Social impact investment

In September 2018, the Foundation invested £3m in Project Snowball LLP

This major shift in investment strategy gives us a chance to be part of a creative ambitious investment vehicle with the objective of making competitive financial returns, whilst delivering measurable social and environmental outcomes. We are the sixth partner to join the LLP where the philosophy, culture and shared vision is framed by the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Impact Themes which these goals create.

Snowball’s ambition is to change the way the investment industry thinks, talks and acts when making important investment decisions. It understands that all organisations have an impact on people and on the planet and, as such, investments must make a positive social or environmental return as well as a financial one, if we are to solve the world’s many problems. Snowball, therefore, measures the potential impact of its investments on people and planet alongside risk and financial return, striving for a long-term return of social, environmental and financial capital for its investors and for the planet.

Its investments are wide-ranging, from organisations such as AWEL, a Community Benefit Society based in Wales that has built its own wind farms, to others such as Auticon, a tech company who employ talented people on the autism spectrum. Snowball’s strategy is to be as diversified as possible in order to minimise risks without compromising returns for its stakeholders.

Founded in 2016, by grouping the impact investments of the two founding partners; Panaphur and The Golden Bottle Trust, Snowball’s assets and board have since grown to include a wider range of board members with different backgrounds and experiences. The long-term vision is to make Snowball accessible to everybody, no matter how much they can invest. Its belief is that everybody should be able to invest with ease, in-line with their principles and without unnecessary risk. Its mission is to democratise impact investing and in so doing, create catalytic change across investment management.

SNOWBALL’S AMBITION IS TO CHANGE THE WAY THE INVESTMENT INDUSTRY THINKS, TALKS AND ACTS WHEN MAKING IMPORTANT INVESTMENT DECISIONS