Through our partnership with Refinitiv Stephen Bergin, Commercial Finance Director (Partners) has been working with Brightside, a social mobility charity within SBT’s portfolio, since 2016. Stephen was interviewed as part of Refinitiv’s activities to promote volunteering. Read below what he had to say about the benefits of volunteering his professional skills with SBT. What inspired [ Read More… ]

Social Business Trust is delighted to be named in the Natwest SE100 Index 2020. The list is compiled by Pioneers Post, a leading social enterprise publication, in partnership with NatWest Social & Community Capital. Applicants to the NatWest SE100 completed an in depth survey, exploring the overall business performance, encompassing everything from turnover, growth, profit [ Read More… ]

Social Business Trust (SBT) and its nine corporate partners came together in March to help the social enterprises within SBT’s portfolio and beyond respond to the challenges of COVID.-19 Through project Rainbow, an army of volunteers provided rapid practical solutions to enable business continuity and ensure those most in need were supported. SBT’s corporate partners, [ Read More… ]

Social Business Trust (SBT) and its nine corporate partners have come together to help the social enterprises within SBT’s portfolio to respond to the evolving situation in the UK in the light of the COVID-19 outbreak. We held a webinar on Board Leadership and Covid1-19 with a fantastic line up. SPEAKERS * Laura Sanderson from [ Read More… ]

Social Business Trust (SBT) is thrilled to announce renewed investment support for Hertfordshire Independent Living Service (HILS). SBT agreed a major package of expertise and grant funding to help HILS expand and transform digitally, so they can broaden their impact. HILS have been serving meals to older and vulnerable adults in their homes since 2007. [ Read More… ]

Social Business Trust (SBT) and its nine corporate partners have come together to help the social enterprises within SBT’s portfolio to respond to the evolving situation in the UK in the light of the COVID-19 outbreak. The ‘SBT Rainbow’ group will aim to provide rapid solutions to business continuity issues in the enterprises it supports [ Read More… ]

We are living in uncertain times. Here at Social Business Trust, we support social enterprises to grow and achieve their potential. This is no mean feat while we are in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. We must address the enormous impact the effects of COVID-19 is going to have for us and indeed, our [ Read More… ]

Josie Macleod, Associate and Grace Mathieson Trainee Solicitor at Charles Russell Speechlys worked with Twining Enterprise and were awarded a joint Unsung Hero SBT Award for their work.  Can you briefly describe the project you worked on?  We are reviewing the Employee Handbook and related policies of Twining Enterprise, a charity providing employment support, advice [ Read More… ]

In a break from the day job, a group from Thomson Reuters Corporates Europe headed to Lee Valley Velodrome, led by Managing Director Sarah Robbins, to take part in the Bikeworks Charity Bike Factory. The 16 bikes they created will be donated to London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) nurseries, and forms an important part of [ Read More… ]

Parul Vadher works at EY as a Manager in People Advisory Services. She worked with Brightside, a charity that runs online mentoring programmes matching young people with mentors who can help them make confident and informed decisions about their future. Can you briefly describe the project you worked on? I worked with an organisation called [ Read More… ]

CEO of Shakespeare Schools Foundation, Ruth Brock, headed to Harvard Business School to take part in their Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management. Here’s what she took away. The Harvard Business School Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Managment Executive Education course is a week long intensive on the HBS campus, for nonprofit leaders from around the world. [ Read More… ]

Dr Kate Chhatwal, CEO of Challenge Partners has been named in the 2020 New Year’s Honours, for services to education. Kate became Chief Executive of Challenge Partners in 2018. Challenge Partners enables collaboration between schools to accelerate pupil outcomes, focussing on school improvement, leadership development and knowledge exchange. It currently has 485 schools within the [ Read More… ]

Hannah Honzel, Bain & Company, won an Unsung Hero Award in 2019 for her work with Challenge Partners Please describe the project you worked on? Over a three month period to develop Challenge Partners growth strategy.  This involved reviewing and making recommendations to their pricing structure, and then developing an approach to prioritising and connecting [ Read More… ]

Hertfordshire Independent Living Service has won a prestigious award at The Hertfordshire Business Awards 2019. Hertfordshire Independent Living Service (HILS), have won an award at The Hertfordshire Business Awards 2019. They were crowned ‘Social Enterprise of the Year’ category, for services supporting older and vulnerable people. The awards ceremony took place in a packed conference [ Read More… ]

New partnership announced between Refinitiv and Social Business Trust (SBT). SBT are delighted to welcome Refinitiv as the latest corporate partner. Through SBT, Refintiv will use their business skills and talented teams to help some of the UK’s thriving social enterprises and charities grow. Refinitiv is one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets [ Read More… ]

