Positive impact: How Social Investment Scotland’s £52.5 million is creating ‘meaningful change’

The “responsible finance provider”, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, said total active loans and investments for the year to March 2025 topped £52.5m, among 216 ventures. The active loans and investments were made to a wide range of social enterprises, charities, community groups and “mission-led businesses” across the UK.

Throughout the 12-month period, the lives of millions of people were “positively impacted” through SIS investee activities, with organisations making an impact in key areas such as employment and training, income and financial inclusion, and environmental conservation, the lender’s latest impact report reveals.

Meanwhile, SIS investments throughout the year have contributed towards the sustainability of at least 6,300 full-time equivalent jobs and supported 39 employment, training and education initiatives.

Some 36 per cent of investees are based within the most deprived areas in Scotland, while 31 per cent operate in rural locations or on islands, reaching remote and underserved communities.

Key initiatives during the year included SIS playing a leading role in bringing together Lloyds Banking Group, Better Society Capital (BSC) and, more latterly, Triodos, alongside four community development financial institutions to create CIEF - a £72m investment initiative aimed at supporting micro, small and medium-sized businesses in the most deprived areas across England and Wales. Around £28m has already been deployed since the fund’s launch in spring 2024.

SIS said it had also continued to lead the Financial Inclusion for Scotland (FIFS) group - a cross-sector effort to address financial exclusion across the country.

Alastair Davis, SIS’ chief executive, said: “As we begin our 25th anniversary year, this report demonstrates the enduring power of social investment to create meaningful change in communities across Scotland and beyond.

“Our investees continue to tackle Scotland’s most pressing challenges, from providing essential childcare services that enable parents to work, to developing environmental sustainability initiatives including renewable and conservation projects. The fact that over a third of our investments are in Scotland’s most deprived areas shows we're successfully channelling resources where they're needed most.

“This year has seen significant progress in our market-building efforts, particularly through our leadership of Financial Inclusion for Scotland and our work preparing nature-based projects for investment readiness. We’re not just providing finance, we’re helping to build the infrastructure for a fairer, more inclusive impact economy,” he added.

Community Circus Paisley, founded in 2021, has created a permanent, community-owned home for Scotland’s circus community with support from SIS funding. The organisation provides access to world-class training in circus arts, including Scotland’s only full-scale flying trapeze equipment.

Shirley Alexander, co-founder of Community Circus Paisley, said: “The funding has been instrumental because it allowed us to buy this building. Without it we would not have any of this at all. It’s not just the funding, but actually all the support we’ve had from SIS. It’s been incredible.”

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