Growth Impact Fund

The Impact Advisory Group is an advisory committee that helps ensure the Growth Impact Fund meets its diversity, equity, and inclusion targets whilst achieving wider impact goals. Over recent months, we’ve worked alongside the investment team and committee to develop foundational principles for the Growth Impact Fund.

These principles help us centre the fund around our mission, shape our approach, define our impact ambitions, and guide what we’ll measure and report on. When developing principles for the fund, we held the following questions in mind: Do they challenge us and hold us accountable? Are they easy to use and put into practice? Will they be understandable and accessible for all fund stakeholders?

After a wide-ranging consultation, we have committed to four key fund principles that will guide every aspect of our work.

Principle 1: Actively Address Inequality by Increasing Access to Finance

We will address the barriers faced by diverse-led social businesses in the UK by providing right-sized financing, grants, and technical assistance throughout our investments. In doing so, we will demonstrate that investing in diverse-led social enterprises is not only the right thing to do but that they hold untapped talent, potential, and impact in their communities.

Implementation of This Principle

Right-sized financing solutions: We recognise that diverse-led social businesses often require different financial instruments and structures than traditional investment approaches provide. Our flexible approach ensures financing matches organisational needs and growth trajectories.

Comprehensive grant support: Beyond investment capital, we provide grants for capacity building, personal support costs, and organisational development that remove barriers preventing full participation in investment processes.

Technical assistance integration: We embed technical support throughout the investment journey, ensuring founders receive the guidance and expertise needed to maximise their impact and achieve sustainable growth.

Demonstration effect creation: We hope this demonstration of successful inclusive investment will encourage other investors to support founders previously overlooked by traditional investment approaches.

Measuring Access and Inclusion

Barrier reduction metrics: We track specific barriers removed and improvements in accessibility for diverse founders throughout our processes.

Investment flow analysis: We monitor whether our approach successfully increases investment flows to underrepresented communities and social enterprises.

Sector influence measurement: We assess our impact on broader sector adoption of inclusive investment practices and approaches.

Principle 2: Enterprise-Centric and Community Driven

We recognise that founders from diverse and/or underserved communities are the drivers of impact in their communities, and the fund will work to shift power their way. Each element of this fund, from the application process to decision-making, has been shaped to best meet the needs and priorities of social entrepreneurs and their communities.

Power Shifting in Practice

Founder-led design: Our processes, products, and support mechanisms have been designed with extensive input from diverse founders, ensuring they reflect real needs and priorities rather than traditional investor preferences.

Community-centred decision-making: We prioritise community expertise and lived experience in our assessment and support approaches, recognising that founders closest to social challenges are best positioned to develop effective solutions.

Accessible application processes: We’ve redesigned application and due diligence processes to be accessible to founders who may not have traditional financial or commercial backgrounds.

Ongoing consultation: We maintain regular dialogue with founders and community partners to ensure our approaches remain responsive to evolving needs and circumstances.

Community Impact Focus

Local expertise recognition: We value and prioritise founders who understand their communities through lived experience and long-term engagement.

Community benefit measurement: We assess impact based on meaningful outcomes for the communities served by our portfolio organisations.

Network building: We facilitate connections between founders and community organisations to strengthen local ecosystems and collaborative approaches.

Principle 3: Collectively and Scrupulously Transparent and Accountable

We will hold ourselves accountable to our impact goals and the ways that we achieve them. This includes through our Impact Advisory Group, Investment Committee, and externally through the regular reports we will publish.

Accountability Mechanisms

Impact Advisory Group oversight: Our Impact Advisory Group provides independent scrutiny and guidance to ensure we meet our diversity, equity, inclusion, and impact commitments.

Investment Committee responsibility: Our Investment Committee balances financial and social impact considerations whilst maintaining transparency in decision-making processes.

Public reporting commitment: We publish regular reports sharing our progress, challenges, learning, and outcomes to maintain external accountability.

Stakeholder feedback integration: We actively seek and respond to feedback from founders, partners, and the broader community about our effectiveness and areas for improvement.

Transparency Benefits

Improved user experience: We hope this transparency will provide an improved, more trusting experience for our investees, reducing uncertainty and anxiety often associated with investment processes.

Sector learning contribution: By sharing openly, we contribute to sector-wide efforts to learn, sharing transparently what is working and what isn’t.

Trust building: Transparent communication builds trust with diverse communities who may have experienced disappointment or discrimination from traditional investment approaches.

Reporting and Communication

Regular progress updates: We publish quarterly updates on our progress against impact goals and learning insights.

Challenge sharing: We openly discuss difficulties and failures as learning opportunities for the broader sector.

Methodology transparency: We share our approaches, tools, and frameworks to enable others to build on our experiences.

