Abundance Investment

Abundance Investment is a leading direct investment platform giving people control over their money. Since its launch in July 2012, it has raised more than £90m from individual investors to fund companies and projects across the green economy and housing sectors. Helping local councils raise investment for local projects is a key focus area for Abundance given the low risk returns it offers the company’s investors.

Abundance is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network

AgDevCo

AgDevCo is a specialist investor in African agribusiness with the mission to support the development of a thriving commercial African agriculture sector.

TGE conducted an assurance exercise for AgDevCo to verify its reported impact figures and to recommend ways to strengthen overall impact measurement and management practices. We also conducted research for a paper summarising lessons learned from AgDevCo’s seed investments into early-stage agribusinesses.

AEW

AEW is one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world with over $90 billion assets under management.

The Good Economy was engaged by AEW UK in 2022 to set up an Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) Framework for what was then called the RRF. The RRF had launched in 2016, with a strategy to invest in a range of real estate sectors aiming to align the real benefits of property with the needs of long-term savers.

With a view to capitalising on the positive place-based impact potential of real estate investment, AEW UK commissioned TGE to design a formal approach to convert this existing strategy into one that could credibly claim to be an ‘impact’ fund.

AfricInvest

AfricInvest which was founded in the early 1990s is one of the most experienced private equity investors on the African continent. With more than 100 professionals in eleven offices, AfricInvest has raised USD2 billion across 21 funds and benefits from strong, long-term support from both local and international investors, including leading development finance institutions in the United States and Europe.

In line with the requirements of the Operating Principles for Impact Management, to which AfricInvest is a signatory, The Good Economy undertook an independent assessment of their impact management processes and practices using our verification methodology, Impact Assured.

Impact Assured verifies alignment with the Impact Principles and wider industry good practice, as well as provides practical recommendations on opportunities to strengthen impact systems. A detailed report on the verification findings was presented to AfricInvest

Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) is a global network of organisations that propel entrepreneurship in developing economies. ANDE members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that SGBs create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits.

The Good Economy helped ANDE by facilitating the Decent Work Measurement Learning Lab and capturing the key insights in this guide.

Association of Real Estate Funds

The Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) is the body that represents the interests of its fund managers, those firms that advise and support them and the end customers that invest in our member funds. Membership includes over fifty funds spanning the leading real estate fund management houses in the industry, through to smaller, specialist boutiques, with a collective net asset value of over £50bn.TGE regularly delivers training sessions to members on impact investing.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley is the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire with a population of 244,600.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network

Bath and North East Somerset Council

Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a unitary authority district in Somerset, South West England. It covers an area of 136 square miles, of which two thirds is green belt. The area has a population of around 193,400, half of which live in the City of Bath.

B&NES is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network and held one of the four PBII Innovation Labs.

Bristol & Bath Regional Capital

Bristol and Bath Regional Capital (BBRC) is a leading, place-based impact investor and asset manager. They invest in real estate, infrastructure and businesses to deliver attractive returns for investors and strong social, economic and environmental outcomes for local communities.

BBRC is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network.

Bristol City Council

Bristol City Council is the local authority of Bristol, England. The council is a unitary authority and is unusual in the United Kingdom in that its executive function is controlled by its directly elected mayor. It is part of the West of England Combined Authority and the 11th most populous urban area in the United Kingdom.

Bristol City Council is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network

Bristish International Investment

British Investment International (BII) is UK’s development finance institution, managed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) focused on investing in the emerging markets of Africa and South Asia.

TGE worked with the BII to produce a report that outlines a practical framework to help investors and companies consider how best to use digital technologies to enhance workforce communication and worker voice.

Capital & Centric

Capital & Centric are Manchester-based social impact property developers, investors and operators.

The Good Economy worked with them to define their impact management and measurement framework.

Capital & Regional

Capital & Regional is a UK property REIT which owns retail and leisure properties throughout the UK and specialises in community shopping centres.

TGE worked with Capital & Regional to develop an impact management and measurement framework that they could use to embed impact into their decision making process.

Clarion Housing Group

Clarion Housing Group is the largest housing association in the UK, owning and managing over 125,000 homes. TGE were commissioned to design and deliver a bespoke ESG training course to educate and inform senior directors about ESG and the implications for Clarion as a business.

