A service to help charities understand social finance more easily has been launched today by Big Society Capital, the social investment wholesaler.

BSC has a £600m pot of capital to invest in organisations delivering social finance. However charities have complained that they do not understand what social finance is and how it works, so BSC has launched a new website, Good Finance, to provide simple explanations.

The website explains the key idea of social investment – that sometimes loan funding or other repayable finance is the best way for charities to access capital – and talks about the importance of effectively measuring how much good a charity is doing, in order to appeal to investors.

“Charities and social enterprises have a critical need for a comprehensive digital resource to help them to effectively navigate investment and finance options, and within this social investment,” the website says. “This applies particularly to organisations that have identified that finance could be used to address an organisational problem, but also extends to organisations interested in educating themselves more generally.

“We think that this could be addressed through a website that is an educational source for charities and social enterprise who want to navigate navigate investment and finance options, and help them understand how it may be useful to them.”

It also said the website was intended to be “a tool to assist charities and social enterprises in making an informed decision around where and how to take on investment and finance, including the products, funds and alternative forms of finance available.”