Green Gown Awards 2019 - The University of Edinburgh - Winner

By July 2019, the University had already committed £1.5million to the Big Issue Invest via its Power Up Scotland and Social Enterprise Investment Fund 2, which is a group of subsidiaries of the Big Issue Magazine Group, one of the best known social enterprises in the United Kingdom.  

The University is a partner in Social Investment Scotland’s £17m Scottish Growth Fund 2, investing a further £1m, and has committed £1m to Social and Sustainable Capital’s £25m social housing fund. The investments are used to offer loans to social enterprise, charities and profit-with-purpose businesses across a wide range of areas- from social housing to new models of elderly care, from employment support to troubled families, from circular economy to support the arts.  

The University’s commitments have allowed each fund to move more quickly and to bring in other investors. 

Top 3 learnings:

• Investing for impact takes time.  
• Partnerships are key.  
• We have many opportunities to link to our research, learning and teaching through investments.   

Videos

• Investing for good: Social investment at the University of Edinburgh (click to hide)