Clwyd Pension Fund

The Clwyd Pension Fund (CPF) is a Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) responsible for the counties of Flintshire, Denbighshire and Wrexham. Flintshire County Council is the lead Administrative Authority of the Clwyd Pension Fund.

TGE worked with CPF to identify and report on the place based impact of their investment using the PBII Reporting Framework.

Columbia Threadneedle

Columbia Threadneedle Investments (CTI) is a leading global asset manager, entrusted with £491 billion on behalf of individual, institutional and corporate clients around the world. CTI is also a pioneer in bringing social bond investing to retail investors and The Good Economy sits on the Social Advisory Panel for their UK and Global Social Bond Fund.

Columbia Threadneedle is also a founding member of our PBII Network.

Community Land Trust Network

The Community Land Trust Network is a non-profit that is mainstreaming the community ownership of land for affordable housing and other assets in public policy and market practice.

They commissioned TGE to help them with their 2023 State of the Sector report which was launched by the Secretary of State Michael Gove MP in Parliament.

Creative UK

Creative UK is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting the growth of the creative industries. The Good Economy provided a range of impact assessment and strategy consultancy services for its investment programme, delivering an independent Impact Report and conducting client surveys to provide feedback on the investment process from the investee’s perspective.

TGE also advised on Creative UK’s scale-up strategy, which resulted in the creation of an investment subsidiary company and the raising of a £10 million from Triodos Bank to increase Creative UK’s investment activity.

Dunoon Project

Thanks to an innovative multi-partner model, plans for the Dunoon Project site include a range of outdoor activities suitable for all ages and abilities. The Project will also play a crucial role in promoting the town, its history, the waterfront and the stunning, natural landscapes of the surrounding area. The driving force behind the project is The Dunoon Project Ltd, a locally-owned, community-based charity.

EQT

Based in Sweden, EQT is one of the world’s leading private equity firms. It is a purpose-led organisation with almost three decades of experience of investing in growth companies, delivering consistent and attractive returns across multiple geographies, sectors and strategies. Today, EQT has EUR 126 billion assets under management.

EQT wanted to understand what and how much positive social and environmental impact is occurring within its portfolio. The Good Economy was commissioned to conduct a review of a portion of EQT Private Capital’s portfolio. The review identified, in a consistent and comparable way, which companies may be generating positive outcomes for people and / or the planet and why.

European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the lending arm of the European Union. They are the biggest multilateral financial institution in the world and one of the largest providers of climate finance.

TGE contributed to the EIB’s report on lessons learnt through a three-year partnership between the EIB and the Global Development Network (GDN). The EIB-GDN Programme applied rigorous evaluation techniques to ongoing private investments in developing countries, while building local research capacity. We helped them to understand the role of impact investing in the development financing context, and the crucial role of impact measurement within this field.

Habitat for Humanity Great Britain

Habitat for Humanity Great Britain is part of the global Habitat for Humanity Federation, an international charity fighting global poverty and homelessness.

The Good Economy is helping HfHGB to develop an ESG framework.

Heath Innovation South West

Health Innovation South West is one of 15 Academic Health Science Networks set up by the NHS in 2013 to identify and spread health innovation at pace and scale.

The Good Economy was commissioned to explore opportunities to strengthen the connection between supply and demand for funding and finance for VCSE models of care.

House of St Barnabas

The House of St Barnabas’ Employment Academy aims to help those affected by homelessness find lasting, paid work by providing training, qualifications, work experience, mentoring and support.

TGE conducted outcome surveys for the Employment Academy using Insightable, our lean approach to outcomes measurement.

FSD Africa

FSD Africa is a specialist non-profit development agency funded by UK aid. TGE developed a Jobs Measurement Framework to enable FSD Africa to understand the impact of its work on building and strengthening financial markets across sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted extensive research to develop and deploy a practical model that allows FSD Africa to accurately determine its contribution to job creation and job quality, including the incorporation of ‘green jobs’.

