Allia announced as Charity Times Awards finalist
Allia has been shortlisted for the Social Investment Initiative award
The award recognises important social investment initiatives that have proven highly advantageous to the sector, opening up opportunities whilst promoting sustainable development.
Since its launch in 2014, Allia’s Retail Charity Bonds initiative has opened the opportunity for charities to connect with ethical investors in the mainstream financial market. The bonds offer simple, unsecured finance to enable charities to fund their growth plans and make a greater social impact. They also provide the opportunity for charities to raise their profile and attract new supporters.
To date, five Retail Charity Bonds have been issued for five different charitable organisations, raising a total of £116 million. The borrowers include Greensleeves Care, which was the first care home provider to raise funding through a retail bond, and Dolphin Living, which raised £25 million last month in just over 24 hours.
Allia’s intention in creating this initiative was that it would bring benefit to the whole charity sector. Through Retail Charity Bonds, Allia is helping to change the public perception of charities, and showcase to the sector how social investment can support greater sustainability and the delivery of their mission.
Phil Caroe, Allia’s Director of Social Finance, said: “Before we launched Retail Charity Bonds some investors were unsure about whether charities could be part of the mainstream financial market. Since then we’ve seen growing demand as investors realise how strong charities can be, and discover the opportunity to invest their money for positive impact. We’re delighted to be shortlisted for this award in recognition of the huge amount of work that has gone into making this important initiative a success.”
The Charity Times Awards continue to be the pre-eminent celebration of best practice in the UK charity and not-for-profit sector. This year’s winners will be announced at a gala dinner and ceremony on 4 October 2017 in London. Now in their 18th year, the awards are run by Charity Times Magazine and last year’s event was attended by over six hundred guests.
Notes for Editors
About Allia
Allia is an independent not for profit with a social mission, dedicated to helping impact initiatives to grow.
Allia Impact Finance provides innovative investment and social finance to help charities and organisations deliver greater impact. Its firsts include Retail Charity Bonds for larger charities and Charitable Bonds to raise grant funding for charitable projects. Since 1999 it encourages a wide range of individuals, corporates, voluntary and public sector organisations to use their investment money for social good.
For more information go to impactfinance.allia.org.uk
@AlliaIF
Enquiries: Laura Nicholls, Marketing Campaigns Manager, Allia Impact Finance
laura.nicholls@allia.org.uk
01223 781322
About the Charity Times Awards
The Charity Times Awards continue to be the pre-eminent celebration of best practice in the UK charity and not-for-profit sector. The awards are free to enter and open to any UK-based registered charity, or international charity with registered UK offices. Now in their 18th year the awards are run by Charity Times Magazine, the leading title for UK non-profit professionals: www.charitytimes.com/awards @CharityTAwards #CharityTimesAwards
