The Partnership Imperative in Social Investment

The predominant model for social investment relies on single entity fund managers who claim to possess all necessary experience and expertise to deliver promised returns. Whilst this approach has succeeded for some companies and entrepreneurs, it has systematically excluded founders from underrepresented groups who struggle to access investment capital.

We’ve observed growing appetite from fund managers to change, but expecting them to develop new inclusive approaches without external expertise and support would take too long. The Growth Impact Fund adopts a partnership approach that brings together the best people with the deepest experience for each distinct role required to manage a fund in a more inclusive and equitable way.

Strategic Partnership Framework for Inclusive Investment

Partnerships form the foundation of Growth Impact Fund’s operations. We’ve built capacity within our fund model specifically to support meaningful partnerships, allocating dedicated resources to partnership activities. Our blended finance model enables this approach whilst ensuring alignment and productive collaboration across all partnerships.

We’ve identified four distinct partnership models, each designed to make the Growth Impact Fund genuinely enterprise-centric in its approach to social investment.

Fund Management Partnerships: Combining Expertise

Integrated Investment and Support Model

The Growth Impact Fund recognises that effective social investment requires more than capital deployment—it demands comprehensive support and nurturing throughout the investment process. Our dual fund management partnership leverages complementary expertise:

Big Issue Invest Fund Management (BIIFM) brings regulated fund management capabilities with an established track record in social investment, providing the structural foundation for responsible capital deployment.

UnLtd contributes extensive experience in supporting early-stage social entrepreneurs, offering both financial expertise and hands-on guidance that prepares investees for growth and investment readiness.

This partnership model ensures that social entrepreneurs receive both professional investment management and specialised support that addresses the unique challenges faced by purpose-driven businesses.

Origination Partnerships: Building Trust and Access

Overcoming Investment Barriers Through Trusted Networks

Research demonstrates that systemic barriers and unsuitable investment structures in traditional funding models have created deep mistrust of social investment amongst many underrepresented founders. Rather than attempting to rebuild these relationships from scratch, Growth Impact Fund partners with established network organisations that already maintain trusted relationships with diverse social entrepreneurs.

Key benefits of our origination partnership approach:

Leveraged trust relationships: We work through organisations that have already established credibility with underrepresented founders, reducing barriers to initial engagement.

Cultural competency: Partner organisations understand the specific challenges and opportunities within their communities, ensuring more effective outreach and support.

Streamlined access: Social entrepreneurs can access investment opportunities through familiar channels, reducing intimidation and complexity often associated with traditional social investment processes.

Community-centred approach: Origination partners provide initial support before transitioning founders to UnLtd’s specialised programming, creating a seamless support journey.

Continuous Learning Partnerships: Innovation Through Iteration

Human-Centred Design in Social Investment

Acknowledging that even well-intentioned efforts may not achieve perfect outcomes from launch, Growth Impact Fund has pioneered the integration of continuous learning methodology into social investment. Our partnership with Shift introduces human-centred, iterative design approaches to fund management—a methodology never before applied in this sector.

Shift’s continuous learning methodology enables:

Real-time feedback integration: Learning from social entrepreneur experiences as they occur, rather than waiting for formal evaluation periods.

Evidence-based iteration: Making data-driven improvements to fund processes, reducing barriers and improving outcomes for diverse founders.

Bias identification and mitigation: Systematic observation and analysis of decision-making processes to identify and address unconscious biases that may exclude promising opportunities.

Innovation acceleration: Testing new approaches through small experiments before scaling successful interventions across the fund’s operations.

Governance Partnerships: Representative Decision-Making

Inclusive Governance for Inclusive Investment

Traditional fund governance typically includes investment committees and advisory boards populated by established industry professionals. Growth Impact Fund has redesigned governance to ensure representation that reflects the diversity of entrepreneurs we aim to serve.

Our innovative governance structure includes:

Representative Investment Committee: Decision-makers who understand the challenges and opportunities faced by underrepresented social entrepreneurs, ensuring investment decisions consider diverse perspectives and approaches.

Independent Impact Advisory Committee: A dedicated body with clear mandate to establish and monitor adherence to the fund’s impact goals, ensuring accountability to social and environmental outcomes rather than solely financial returns.

Community accountability: Governance structures that maintain transparency and responsiveness to the communities and founders the fund serves, creating ongoing feedback loops for continuous improvement.

Partnership Impact on Investment Outcomes

Measurable Benefits for Social Entrepreneurs

Growth Impact Fund’s partnership approach generates tangible benefits for the social entrepreneurs we serve:

Reduced application barriers: Origination partnerships and continuous learning insights help streamline application processes whilst maintaining necessary due diligence standards.

Culturally competent support: Partners who understand diverse founder experiences provide more relevant and effective guidance throughout the investment journey.

Bias-aware assessment: Systematic learning and diverse governance help ensure fair evaluation regardless of founder background or non-traditional business approaches.

Extended support networks: Partnerships create comprehensive ecosystems of support extending beyond traditional investor-investee relationships.

Sector Innovation Through Collaborative Models

Influencing Industry-Wide Change

Our partnership approach aims to demonstrate that social investment can be more effective when it embraces collaboration over competition. By sharing our learning and approaches publicly, we hope to influence broader adoption of partnership-driven models across the social investment sector.

Systemic benefits include:

• Increased investment accessibility for underrepresented founders
• Improved investment outcomes through specialised support
• Greater innovation in social investment practices
• Stronger evidence base for inclusive investment approaches

Building Networks for Sector Transformation

Beyond Formal Partnerships

Growth Impact Fund’s commitment to partnership extends beyond formal agreements to include active engagement with the broader community of inclusive investors and social entrepreneurs.

Our informal partnership activities include:

• Knowledge sharing with other funds pursuing inclusive approaches
• Collaborative research and learning initiatives
• Sector convening and network building
• Public reporting on partnership effectiveness and lessons learnt

Future Partnership Development

Scaling Inclusive Investment Through Collaboration

As Growth Impact Fund continues to evolve, we remain committed to expanding our partnership network to better serve diverse social entrepreneurs and influence sector-wide change.

Areas for partnership expansion include:

• International collaboration with inclusive investment initiatives
• Academic partnerships for research and evaluation
• Corporate partnerships for market development and scaling
• Government collaboration on policy and regulatory innovation

Join Our Partnership Network

Growth Impact Fund welcomes engagement from organisations and individuals committed to building more inclusive social investment practices. Whether through formal partnerships or collaborative learning relationships, we believe that transforming social investment requires collective action and shared expertise.

Ways to engage with our partnership approach:

• Share insights and experiences from inclusive investment initiatives
• Collaborate on research and learning projects
• Partner with us on origination or support activities
• Join our informal networks for knowledge sharing and sector development

Interested in partnering with Growth Impact Fund or learning more about our collaborative approach to social investment? We welcome conversations with organisations and individuals committed to creating more equitable access to investment capital for underrepresented social entrepreneurs.

The Growth Impact Fund is managed by Big Issue Invest Fund Management Ltd (BIIFM). BIIFM is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 610618). The fund is addressed to professional investors only. Past performance cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance. Investor capital is at risk.