‘We can solve poverty’: How will impact investing change the face of charitable finance?

When Eglantyne Jepp founded Save The Children in London, in 1919, to help stop German children from starving to death during the blockade of the First World War, she was doing something quite unusual. 

No-one had considered helping the children of the enemy before.

More than a century later, that pioneering approach hasn’t changed, but Save The Children is finding new ways to help young people across the world. 

In this episode of The Big Question, Paul Ronalds, the founder and CEO of Save The Children Global Ventures discusses how traditional private sector techniques could change the finances of the charity sector. 

Save The Children Global Ventures, which was launched in 2022, runs a number of funds and projects which aim to optimise traditional investing techniques whilst achieving the core aims of the charity.

There’s currently a €3.8 trillion shortfall in funding to solve some of the planet’s biggest problems and whilst traditional fundraising is still hugely important, it’s just not enough. 

Though there’s not any retail products for your average person to invest in just yet, one part of Save The Children’s new approach is to work with sophisticated or institutional investors to encourage them into impact investing.

“There's a common misconception that impact investing means concessionary investing, and that's not necessarily the case at all,” Paul explains.

Whilst the first fund is a closed fund and is yet to mature, some of the projects are looking to provide both significant impact and a good return for investors. 

The 11 businesses in fund one focus mainly on education, technology and health technology. One of the education businesses, aims to reduce the growing problem of a shortage of teachers in sub-saharan Africa.