Sumerian Foundation

✨🆕✨ We’re delighted to present our Inclusive Social Investing report featuring our latest impact data and learnings from our focus on “inclusive investing” in UK social enterprises led by women and/or Black, Asian and ethnically diverse founders. We've identified that these founders are experiencing a "trust deficit" in social investment and we recommend that investors change their approaches by: 1. Taking the time to build relationships 2. Providing pre-investment support 3. Focusing on the resilience of founders rather than just the growth of the social enterprise Our early evidence shows this strategy leads to stronger, impact-focused investment partnerships and better repayment performance. While this “trust opportunity” needs to be further monitored and understood, there may be advantages to inclusive investment that have not been previously recognised or appreciated! We hope our report inspires you to explore opportunities for inclusive market development. Please share it with your network and use it to ignite helpful conversations. Read “Inclusive Social Investing: unlocking opportunities" here and below ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eetrNZ7W With thanks to: Our investment partners: 2-3 Degrees, bthechange CIC, BERRI, Enna, Equal Education, Fair Finance, Farm Urban, Fat Macy's, The Hummingbird Project NI, Innovating Minds, Kineara, Moneyline, Niyo Group, Open Door Charity, Paws & Pause, Pinc College, South Lake Medical Centre, The New Leaf Initiative C.I.C., TellJO, Thrive Mental Wellbeing, Your Own Place CIC. Our funders: Access - The Foundation for Social Investment, Comic Relief, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Golden Bottle Trust (C. Hoare & Co.), J O Hambro Capital Management, HM Government, MariaMarina Foundation and high net worth individuals. #InclusiveInvesting #ImpactFirstInvesting #SocialInvesting #SocialInvestors #SocialInvestment #SocialEnterprises #SocialEntrepreneurs #Diversity #RacialEquality #GenderEquality #EqualityImpactInvesting

🎄 Season’s Greetings from Sumerian! As 2024 comes to a close, we wish our investment partners, funders, collaborators, friends, and followers a peaceful and joyful festive season. This year, we’ve proudly championed inclusive investing to support high-impact social enterprises tackling inequality across the UK. Your support has been invaluable in helping us make a difference. Looking to 2025, we’re excited to forge new partnerships and find new ways to improve our support, particularly to organisations led by or serving women and Black, Asian and ethnically diverse people. Thank you for being part of our LinkedIn community—we’re grateful for your engagement and shared commitment to change. 📸 Photos: From our recent Networking Event with investment partners and friends. #InclusiveInvesting #ImpactInvesting #SocialEnterprise

📺 Watch this video to discover the incredible work our investment partner, Maria Morgan, and her team at Kineara are doing with the support of Impact on Urban Health. We’re proud to provide Kineara with flexible, patient investment and ongoing support, enabling them to help Londoners facing tough times overcome barriers to housing, employment, and education. #SocialEnterprise #HomelessnessPrevention #SocialInclusion

🚀 Have you heard? We’re recruiting an Impact Investment Manager to help us support high-impact social enterprises and charities through inclusive, impact-first investment. At Sumerian, we provide tailored funding, skills support, and mentoring through our UK Social Inequality Facility. As part of our team, you’ll play a vital role in helping to scale this initiative while delivering its strategic impact and financial goals. 📍 Location: Hybrid – London/Remote 💼 Hours: Full or part-time 💷 Salary: £40,000–£55,000 FTE 🎓 Requirement: A professional accountancy qualification is essential. 🕐 Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis – don’t wait! We value diversity, equity, and inclusion and believe in the power of unique perspectives to achieve meaningful change. 🔗 Find out more and apply now via Escape the City: https://lnkd.in/ehfDimVQ 📢 Know someone who might be interested? Please share this post! #ImpactInvesting #SocialEnterprise #Hiring

🤝 Impactful and inclusive investment partnerships are built on trust! At our annual networking and learning event, we celebrated the power of shared vision, mutual support, and trust-based, impact-focused partnerships with our portfolio partners, funders, and guests. This video captures the essence of those conversations - illuminating how investing in the skills, wellbeing, and resilience of founders, alongside the growth of their businesses, unlocks “trust opportunities” that lead to stronger, more impactful, enterprise-based solutions to pressing social challenges. Thank you to our partners, Dominic Maxwell FRSA (TellJO | B Corp™), Carl Konadu BEM (2-3 Degrees), Maria Morgan (Kineara), and Sumerian team members Eleri Jones and Nivethika Srirangan for sharing their thoughts on the strength of inclusive impact-first investing! #ImpactFirstInvesting #SocialEnterprise #SocialInvestment #VenturePhilanthropy

