Most of the time I’m not even sure we’re talking about the same thing. When speaking with colleagues across sectors and across the county we seem to be variously using words such as ‘philanthropy, social investment, investment, social impact bonds and corporate social responsibility’. Like any good conspiracy theorist I’m in no doubt that there are people making this field overly complicated so that laypeople like me need their help to unravel it. However, here in Norfolk we’re not even off the starting block. I frequently have to telephone funders to ask whether they fund social enterprises and they don’t know themselves. When putting together a business plan, how can it be robust if we don’t even understand the different methods of raising finance ourselves? We’re in a vicious cycle of needing to scale-up and not having the funds to get the funds. Many of my colleagues across the social enterprise sector are pretty sceptical about social investment and the barriers and demands that a group of people that don’t understand their socially minded world don’t understand. Personally, I’m a magpie. I like new shiny things and I want to explore it. But I’m also an experiential learner and until we’ve actually tried it ourselves, I’ll reserve judgement. But will anyone give us a chance?
