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Investment

Since 2005 we've raised over £21m of investment finance.

Case studies

Social enterprise tackles Homelessness: Consultancy Programme for CLG

How to raise Social Investment for a charity

Social Enterprise Consultancy: Case Studies for our 6 services

Eastside Foundation

The Foundation is Eastside's learning and development arm, which offers you the opportunity to develop and build skills through working with social entrepreneurs.

If you are a graduate or young professional interested in social enterprise, then apply to our Associate Programme today.

 

Case studies

Inspiring Social Enterprise Case Studies of clients who have used and benefited from the services that Eastside offers:

Investment Raising Case study
Opening doors for Oxford House

Background:

Oxford House is a community centre in Bethnal Green, East London which was established in 1884 and is involved in a variety of youth, immigration, arts and community work.

The Oxford House team approached Eastside after we had helped an affiliate, Weavers Playground, raise finance. The team was hoping to put together a restructuring plan, a series of grant applications, and plans for a new bike recycling social enterprise.

Eastside's Response:

Eastside put together a strategic plan, the core of which addressed inefficiencies in Oxford House's management set-up. These inefficiencies included the charity functioning a number of (silos) independent units that engaged in little, if any, dialogue with one another.

Eastside proposed Oxford House implement a new centralised administration system to create greater cohesion in the workplace. This allowed for the units to operate more smoothly on a day-to-day basis and for the organisation to raise finance more effectively under a greater organisational umbrella.

Once the recommendations had been put in place, Eastside set about completing a project appraisal for Oxford House's bike recycling social enterprise, and then began pursuing funding for the venture, approaching City Bridge Trust on their behalf.

The Outcome:

Eastside helped to secure a £53,000 grant for Oxford House, which was put towards the associated salary cost of employing a full time manager. The bike recycling programme is also now up and running as a social enterprise and had a successful first year.

Business Planning Case Study
South West Investment Group

Background:
The South West Investment Group (SWIG), the leading community development financial institute (CDFI) for the South West, wanted to generate a higher volume of activity that could be sustainable.

Already the leading provider of loan funding and support to social enterprises in the South West, SWIG had one of the largest loan portfolios to small and medium businesses outside of banks in the South West. This afforded it a strong position, making its model more sustainable than other CDFIs in the area.

What SWIG wanted was to go on to use their experience in the market to offer greater support for the region. Proposing a joint venture with the six other agencies in the region to enable the whole group to ‘scale up' together SWIG approached Eastside to find out how to complete a successful merger.

Eastside's Activity:

Eastside completed a business plan for SWIG and to test the viability of the business plan and prepared a financial model to demonstrate how to achieve greater sustainability.

The Outcome:

• SWIG secured investment of £1.2million from the SWERDA (South West Regional Development Agency).
• SWIG expanded to centralise lending for social enterprises across the whole of the South West.

Eastside has significant experience working with and advising the CDFI sector. In addition to SWIG, we have worked with: the Community Development Finance Association, Big Issue Invest, London Rebuilding Society and East of England Development Agency.

Financial Modelling Case Study
London Rebuilding Society

Background:

London Rebuilding Society (LRS) is a community finance institution, which lends to social and environmental organisations. It approached Eastside to develop a financial model and to design a new financial instrument to help cash-poor Londoners to maintain their homes.

The idea, a social equity release scheme, was based on the premise that it was possible to release money from a home at a fair value to provide cash and a maintenance service.

The Brief:

LRS needed to develop a financial model to test the sustainability of the business model that would support a proposal for funding for the scheme to the Treasury. At its heart was the question: What is the right scale to be sustainable?

The Solution:
Eastside tested a range of different models to see if they were viable. This included incorporating demographic data, such as the aging rate and life expectancy of the local population, to complete actuarial modelling along with mock data on the price and value of the local property and the volume of deals done to model different scenarios and their impact on cash flow for LRS.

As more assumptions and more variables were clarified, they were incorporated into the model, and Eastside was able to help identify how much investment was required to fund the development of the project until break-even. Training for the LRS team was also provided on how to use the model.