"We have a history that gives us cause to question people’s intentions. This lack of trust and trauma doesn’t disappear overnight. That’s why building genuine relationships, without pretence, is essential." – A social entrepreneur and Sumerian investment partner, quoted in our Inclusive Social Investment Impact Report (July 2024). At Sumerian, we rely on independent research and customer feedback to ensure our services meet market needs and continuously improve our support. We encourage any organisation to adopt this approach as part of their learning and development process. In 2023, we partnered with ClearView Research to explore the perspectives of founders in our investment portfolio, many of whom lead or serve underserved communities. Their feedback highlighted key insights relevant to all social investors: ▶️ Building trust: Take time to foster relationships, listen to investees, and involve them as equal partners in decision-making. ▶️ Engaging networks: Work with groups representing underserved communities to promote and raise awareness of diverse forms of social investment. ▶️ Aligned investment: Offer flexibility, including options for investments under £50k, and address cultural barriers to debt. 🔗"From Challenges to Solutions: Sumerian Foundation's Impact Assessment Report" by Clearview Research: https://lnkd.in/eRJhpgww These findings shaped our Inclusive Social Investment Impact Report, which outlines actions social investors can take to transform the “trust deficit” experienced by founders into a “trust opportunity.” 🔗Inclusive Social Investment Impact Report: https://lnkd.in/e4MiswQd We’re resharing these resources after the release of the new report “Adebowale Commission Three Years On: A Report Card” by Social Enterprise UK (covered by Pioneers Post below). We are not suggesting they contain all the answers - our goal is to amplify the voices of social entrepreneurs and spark meaningful conversations across the social investment community about creating a more inclusive market. #ImpactFirstInvesting #ImpactInvesting #SocialEnterprise #SocialEntrepeneurs #SocialInvestment #InclusiveInvesting

📢 Impact-First Investing #Job #Opportunity We’re looking for an Impact Investment Manager to join our team and support high-impact charities and social enterprises tackling social inequality in the UK. At Sumerian, we manage the UK Social Inequality Facility, providing tailored funding, skills support, impact management, and mentoring to organisations driving meaningful change. As Impact Investment Manager, you’ll help manage, scale, and promote the facility, ensuring it achieves its strategic impact and financial goals. If you’re ready to apply your accountancy and financial expertise to support innovative, scalable, and sustainable solutions to social inequality, we’d love to hear from you! We are committed to fairness, diversity, equity and inclusion and we believe in the power of diversity. 🕐 Hours: full or part-time 📌 Location: Hybrid - London/Remote 💷 Salary: £40,000 - £55,000 FTE 🖋️ Applications: Reviewed on a rolling basis. Apply now! 🔗 Details: via Escape the City https://lnkd.in/ehfDimVQ #ImpactFirstInvesting #ImpactInvesting #SocialInvestment #VenturePhilanthropy #SocialImpact #SocialEnterprise #Hiring

📢 Webinar | "Inclusive investing in diverse social entrepreneurs" | 16th January 2025, 11am - 12pm The Association of Charitable Foundations' SIIG is hosting a webinar to explore the barriers social entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds face - and how investors can help dismantle them. Our Chief Financial Officer, ✨Amy Gutcher✨, will share insights from our Inclusive Social Investment Report, which highlights the 'trust deficit' experienced by women and Black/Asian or ethnically diverse social enterprise leaders in the UK. Amy will share tangible steps social investors can take to turn this challenge into a 'trust opportunity.' You’ll also hear from ✨Bayile Adeoti FRSA✨, Founder of Dechomai Ltd, and ✨Daisy Ford-Downes✨ Head of Group Investment Programmes at Firstport, who will their joint research in partnership with Social Investment Scotland, "ACCESS report 2024: Investigating Acces to Finance for Ethnic Minority Social Entrepreneurs in Scotland". Join us for a meaningful conversation on driving equity and unlocking impact through inclusive investing. 👉 Register now: https://lnkd.in/eBwqnh-a #InclusiveInvesting #ImpactFirstInvesting #SocialInvestment #SocialEnterprises #VenturePhilanthropy

🌐 Reflecting on an inspiring #ImpactWeek24 in Bilbao! Our colleagues, Chris West and Eleri Jones, thoroughly enjoyed connecting with the European-based impact investing community at Impact Europe’s annual flagship event in Bilbao. It was a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and learn from others working across the spectrum of impact investing. Eleri attended a particularly thought-provoking session on reducing barriers to investing in minority-led enterprises. This topic resonates strongly with the findings of our recent Inclusive Social Investing Impact Report, which highlights the critical need to address the "trust deficit" between social enterprises led by women and/or Black, Asian, and ethnically diverse founders and social investors. [Link in comments] It was also wonderful to see a strong UK contingent represented by Kindred LCR, Better Society Capital, The Good Economy, Access - The Foundation for Social Investment, and The Rank Foundation, demonstrating the excellent social impact work happening in the UK. Huge thanks to Impact Europe for bringing together such a passionate and diverse group of changemakers. We’re returning with fresh insights to inform our work and partnerships. #ImpactInvesting #SocialEnterprise #InclusiveInvesting #Networking #ImpactEurope

📢 Attention women in social enterprise! Starting tomorrow (4 December), our investment partner, Dr Miriam Silver is curating a series of FREE webinars. The first session will focus on honing your sales process – don't miss out on this valuable opportunity! Check out the fabulous Sisterhood of Social Entrepreneurs ⤵️ #SocialEnterprise #WomenInSocialEnterprise