As we enter the Year of the Horse and celebrate our 10th anniversary we, at Careers4Change, feel energised by the momentum, progress and dynamic change across the impact finance ecosystem. One of the ways we’ve decided to celebrate our milestone is by sharing a Newsletter – to help strengthen teams and drive performance across the sector. You can expect insights like ecosystem news, hiring and skills trends, practical tips on talent attraction and more.
When I reflect on the last decade, I feel gratitude for the people and organisations which have been part of our journey: our team, our clients and our candidates. Back in 2016, as a tiny SME, we recognised that if the sector was to grow and be successful it needed more talented, diverse professionals. So, with a ‘North Star’ focused on impact, we set off with a home-generated name and logo (which we are still using today), a clunky Wix website and an ambition to effect social and environmental transformation using the best conduit we knew – people.
The Genesis Charitable Trust (now known as the GenEM Foundation) was our first client. Then, we spread our wings into the foundation and trust space, and then onwards to social investors, social fund managers, social banks, think-do tanks, social consultancies and more recently, family offices. We managed to survive the pandemic – again with the support and collaboration of our core clients – by trying out new approaches, like recruiting via Zoom or Teams for the first time.
In fact, these tools have since transformed the way we work, helping us reach a broader audience, discreetly engage cautious candidates, assess diverse skill sets and connect with busy professionals.
Tech innovation has also enabled us to ramp up our business through optimising our systems and processes – with a new API, email system and CRM.
One also has to be cognisant of the fact that AI is infiltrating recruitment, like in all other sectors. It offers exciting possibilities to facilitate areas of our business but also raises questions about how and where it should be used. I am increasingly seeing companies promoting AI tools to speed up or automate CV screening, which may help identify technical skills. But attributes like social motivation, which are vital for our sector, remain difficult to assess this way.
The impact investing sector has evolved tremendously over the past 10 years, which has been instrumental in our own growth trajectory. Many new ‘actors’ have been drawn to impact investing and joined the sector, bringing essential technical skills as well as strategic thinking, innovation and adaptability.
Here are some of the major changes we’ve witnessed:
1. Growing public/private/third sector partnerships
- We have seen partnerships with corporates (e.g., the Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust (SBSI) launched in 2020, which makes private market social impact investment opportunities available to a wider range of investors).
- The CDFI (Community Development Finance Institution) space is gaining traction through corporate support and funding from the likes of BBB, Lloyds and JP Morgan.
- Place-based Investing is taking shape too, like Local Councils working with LGPS (Local Government Pension Schemes) to help direct capital to local initiatives.
2. More interest from new parties with large pools of capital, like family offices
Some of this is due to succession and the ‘next-gens’ being conscious of the merits of impact investing vs charitable giving. But also advisory offices now exist to advise philanthropists on deploying capital (e.g. Bridges, NPC and BSC) and foundations have played a significant role in providing risk capital. We have seen an increase in blended funding, with organisations like the ACF (Association of Charitable Foundations) formally convening the SIIG (Social Impact Investors Group).
3. Funding for other key pockets of impact within the sector
For example, vital financial inclusion work delivered through the Dormant Asset Scheme, where dormant accounts are disbursed through Fair4All Finance set up by DCMS in 2019, supporting the financial wellbeing of the most vulnerable and engaging the financial services sector to support people in managing their money better.
4. Disillusionment with ESG is driving investors to pursue impact investing
ESG has often focused on risk and compliance, rather than more actively contributing to solutions and showing measurable impact and metrics.
Delivering social and environmental impact and changing lives for those who are disadvantaged and marginalised is the sector’s principal objective. However, for professionals within the field, it can also be a life-changer: pursuing work which fuels their social change ambitions, working with diverse and collaborative teams, with more flexibility and a better work/life balance. At Careers4Change, we are grateful to have the opportunity to play a role, however minor, in connecting ‘changemakers’ with the organisations which are spearheading the movement for change.
We look forward to further growth and continuing to support the paradigm shift from extractive to regenerative business – the time is now!
