Big Society Capital

Brainchild of venture capitalist Sir Ronald Cohen. The organisation draws its funds from unclaimed assets in UK banks, and invests in organisations tackling major social issues. The idea stems from the Social Investment Task Force set up at the instigation of UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in 2000, with a remit to “To set out how entrepreneurial practices can be applied to obtain higher social and financial returns from social investment, to harness new talents and skills to address economic regeneration and to unleash new sources of private and institutional investment."