Tempo secures investment from SBT Thousands more people will be able to earn and spend Time Credits for giving their time to volunteering as a result of support from SBT for Tempo.  Following completion of the SBT Design Programme, Tempo has won support of the SBT Investment Committee and has been welcomed into the portfolio of [ Read More… ]

On 15th October, the Social Business Trust (SBT) welcomed its social enterprises and charities, corporate partners and extended network to the Royal Academy of Arts for the 2019 Volunteer Thank You Celebration Breakfast, hosted by Permira. Paul Armstrong, Managing Director at Permira and SBT Trustee thanked guests for attending and welcomed SBT Chair, Larissa Joy. [ Read More… ]

A new  partnership is announced today between leading law firm Charles Russell Speechlys and Social Business Trust (SBT). Through SBT, Charles Russell Speechlys staff will give pro bono legal assistance and deploy their professional skills to help some of Britain’s most exciting charities and social enterprises tackle major social issues including educational disadvantage, elderly isolation [ Read More… ]

How can business navigate the twin pillars of profit and purpose? That was the focus of a special gathering last week, when senior leaders from Social Business Trust’s corporate partners and other businesses came together for a Purposeful Leadership Masterclass. Attendees, including representatives from Clifford Chance, EY, Getronics and Thomson Reuters, heard from business leaders [ Read More… ]

Over 200,000 young people will benefit from better education through more schools collaborating to share best practice. That’s the goal of a new package of support for Challenge Partners from Social Business Trust (SBT). Challenge Partners is an education charity that facilitates collaboration and challenge between schools, to reduce educational inequality and improve the life [ Read More… ]

More children will get an excellent start in life, whatever their background, thanks to new support for London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) from Social Business Trust (SBT). LEYF has already grown over eight years from 23 to 37 nurseries in London with help from SBT, providing early years education and care for over 4,300 children [ Read More… ]

A new corporate partnership is announced today between Social Business Trust (SBT) and Getronics, the global IT services group. As a result of the partnership, Getronics will use the expertise of its employees to support the growth of the great social enterprises in SBT’s portfolio. By doing so, the employees’ IT skills will help improve [ Read More… ]

Supporting and strengthening disconnected communities by encouraging volunteering is the goal of Tempo, which has won support from Social Business Trust (SBT) to grow its work. Tempo works in partnership with local authorities, Clinical Commissioning Groups and others to deliver Time Credits programmes. Their programmes extend across communities and make volunteering more accessible so that [ Read More… ]

Fierce but friendly rivalry dominated as teams of top business people battled to win the Social Business Trust Big City Quiz 2018 last week. Hosted by Clifford Chance and supported by all SBT’s corporate partners, the event saw the Smart-EYs team from EY beat off strong competition, to be crowned champions with Bain & Company’s [ Read More… ]

Helping 57,000 young people a year by 2020 is the goal of The Challenge, which has been granted a new package of support by Social Business Trust (SBT). The Challenge has already, with SBT’s involvement, become the UK’s leading social integration charity and the largest provider of the government’s National Citizen Service for young people. [ Read More… ]

Social Business Trust (SBT) is delighted to announce a new corporate partnership with Permira Debt Managers (PDM). The company, a leading provider of alternative credit solutions and long-term capital for successful businesses, will provide financial support and in-kind expertise to help great social enterprises grow. PDM is a partner in the growth of household names [ Read More… ]

Harvard Business School is where the chief executives of two social enterprises supported by Social Business Trust (SBT) are heading this weekend. With SBT’s support, Anand Shukla, CEO of Brightside and Chris Wilson, CEO of The Brilliant Club have both won funded places on the prestigious American institution’s strategy course for charity and social enterprise [ Read More… ]

A record number of business volunteers helped social enterprises grow through Social Business Trust (SBT) in the last year. The news was announced at a celebration event for SBT volunteers and the social enterprises they support, hosted by SBT corporate partner, EY, last night SBT CEO Adele Blakebrough MBE told guests that the number of [ Read More… ]

Businesses benefit enormously from enabling staff to volunteer their professional expertise for social good. That’s the message of Volunteering Reinvented, The Business Benefits of Helping Social Enterprises Grow, published by Social Business Trust (SBT) today. Skills volunteering can be seen solely as a corporate responsibility activity, with businesses giving their help to smaller social enterprises [ Read More… ]

“SBT’s approach is high impact, exciting and makes a real difference to social enterprises and businesses alike.” That’s how Larissa Joy, announced today as the new Chair of Social Business Trust (SBT) describes its work. Larissa says she was attracted to SBT because it is so effective in helping social enterprises to scale-up: “SBT’s support is deep, [ Read More… ]

