Social Investment, funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation,  is an initiative set-up to investigate what is wrong with the UK social investment market and to make practical suggestions for how the market can be made more accessible and relevant to a wider range of charities, social enterprises and citizens working to bring about positive social change.

The Commission will look at how we can move beyond replicating expensive mainstream approaches to finance for the social sector and develop approaches that are more social, putting people before structures and institutions and prioritising social change.

The Alternative Commission will explore five key questions and report in February 2015:

1. What do social sector organisations want? 

2. Can social investment, as currently conceived, meet that need?
   
   
3. What’s social about social investment?
   
   
4. Who are social investors and what do they want?
   
   
5. What can we do to make social investment better? 

As we advance our own work on social finance/investment we want to ensure that the knowledge, experience and opinions of key sector stakeholders in Northern Ireland are fed into this Alternative Commission which ultimately aims to support better policy development and implementation.

Further detail on the Alternative Commission can be found on their website: http://socinvalternativecommission.org.uk/home/ 

If you would like to attend please confirm your attendance with Orla O’Sullivan at [email protected]

A detailed agenda will be issued in due course. The event will run from 10:30 - 12:30, concluding with lunch.