The Prince Update - June 14th
Richard Prince shares his regular horizon scan of the sector news, flagging up developments, new funding and opportunities in the social sector for portfolio careerists and others to be aware of.
Sector news
Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund approves over £28m worth of total funding to the social sector
Social Investment Business (SIB) has announced that the Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund (RRLF) reached £28m in total funding approved following its final Investment Committee. The Fund closed to new applications on Wednesday 31 March. RRLF was a fund for social enterprises and charities who were experiencing disruption to their normal business model as a result of COVID-19. Of the final £28m total, RRLF approved funding to 77 charities and social enterprises across the UK, with £24.0m worth of loans and over £3.9m worth of grants approved.
Nick Temple, SIB’s chief executive, has also written a blog on lessons learned from RRLF:
Social investment pilot to fund over 200 homes for rough sleepers
More rough sleepers and people at risk of homelessness will be supported into accommodation through a new social investment pilot that will create over 200 move-on homes. The 3-year pilot will run until 2024 and see £15m of government funding combined with an additional £15m provided by Big Society Capital (a leading social impact investor) to deliver the move-on homes. The grant will fund the purchase of existing housing from the property market in partnership with local organisations and make them available at Local Housing Authority rent levels to ensure they remain affordable.
Designing social investments with an impact-first approach
Article for Social Enterprise by Ben Smith, Head of Social Investment at the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: “Esmée Fairbairn Foundation practices an ‘impact-first’ approach. We start with the social need and tailor our investment: adapting and selecting financial instruments that are most appropriate. Invariably, when we talk about co-designing social investments, we land on the importance of being patient and flexible. Principally, our approach to co-design is driven by a belief that we – as investors – must focus on the social organisation’s need and not our own.”
Comment:: useful to see how a well-respected funder and investor thinks about its impact
MPs criticise DCMS for ‘notable opaqueness’ in Covid-19 support for charities
The government showed a “notable opaqueness” in some decision-making over the allocation of emergency funding to charities and spent £2m on consultants, parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found. MPs further criticised the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) - which includes the Office for Civil Society - for not having a clear idea about how to measure the impact of funding to support charities during the pandemic. The committee had set up an inquiry to look at how DCMS had spent the £513m it was allocated from the £750m package of support for charities. Remarkably, the Government has 'no information' on where £100m in emergency funds for charities has been spent. The committee questioned the role of consultants and special advisers in funding decisions and also concluded that DCMS “cannot yet demonstrate that it fully understands the financial health and resilience of the charity sector or whether further government financial support will be necessary”.
A full report, ‘Covid-19: Government Support for Charities’, can be read here.
The Charity Awards 2021 – winners announced
SeeAbility has taken the Overall Award for Excellence at this year’s Charity Awards for its work to persuade the NHS to carry out eye tests for children with learning difficulties at all special schools across England. The Trust was chosen as the overall winner by this year’s judges from a total of ten category winners. It also won the top prize in the Healthcare category.
Winners of the 2021 Queen's Award for Voluntary Service announced
The highest award given to charitable organisations, the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, will be awarded to 241 organisations across the UK. Many of those honoured have adapted their services to respond to the coronavirus outbreak as the voluntary sector continues to play a vital role in the national recovery. This has been recognised through a special designation given to 164 groups for providing impactful support during the initial lockdown. Coinciding with Volunteers’ Week, the Queen’s Award recognised that volunteers have been vital throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and will continue to be as the country emerges from lockdown.
How important are the G7 countries in 2021?
Interesting chart from the Resolution Foundation: “This summit, the groups’ role is on the up, mainly because a US President who actually wants to make the whole thing work has turned up. But the longer-term view has got to be that the G7’s dominance of the world economy has diminished hugely. In 1975, when the first G6 meeting was held just outside Paris (Canada joined the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK and Italy a year later), the seven economies accounted for around two-thirds of world GDP – a figure that remained broadly stable for the next 25 years, albeit with some big changes within that total (check out Japan’s rise and fall). But things have changed rapidly this century. The G7’s share of global GDP has fallen from 65 per cent in 2000, to just 45 per cent in 2020. Why? China, which accounted for a mere 3.6 per cent of world GDP in 2000 now makes up 17.4 per cent of it. Who knows what the future has in store, but it’s certain that these days the G7, while important, represents a minority view, GDP-wise.”
2. Careers
‘A career change saved my life’: the people who built better lives after burnout
Interesting exploration in the Guardian of people who changed course to safeguard themselves against severe stress, switching from high-intensity professionals to other walks of life including archaeology, therapy, business coaching and nutrition.
IFS study - The effect of the pandemic on retirement expectations
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the finances of many households. For older workers the financial shock risks being felt into and through retirement. New research examines the perceptions of people in their late 50s and over, in terms of the effect of the crisis on both their current income and wealth, and on their future retirement incomes. Some of the key findings:
Nearly a third of respondents reported that their retirement income in future would be lower as a result of the pandemic. Among those in paid work before the crisis this proportion was nearly one-half (45%).
The proportion expecting their retirement income to be lower is 11 percentage points greater among those who were managing less well financially before the crisis, increasing concerns about widening financial inequalities. 57% of those who were in work but managing less well before the pandemic expect their future retirement income to now be lower as a result of the crisis.
Those who have retired since the start of the pandemic were 10 percentage points less likely to report having lower retirement income in future than those still in paid work.
Among those not yet retired, 12% are planning to retire later than they were previously planning as a result of the pandemic. Two-thirds of these individuals expect to have a lower retirement income in future as a result of the pandemic – in other words, 8% of those in paid work are both planning to retire later and expect to have a lower income.
Comment: probably doesn’t surprise many people, but these are important findings.
Career transition experiences – from corporate events to charity fundraising
"Volunteer, no matter what industry you’re trying to get into, because it’s really nice having that volunteering to take your head away and to give you meaning." Another chance to read the Eastside Primetimers Foundation’s recent interview with Louise Spearman, who switched to charity sector life and emphasised the role of volunteering in her change. Louise used to work in corporate events and publishing, but she recently started working for an international development charity as a fundraiser. In addition, she is also part-time with another small charity she started out volunteering with during her transition.