Launched by Big Society Capital, this competition aims to establish processes and priorities in corporate social investment.
Big Society Capital Limited is a social investment institution that provides finance to organisations supporting frontline social sector entities. In December last year, we launched the Business Impact Challenge, the first competition of its kind, designed to catalyse corporate social investment.
The reasons are twofold:
Both elements are a direct response to feedback we received from interested corporates. We heard that a staged process would help ensure the right time and resources could be put behind an entrepreneurial idea, lifting it off the drawing board and into the c-suite. We also heard that a clear list of key criteria would help guide ideas through what can be unfamiliar territory. Many recognised that social investing can, when done best, provide a positive social outcome and an innovative route to business development and growth over the long term. The Challenge would therefore be a way to prevent competing priorities detracting from these innovative ideas.
To ensure our Business Impact Challenge best met these needs, we harnessed the expertise of Nesta's Centre for Challenge Prizes and Business in the Community in the Challenge’s design.
From the December 2014 launch to the 1st May 2015 application deadline, the Challenge catalysed engagement with large and small corporates, many of whom we would not otherwise have met. Webinars and an entrepreneurs' workshop day extended this reach and by the time of the 1 May application deadline, we were delighted that the Challenge had engaged interest from close to half of the FTSE100.
Following the application deadline, our expert panel of seven judges comprising Lord Davis, Harvey McGrath, Nick O’Donohoe, Matthew Bishop, Karen Lynch, Ian Davis and Baroness Lane Fox of Soho, met and determined a shortlist of five applications.
The second stage of the Challenge is now underway, with the shortlist working up their proposals ahead of the final judging panel meeting in the autumn. We look forward to announcing the outcome later this year.
For more information on the Challenge, please visit the website.
Read Sarah Gordon’s FT article for more information on the shortlist.
Read more on the wider work of Big Society Capital and social investing.