Principle 4: Radically Innovative and Adaptable

We are committed to holistically rethinking how we invest and who we invest in to reach diverse, early-stage social entrepreneurs that are tackling inequality. As such, we recognise that there are many things we still don’t know and won’t get right. We will be constantly learning and adapting throughout the life of the fund to provide the best holistic support for enterprises.

Innovation in Investment Practice

Process innovation: We’ve developed new approaches to origination, assessment, due diligence, and post-investment support that better serve diverse founders.

Product innovation: We’re exploring and developing financial instruments that align with diverse founder preferences and organisational structures.

Support innovation: We provide wraparound support that addresses both business and personal barriers to investment participation.

Partnership innovation: We work with non-traditional partners to reach and support founders who may not engage with conventional investment channels.

Adaptive Learning Framework

Continuous feedback integration: We systematically collect and act on feedback from founders, partners, and stakeholders throughout our processes.

Iterative improvement: We regularly assess and refine our approaches based on outcomes and learning insights.

Experimental mindset: We pilot new approaches through small-scale experiments before implementing wider changes.

Failure as learning: We treat challenges and failures as valuable learning opportunities that inform future improvements.

Areas of Ongoing Innovation

Assessment methodologies: Developing bias-aware approaches that recognise diverse forms of expertise and potential.

Support mechanisms: Creating new models for providing comprehensive support throughout the investment journey.

Impact measurement: Establishing metrics that capture the full range of social, environmental, and economic outcomes generated by diverse founders.

Upholding Our Principles: The Role of the Impact Advisory Group

The principles of the fund will be upheld by the Impact Advisory Group. We’ll use these principles as our foundation to support the investment team to learn and adapt, create fund alignment, and maintain our role as guardians of the overall mission of the Growth Impact Fund.

Advisory Group Functions

Principle monitoring: Regular assessment of how effectively we’re implementing each principle in practice.

Strategic guidance: Providing direction on how to strengthen our adherence to principles whilst improving effectiveness.

Independent oversight: Offering external perspective on our progress and areas requiring attention or improvement.

Sector connection: Maintaining links with broader movements for inclusive investment and social change.

Ensuring Accountability

Regular principle reviews: Quarterly assessments of our performance against each principle with specific action planning for improvement.

Stakeholder consultation: Ongoing dialogue with founders, community partners, and other stakeholders about our effectiveness in meeting our principles.

Public reporting: Annual principle-based reporting that honestly assesses our progress and identifies areas for development.

Continuous improvement: Using principle-based feedback to drive ongoing refinement of our approaches and practices.

Living Our Principles: Integration Across Fund Operations

Our four principles aren’t aspirational statements—they’re practical guidelines that shape every aspect of Growth Impact Fund operations:

Daily Decision-Making

Every decision, from application processes to post-investment support, is evaluated against our principles to ensure consistency and effectiveness.

Team Development

Our principles guide recruitment, training, and development for fund team members, ensuring alignment across all activities.

Partnership Selection

We choose partners and collaborators who share our commitment to these principles and can contribute to their implementation.

Measurement and Reporting

Our metrics and reporting frameworks are designed around these principles, ensuring we track what matters most for inclusive social investment.

Over the coming series of blogs and articles that we publish, we’ll share how we’ve designed a fund that aims to meet these principles over the coming years. Our commitment to transparency means we’ll share both successes and challenges as we work to transform social investment for diverse founders.

Areas we’ll explore in future content:

Principle implementation: Detailed examples of how each principle guides our daily operations and decision-making.

Learning insights: Regular updates on what we’re discovering about effective approaches to inclusive social investment.

Challenge navigation: Honest discussion of difficulties we encounter and how we’re working to address them.

Sector impact: Analysis of how our principle-based approach is influencing broader social investment practices.

Call for Engagement and Collaboration

Our principles represent our commitment to transformative social investment, but their success depends on ongoing engagement with the communities and founders we serve. We welcome:

Feedback and challenge: Help us understand where we’re succeeding and where we need to improve in implementing our principles.

Learning partnerships: Collaborate with us on research and development of inclusive investment approaches.

Community connection: Connect us with diverse founders and communities who could benefit from our approach.

Sector dialogue: Engage with us in broader conversations about transforming social investment for greater inclusion and impact.

Interested in learning more about how our principles guide Growth Impact Fund operations, or sharing your insights on inclusive social investment? Join us as we continue sharing our learning journey and working towards transformative change in social investment.

Legal Notice: Big Issue Invest Fund Management (BIIFM) is the fund manager for the Growth Impact Fund, and the fund is addressed to professional investors only. Capital at Risk. BIIFM Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) FRN 610618.