The Results:

LRS secured £6million of funding from the Treasury in order to roll out a programme

LRS said "...They were brilliant: they understood our needs perfectly... We were extremely pleased with the results - they helped us to progress the project from an idea to a viable proposition and to support us successfully raise £6million from the Treasury".

Feasibility Study Case Study:
Jatropha Oil production in Talensi-Nabdam, Ghana

Background:
The idea was to establish a social enterprise in Ghana producing carbon-neutral biofuels from the Jatropha cicus beans. It would create a self-sustaining industry that benefited the local community and beyond through not just the output of environmentally-friendly fuels, but also by providing jobs and income. They needed to know if their plan was feasible?

Eastside's Activity:
The first step was to break down the idea into its different areas of focus. Each area was taken in turn to be examined, exposed and researched, and then framed in a financial report. The result is a detailed picture of the bio-fuel market that such an organisation would be entering into, and the likelihood of the idea being a success.

In addition to identifying whether the market for Jatropha oil exists, there is the issue of whether the social enterprise model was viable for their product. The manner in which this organisation would be run, and its social impact, was as central to the whole idea as the Jatropha beans.

The Solution:
Fortunately for those involved, the answer was a resounding ‘yes'. It was decided that (under certain assumptions) it would be possible to develop a sustainable business, profitable from year 3 onwards. Not only would this benefit the inhabitants of the Talensi-Nabdam region, but a refined business model could be replicated in other parts of Africa and contribute to a clean development of rural villages.

The Outcome:
Since Eastside's involvement in the summer of 2007, the organisation decided to raise funds to further develop the enterprise and is currently on schedule with its objectives.

Structural Review Case study
Building Blocks for Fathers Direct

Background:
Fatherhood Institute (a registered charity and the UK's principle information centre for fathers) was considering several ideas to grow the organisation, including developing a website that would operate as a social enterprise and function independently from the charity.

The team was hampered by issues concerning the risk of such a venture and by limited knowledge of how to set up and grow a private sector business

Eastside's Activity:

Eastside helped the managers mould the idea into a coherent plan, completing a feasibility study and creating a financial model for the website to operate as a social enterprise.

Eastside supported Fathers Direct to structure the social enterprise as a standalone business and recommended the recruitment of an entrepreneurial non-executive

The Outcome:

This collaborative work driven by the skills of the Fathers Direct team and supported by Eastside ensured that the trustees of the charity had sufficient evidence to "green light" the venture.

Fathers Direct went on to secure £150,000 of equity finance through a network of business angels and has recently launched the social enterprise as a company limited by shares, with 40% of the shares retained by the charity.

Strategic Review Case Study
New chapter for Newtec

Background:

NewTec, a £2million community centre, was one of the last independent vocational training schools in East London in a market-space dominated by large colleges and universities. Like many other charitable organisations, Newtec had spent a number of years chasing funding and adapting services to meet the needs of organisations providing funding. But, with those traditional sources dying out, the school's sustainability was not assured.

Newtec approached Eastside to conduct a strategic review of the business. They needed answers to several questions:
• What's our strategy?
• How do we win/ succeed in this environment?
• Do we have the right structure to put our plans into action?
• Can we achieve our mission and provide our services without compromising either?

Eastside's Activity:

Eastside completed a strategic review for Newtec assessing its financial sustainability, and analysing the pros and cons of the current operational structure. Our advice to Newtec was to stream-line its operational structure, reducing the school's overhead costs and increasing efficiencies. Consistent with that approach was advice to focus on core competencies, in-line with the organisation's mission.

Eastside also recommended Newtec seek potential partners for a merger or acquisition.

The Outcome:

The strategic review completed in partnership with Eastside allowed Newtec to restructure successfully and open discussions about a merger with nearby Newham College. Once Newtec had completed those discussions, it returned to Eastside to get support for the due diligence associated with an acquisition.

Through the merger with Newham College, Newtec has been able to focus on its core competencies while benefiting from the structure, the size, and the associated economies of scale of a large college.

Eastside has delivered similar services to Computer Aid International, The Simon Community, Apex and The African Families Foundation.

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Eastside: making social enterprise happen