SOCIAL Investment Scotland has revealed that it provided record funding of £7.5 million to social enterprises, charities and community organisations in the year to March.
SIS chairman Nick Kuenssberg put the record funding provided down largely to an increase in demand for social investment.
The Scottish boardroom veteran, whose daughter Laura was last month named as the BBC’s new political editor, highlighted significant investment activity by SIS in community renewable energy schemes and sports projects.
SIS, which invests funds put up by banks and the Scottish and UK governments and employs 15 people, supported 45 social enterprises, charities and community organisations during the year to March.
Chief executive Alastair Davis said that SIS had invested about £7.3m in the prior financial year, in 37 projects.
SIS invests funds provided by Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank, Bank of Scotland and Dutch lender Triodos.
It also has a key role in running the Asda Community Capital fund, launched late last year. This fund for innovative social enterprises and community projects was created from the Scottish Government’s single-use carrier bag levy.
SIS is also the fund manager of the £1 million Legacy 2014: Sustainable Sport for Communities Fund, in which the Scottish Government and The Robertson Trust are also involved.
Mr Kuenssberg said: “This last year, we have had a mixture of three or four very big investments and lots of smaller investments through the likes of the Asda Community Capital Fund and the sports development fund.”
He highlighted a big investment by SIS’s Social Growth Fund in Our Power, which is involved in reducing the energy costs for housing associations.
Mr Davis noted this project involved about 30 local authorities.
SIS has also supported Edinburgh club Spartans’ football academy.
Highlighting SIS’s funding of the development of sports clubs, Mr Kuenssberg said: “We see huge benefits for communities through sport, where people are always wanting to get involved and where the more enlightened leaders of these entities are able to bring kids in, they are able to bring them the benefits of their experience in terms of homework clubs, in terms of looking after their health, and such like.”
SIS said that, over its last financial year, it had secured £23m of new or renewed investment commitments from Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank, the Scottish Government, the UK Government-backed Big Society Capital, Triodos Bank and Asda.
Mr Kuenssberg highlighted how seriously SIS took its corporate governance responsibilities, and praised the efforts of the organisation’s management.
He said: “We, as investors, are taking our responsibilities very, very seriously indeed.”
In terms of the size of loans advanced by SIS, Mr Kuenssberg highlighted his view that it was better for society that the organisation supported large numbers of smaller projects, as opposed to concentrating on big investments.
He added: “It obviously costs us more to administer and monitor when we are doing the smaller ones (but) that is a good thing for Scottish society.”
Since it started in 2001, SIS has made investments totalling £48.9m.
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