Investing in Scottish Social Ventures

NESTA has appointed University of Glasgow's Training and Employment Research Unit and Simon Clark Associates to undertake a study of the opportunities for social ventures to deliver innovative public services in Scotland and to identify the investment and support that may be necessary to achieve this.

For the purposes of this study we are defining social ventures as organisations with a measurable social impact, a financially viable business model and which is capable of scaling its impact to meet a significant proportion of the social need it seeks to address.

About the project

The team will lead an investigation of a selected number of social issues in Scotland where social ventures are active and may have a greater role in the future, with the aim of developing practical recommendations which can influence the supply and demand for the development of the social investment market in Scotland.

The study is currently in its initial phase - selecting the social needs that the research will focus upon. Subsequent phases will include interviews with social ventures tackling the social needs selected, interviews with social investors and case studies of social ventures that have received support and investment.

If you have any queries about the project, please do not hesitate to contact the project manager, Victoria Sutherland, on victoria.sutherland@glasgow.ac.uk