Social Investment Performance Data

Report
May 2015
EngagedX
This dataset and accompanying report, produced by EngagedX, reveals the financial performance of more than 400 closed investment deals in the UK social investment market.
 
The dataset represents the largest aggregate study to date of historic social investment performance. Commissioned by the Social Investment Research Council and Royal Bank of Scotland, it uncovers the financial characteristics of deals, including their risk and return.
 
A universal data model was developed by EngagedX to produce comparable benchmark data, which can help demonstrate the history of social investment and build confidence in the market. The anonymised performance data offers a snapshot of investments, ranging from £2,400 to £2.7m.  The data was provided by CAF Venturesome, Key Fund and Social Investment Business on both debt and equity investments made between 2002 and 2014.
 
Main findings from the data and the data collection process include:
  • A very high level of engagement and customisations offered by investors, tailoring finance to social sector organisations to meet their changing needs.
  • Overall, the total financial return over the 12 year period was negative 9.2%. The data was taken from a higher risk portion of the social investment market. In this portion market building and social impact are often prioritised and losses can be higher.
This is the first time that social investment transactions from multiple investors have been combined into a single, comparable, dataset – once again demonstrating that the UK is at the forefront of the global movement to develop social investment as a force for good.
 
Karl H Richter, CEO of EngagedX, said: “I commend CAF Venturesome, Key Fund and Social Investment Business as the vanguard in data transparency and thank them for their enormous efforts to make this project possible. We would like this seminal dataset to be expanded over time to be more representative of the full complexion of deals in the market, ranging from those that prioritise social return to those that prioritise financial return. This will give social investors the necessary access to reliable and anonymised performance data that will enable them to better understand the financial and social risk/return of new investment proposals being assessed. Improved market data will allow fund managers to independently benchmark their own performance and support raising more suitably priced wholesale capital.
 
The dataset and report can be viewed and downloaded here, it is published under a creative commons licence
 
To find out more about EngagedX, please visit Engaged Investment's website
 

This report is tagged under:

  • Social investment