Foresight

Foresight is a sustainability led alternative assets and SME investment manager. Their investment strategies are aligned with key themes shaping society and the planet, contributing to a resilient decarbonised world and creating the high-quality, sustainable jobs that will power tomorrow’s economy.

Foresight is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network

Funding Affordable Homes

Funding Affordable Homes (FAH) is a social impact investment company investing in UK government regulated affordable housing. They have close partnerships with housing associations and local authorities. Working with local partners they use their capital to promote the delivery of additional homes and aim to provide a balanced return to our shareholders comprising an attractive mix of income yield and capital appreciation.

The Good Economy has acted as the social impact advisor to FAH since its launch in 2015. We carry out a social due diligence of all investments and produce an Annual Impact Report based on our independent assessment of FAH’s impact performance.

Get Living

Get Living is a specialist Build to Rent property developer that creates neighbourhoods and communities where people are connected and can thrive.

TGE worked with them to develop an approach to measuring and managing their impact.

Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF)

Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) is the largest local government pension scheme (LGPS) fund and the eleventh biggest defined benefit pension fund in the UK. GMPF manages over 375,000 pensions and pay over £750 million of benefits each year. TGE helped GMPF in developing its place-based impact reporting using a robust and industry-driven methodology, as well as delivering the outputs to members in an easy-to-understand visual reporting format. The report enables GMPF to demonstrate the nature of its private market investments and their contributions to inclusive and sustainable development including the Government’s Levelling Up agenda in the UK, with a particular focus on benefits to Greater Manchester and the Northwest of England.

Igloo Regeneration

AfricaInvest Verification Statement

igloo Regeneration is the UK’s leading responsible real estate business working with investors, communities, local authorities and landowners who want to make the world better one place at a time. As a regenerative developer of sustainable mixed-use neighbourhoods for communities, they have been creating people- and planet-positive places since 2002.

igloo Regeneration is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network

Impact Investing Institute

The Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) is the body that represents the interests of its fund managers, those firms that advise and support them and the end customers that invest in our member funds. Membership includes over fifty funds spanning the leading real estate fund management houses in the industry, through to smaller, specialist boutiques, with a collective net asset value of over £50bn.

TGE regularly delivers training sessions to members on impact investing.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is an independent social change organisation working to solve UK poverty through research, policy, collaboration and practical solutions.

JRF commissioned Small Change (NI) Ltd and The Good Economy to carry out a study to create a robust foundation for a new social investment strategy that would contribute to the four outcome areas of its anti-poverty strategy.

LDC

LDC is a mid-market private equity house and a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group.
The Good Economy conducted social value assessments of LDC’s investments analysing the extent to which they supported balanced and inclusive growth in the UK.
Authored by TGE co-Founder Mark Hepworth, the LDC report was first published in March 2016 and is now being promoted to the private equity sector, the wider financial community, and national and regional stakeholders promoting the UK’s balanced economy agenda.

TGE’s methodology has been endorsed by the British Venture Capital Association as the first “intellectually rigorous” methodology for assessing the social contribution of private equity and venture capital investment in SMEs.

Legal & General Affordable Homes

Legal & General Group is the UK’s biggest provider of corporate pension schemes and individual life insurance products, with over £1.3 trillion in AUM. Within the Group, L&G Affordable Homes (LGAH) is a for-profit registered provider of social and affordable housing.

The Good Economy worked with LGAH to develop an Impact Measurement and Management Methodology, and an annually undertakes an assessment of the impact delivered by LGAH’s portfolio.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) is the combined authority of the City of Liverpool local authority area plus the Metropolitan Boroughs of Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral and the Borough of Halton. The city region covers a population of 1.5 million making it the 4th largest combined authority area in England.

The LCRCA is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network.

Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, the sixth largest city in England by population.

Manchester City Council is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network and held one of the four PBII Innovation Labs.

M&G Real Estate

M&G Real Estate is recognised as one of the world’s leading property investors with investments across all sectors and a portfolio that spans 29 countries.

TGE worked with M&G Real Estate on developing their impact measurement and management framework.

Matter

Matter Real Estate is a specialist private equity real estate investor with over £250 million in AUM. Matter Real Estate has acquired a majority stake in a range of real estate businesses operating in housing and healthcare.

