NESTA invites proposals to trial new financial products and services

NESTA is inviting proposals to design new financial products and services which could be offered by the Big Society Bank when it launches in April next year.

Download the Big Society Finance Fund invitation to tender (PDF 0.45Mb)

The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) is launching a Big Society Finance Fund to invest in capital raising ideas with the aim of expanding the financial market for the social sector.

Commenting on the call for proposals, Stian Westlake, NESTA’s Executive Director of Policy and Research said: “Social enterprises provide innovative and informed responses to some of our most entrenched social challenges. However, their growth is hampered by a lack of access to capital and an under-developed financial market”.

The Big Society Bank aims to address this gap. The Big Society Finance Fund will provide the funding to design and trial a range of financial approaches. Proposals will need to be simple, quick, and replicable, and should have the potential to attract further capital investment from individuals and institutions, either on commercial or philanthropic terms.

Stian Westlake continued: “We want to attract a broad set of proposals from within the existing social finance market and beyond. There is a huge amount of expertise developing in the UK on how to best support this burgeoning sector but this knowledge must now be consolidated into simple products and services that will have maximum impact”.

NESTA expects to select fifteen initial proposals by 19 November, with the aim of at least five being successful enough to be made available by the Big Society Bank. Submissions will need to be made by 12 (noon) BST on 5 November 2010. Application details can be downloaded at www.nesta.org.uk

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Notes to Editors
For further information please contact:

Chani Hirsch on 020 7438 2601 or chani.hirsch@nesta.org.uk, or Catherine Anderson on 020 7438 2609 or Catherine.Anderson@nesta.org.uk
 
About NESTA
NESTA is the UK’s foremost independent expert on how innovation can solve some of the country’s major economic and social challenges. Its work is enabled by an endowment, funded by the National Lottery, and it continues to operate at no cost to the taxpayer. 

NESTA is a world leader in its field and carries out its work through a blend of experimental programmes, analytical research and investment in early-stage companies.