How does Social Business Trust (SBT) decide which social enterprises to support? The top business leaders who make those decisions are the focus of a new film from SBT published here today. Inside SBT Investment Committee brings to life the work of senior executives from our corporate partners, who gather regularly to hear from leading [ Read More… ]

Thousands more under-represented pupils will get help to progress to highly-selective universities thanks to new support for The Brilliant Club from Social Business Trust (SBT) announced today. The Brilliant Club mobilises the PhD community to share its academic expertise with non-selective state schools, raising attainment and aspirations. It is already one of the largest university [ Read More… ]

Strategy consultants from across Bain & Company came together recently to help five social enterprises in Social Business Trust’s (SBT) network plan for growth. Those involved included: I CAN, whose social enterprise helps children with communications difficulties Hertfordshire Independent Living Service, supporting elderly and disabled people to live independently Brightside, providing online mentoring to help [ Read More… ]

Good governance was the focus of an event held last night by Social Business Trust (SBT) for trustees of social enterprises in our network. Over 50 attendees from social enterprises including Brightside, The Challenge and London Early Years Foundation, were welcomed by Stephen Lambert, Partner, EY, who hosted the evening. They heard Sir Richard Lambert [ Read More… ]

Helping three million people in need: that’s the bold new goal for Social Business Trust (SBT) announced by our CEO Adele Blakebrough MBE. The target was unveiled at an event last night, hosted by EY, one of our eight corporate partners, to celebrate a record-breaking year of achievement for SBT. Over 200 attendees heard how [ Read More… ]

£3.1m-worth of cash and in-kind support was given by Social Business Trust (SBT) in 2016/17 to help outstanding social enterprises scale-up. The total, including 6,400 hours of world-class volunteer business expertise from SBT’s corporate partners, is the most given in one year since SBT began in 2010. The record is revealed in SBT’s new 2016/17 [ Read More… ]

Hertfordshire Independent Living Service (HILS) is celebrating the milestone of over one million caring interventions delivered to vulnerable, elderly, and disabled people since it began working with Social Business Trust (SBT) two years ago. From small beginnings in 2007, with seven members of staff delivering meals on wheels to people in their homes, HILS now [ Read More… ]

More people with mental health problems will get the help they need to keep their jobs or get into work as a result of new support for Twining Enterprise from Social Business Trust (SBT) announced today. Twining, a leading provider of ‘back to work’ mental health advice and support services, has already grown rapidly over [ Read More… ]

Getting more young people from under-represented backgrounds into highly-selective universities: that’s the mission of The Brilliant Club, which has just won support from Social Business Trust (SBT). The Brilliant Club mobilises the PhD community to share its academic expertise with state schools, raising aspirations and attainment. Its model is simple but powerful, delivering impressive results. [ Read More… ]

Evan Davis, presenter of Newsnight and Dragon’s Den, joined Social Business Trust today to launch our new report Unlocking Growth -The Insider’s Guide to Scaling Your Social Enterprise. The launch event, a packed out gathering hosted by SBT business partner Permira, brought together leading social entrepreneurs and top business people to talk about what it [ Read More… ]

How can ambitious social enterprises grow to multiply their impact? That’s the focus of Unlocking Growth -The Insider’s Guide to Scaling Your Social Enterprise, published by Social Business Trust (SBT) today. Unlocking Growth shares the key lessons learnt by SBT and the social enterprises we are supporting to grow, informed by the expertise of our [ Read More… ]

Thousands of children with communications difficulties will get the help they need to speak, read and write as a result of new support for I CAN from Social Business Trust (SBT). The children’s communication charity won the investment for its social enterprise arm, started four years ago, which already reaches over 32,000 children a year. [ Read More… ]

Social Business Trust Chairman, Sir Damon Buffini, is stepping down after six years in the role, with a rallying call for businesses to grow their support to help great social enterprises grow. Sir Damon, former Chair and Managing Partner of global investment firm Permira who co-founded the charity with social entrepreneur Adele Blakebrough MBE, will [ Read More… ]

Challenge Partners, a social enterprise that aims to improve the quality of school education nationally, has been awarded investment worth £692,000 by Social Business Trust (SBT). As a result, it plans to grow to help nearly 500,000 students a year by 2021, up from 193,000 children in over 360 schools currently. The investment includes a [ Read More… ]

A social enterprise that gives a voice to people in prison and on probation, increasing their chance of successful rehabilitation, is set to double its reach thanks to a package of new investment from Social Business Trust (SBT) announced today. User Voice currently helps one third of all people in prison and on probation in England and Wales. [ Read More… ]

Thousands more disadvantaged young people will receive mentoring support to help them succeed as a result of a new investment by Social Business Trust (SBT), announced today. Brightside, which provides online mentoring to young people across the UK, is to receive a package of hands-on business expertise and a cash grant, together worth £430,000. The [ Read More… ]