Impact

Building an Impact Economy

Our vision is for an Impact Economy, one in which social entrepreneurs, businesses, consumers, investors and governments are aligned for the common good, working towards positive social and environmental goals and always considering the impact of their actions.

Strategy

Our strategy to 2030

What differentiates social investment from standard investment is that it has a measurable social or environmental impact on the organisation, its beneficiaries and the wider community. Our investments are an enabler for wider social and economic impact across Scotland and beyond.

Business Support

Our business support provides organisations with the tools, inspiration or connections they need to create greater social impact. We proudly collaborate with our customers, the wider social enterprise ecosystem and beyond to enable impactful actions.

Our Impact

So far, we’ve invested

£133m

and counting

in more than

520

impactful enterprises

and supported over

5,000

social entrepreneurs to sustainably grow their social impact.

So, what is an Impact Economy?

Support

Enterprises have the tools and confidence to create social impact.

Social Entrepreneurs

Social entrepreneurs can access impact-aligned investment and support.

Government

Governments partner with social enterprises in a range of ways.

Consumers

Consumers, as well as businesses, can purchase from social enterprises.

Businesses

Businesses implement responsible business practices as standard.

Investors

Investors make impactful investment for financial and social return.

Our Approach

To deliver our mission for an Impact Economy, our strategy rests on five leading approaches.

Communities
We support charities and social enterprises, including voluntary organisations, with loan funding. Interest rates are calculated on a case-by-case basis by one of our investment managers, who work closely with each organisation to determine the most affordable option.
Business Support
Thanks to our access to experienced social enterprise leaders, our excellent training partners and our own in-house expertise, we’re able to run projects, programmes and other support that helps communities and social enterprises grow in size, confidence and resilience.
Access to Finance
We act as a fund manager, mobilising and deploying funds to other responsible finance providers who, in turn, offer finance to enterprises and individuals who are unable to secure funding from mainstream financial lenders.
Investment
SIS Ventures is an impact investor and wholly-owned subsidiary of SIS. SIS Ventures makes equity investments in impact-led businesses to help address society’s greatest challenges and needs.
Innovation
We're always looking for ways to do things differently and better. We work alongside experts, peers and like minded organisations to create new solutions, funds and programmes.

Impact reports

Every year, we review and publish our progress towards building an Impact Economy. The annual impact report is presented through our Impact Economy strategic themes: working with communities, providing support, and catalysing the growing network of responsible lenders through our Access to Finance funds.

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Latest Report