Big Society Capital will want to be a multiplier of funding, rather than the sole provider, and broadly expects £4 to come from other sources for every £1 it invests, says Nick O’Donohoe, the new chief executive of Big Society Capital. 

Big Society Capital, formerly known as Big Society Bank, launched in the summer, although it is still awaiting EU and FSA approval. An Investment Committee within the Big Lottery Fund, which has received £30m from dormant accounts, is making investments to social intermediaries on its behalf in the meantime.

It will be a ‘wholesaler’ to social investment intermediaries, and expects to be funded with £100m from dormant accounts and £50m from four high-street banks in its first year. Overall it expects to have £600m of committed funds - £400m from dormant accounts and £200m from high-street banks, over a four-year period.  
 
BSC’s chief executive Nick O’Donohoe, who worked on the government proposal for Big Society Capital (BSC) with Sir Ronald Cohen on a pro-bono basis over the past year, told civilsociety.co.uk that the new organisation will not want to be the sole provider of funding to social intermediaries:
 
“In normal circumstances BSC is unlikely to be more than 25 per cent of any individual fund or social impact bond issue," he said. “Broadly we’d want a four to one ratio on our investments.”
 
The Investment Committee’s first investment on behalf of BSC includes other funders. The Private Equity Foundation will be the recipient of the first investment of £1m. Some £500,000 of this will be used to fund a social impact bond, while the other £500,000 will be used to underwrite efforts to encourage a further £1m in investment into the social impact bond.
 
O’Donohoe said applications to the Investment Committee had been dominated by social enterprises so far:
 
“Often applications are not from traditional charities,” he said. “There are more from social enterprises who appear to have more expertise in the social investment area.”
 
Minister for civil society Nick Hurd and O’Donohoe have started meetings with charities, social enterprises and intermediaries across the country, to gather their views how they want the relationship with Big Society Capital to develop.