Rethinking Subsidy: lessons from social investment on good growth
Policy and Advocacy Manager, Alex Bunker, looks at the lessons from social investment in using subsidy as a tool for delivering good growth

A fund to support Community Share projects in underserved areas with matching equity in the form of community share purchases, with additional debt finance alongside where needed. The fund is also trialling a new product, providing up-front finance coverage for “subscription shares”, where individuals who can’t afford a lump sum can purchase their share in instalments over the course of a year.
It uses funding from Flexible Finance for the Recovery to enable the provision of long-term, flexible investment products, particularly for organisations where financial returns are uncertain or lower than conventional investment thresholds.