In 2021, TGE supported Matter Real Estate to develop an ESG Approach, which outlines a framework for impact measurement and management. In 2022, TGE continued its work with Matter, producing their annual impact report based on our independent assessment.

Newcore

Founded in 2011, Newcore Capital Management (Newcore) is a management-owned business, with assets under management of £500 million. As a specialist in social infrastructure investor in the UK, Newcore targets assets considered integral to the functioning of society. These assets enable the provision of essential services such as education, housing and transport.

Despite having confidence that its social infrastructure investments have a positive impact, Newcore wanted to better understand, measure and report on impact creation. In late 2022, The Good Economy (TGE) was commissioned to carry out a critical review of Newcore’s ESG approach, and to conduct an independent impact assessment of Newcore’s funds.

North East Combined Authority

The North of Tyne Combined Authority is a partnership of three local authorities: Newcastle, North Tyneside, and Northumberland and a directly-elected Metro Mayor.

Formed on 7 May 2024, it covers the seven local authority areas of County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

Octavia Housing

Octavia Housing is a Registered Provider of Social Housing, delivering affordable homes to thousands of people in central and west London. As early adopters of the Sustainability Reporting Standard (SRS) for Social Housing, Octavia commissioned TGE to conduct a ‘critical friend’ review of its first SRS submission, including a criteria-level review of the draft submission and the underpinning methodology.

Octopus Investments

Octopus Investments is part of Octopus Group and manage more than £13 billion on behalf of over 63,000 investors and have over 750 employees. From the very beginning, they invested in the people, ideas and industries that can change the world across three themes: building a sustainable planet, empowering people and revitalising healthcare.

Octopus Investments is a Founding Member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network

Oxfam

Oxfam GB was the Impact Advisor to The Enabling Microfinance Fund (EMF), which sought to address the exclusion from formal financial markets faced by entrepreneurs in low-income countries.

TGE was commissioned by Oxfam GB to carry out an independent assessment of the impact performance of EMF and produce an Impact Report for EMF’s current and potential investors.

We analysed portfolio data and conducted investee interviews to better understand where the EMF was delivering positive social impact, to capture learnings and to formulate recommendations for EMF’s future investment strategy.

Palentine Private Equity

Palatine is a partner led private equity firm that sees investment as a force for good. Headquartered in Manchester with offices in London and Birmingham, they operate at both a regional and a national level, investing across multiple sectors across the UK.

Palatine’s impact management processes and practices were assessed using The Good Economy’s verification methodology, Impact Assured.

Impact Assured verifies alignment with the Impact Principles and wider industry good practice and provides practical recommendations on opportunities to strengthen impact systems.

Patrizia

With €58 billion Assets Under Management, Patrizia is one of the leading global real asset investment managers. The Company offers a comprehensive product portfolio of private and listed equity funds, private debt funds and (multi-manager) fund of fund products to more than 500 institutional and 10,000 semi-professional or private investors.

The Good Economy’s Impact Services team worked with Patrizia to develop an Impact Management and Measurement framework for one of their developments.

Rehoboth Property Group

Rehoboth Property Group is a multi-award-winning, London-based real estate firm.

TGE worked with them to develop an impact thesis to guide their thinking on how to measure and manage their impact.

Rentplus

Rentplus offers an affordable route to home ownership for lower-income households. Through the Rentplus model, homes are let at an affordable rent and residents receive a 10% gifted deposit at the point at which they purchase their home. TGE worked with Rentplus to define its Impact Measurement and Management Methodology and undertook a review of the company’s existing ESG policies.

RM Funds

RM Funds is a specialist asset manager focusing on alternative investments. TGE was commissioned by RM Funds to provide third-party assurance of its Impact Management and Measurement framework.

Rochdale Development Agency

Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) was established in 1993 and is dedicated to promoting Rochdale as a central investment location while continuing to support and assist existing investors.

RDA is a member of TGE’s Place-Based Impact Investing Network

Schroders Capital

Schroders is one of the UK’s largest investment managers, working closely with pension schemes and insurance companies across public and private market investment strategies.

Schroders is one of the Founding Members of TGE’s PBII Network.