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What is Social Impact Investment?
Find out more about social impact investment and whether it’s the right option for your organisation.
About Social Impact Investment
Social impact investment is the use of repayable finance to achieve social outcomes as well as financial returns. Whilst not a replacement for grant support, social impact investment can help funding for culture and creativity go further since the money that is repaid to investors can be recycled to support more organisations, helping to achieve a greater total impact.
There can be benefits to using social impact investment to finance your ambitions. While it has to be repaid, this type of finance is more flexible with regard to how funds are spent, giving organisations greater control over their finances. There are several other advantages too:
Understanding you and what you stand for
Impact investors, especially those working in specific sectors, often have a better understanding of enterprises’ business models and are better able to assess the risks of investing in them.
This can often result in making investments in organisations that are unable to secure finance from mainstream sources.
Aside from sharing risk, impact investors have experience of working with organisations like yours – they want to support the outcomes that are important to you.
Additional support
Impact investors often take an engaged approach with organisations they lend to – for example, by providing additional expertise or introductions to new business opportunities.
They can also offer networks, insights and experience that a commercial lender or bank could not provide.
Impact development
Cultural and creative organisations have a long history of working in different social impact areas, but many have room to improve how they demonstrate the change they create.
By focusing explicitly on the impact of organisations, this type of investment can help improve the standards of evidence they collect and enhance their impact measurement capabilities.
Investors achieve this by introducing organisations to a range of tools, such as theory of change, and by creating a framework for monitoring social impact once an investment has been made.
Find Out More
Visit Good Finance’s website for an in-depth overview of social impact investment, types of investment and information about other social lenders. You can also find further support on our Resources page.
Latest Case Studies
Explore our portfolio to learn how our investments and programmes support cultural organisations of all types.
Watch our short film to hear directly from cultural and creative organisations including Music Venue Properties, Little Angel Theatre, and Creative Land Trust about their experience working with us.
The UK’s only museum dedicated to food is using a loan to support the creation of an outdoor play area inspired by food, farming and nature, to better serve their visitors and improve their financial resilience.
Acme sought a £500,000 loan in 2025 to support the acquisition and fit-out of a new studio building in Waltham Forest, Billet Road Studios. The property had been completed to shell-and-core standard but remained vacant due to limited demand for its original permitted use as office and ground-floor community space.
Little Angel Theatre received a Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) cash-flow loan in summer 2024, which helped maintain its cash position during its seasonal low and supported ongoing investment in upcoming productions.
Image credits:
The Nutcracker: Céline Gittens as the Rose Fairy with Yasuo Atsuji as her Consort with Artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet; photo: Andrew Ross. Find out more about our work with Birmingham Royal Ballet here.