What we do

Our approach

SBT’s mission is to support high growth potential social enterprises to scale-up their impact. We do that by investing professional support and cash grants from our leading corporate partners in a carefully selected portfolio of social enterprises.

Since 2010, we have positively impacted the lives of nearly 3 million people.

Our programmes

We work with established social businesses with revenues of c.£1 million or more that have strong growth potential. Our aim is to help develop a number of social enterprises to national scale or significance.

Currently we work with a great portfolio, selected from reviews of over 1,000, tackling social problems including educational disadvantage and elderly care. Additional social enterprises are in our SBT Design programme, getting support to create a plan for growth.

Our story

Social Business Trust was started in 2010 by Sir Damon Buffini, founding partner of Permira, the global investment fund and Adele Blakebrough MBE, a leading social entrepreneur.

They share a belief in the importance of social enterprise in addressing society's problems and in the benefits that working in partnership with business can deliver.

Latest

Adele Blakebrough MBE hands the SBT CEO baton to Joanne Hay

After almost 12 years at the helm of Social Business Trust, co-founder Adele Blakebrough will be stepping down from the role of CEO at the end of this month. Deputy CEO, Joanne Hay, will be making the permanent move up to the role of CEO.
Live mentoring opportunities
Mentor meet up: Panel and networking session

This event has now passed. The informal networking event brought together existing and prospective mentors, at all stages of their careers, to learn about the value of investing in others and sharing expertise. Expert mentor, Nitin Parmar (Director, LSEG), Chaired the panel of guests from across SBT’s partners and portfolio to answer questions and share knowledge and stories on what mentoring involves and how it’s benefitted them.
Virtual roundtable: The impact of inflation

This event has now passed. The impact of rising inflation on both the costs of delivery and income generation is front of mind for everyone in the charity and social enterprise sector. We had lots of requests to share knowledge on how organisations are thinking about this, so convened this special session for CFOs. This roundtable discussion was facilitated by Andrew Lawson, Head of Capital Markets at Permira Credit.

What we do
Our corporate partners

We work with world-class business leaders.
Our approach
Who and how we support

We connect high potential social enterprises with business leaders to grow impact.
Types of volunteering

You can volunteer your time in many ways to make a difference to the SBT portfolio and increase the impact they deliver.
The difference we make
Adele Blakebrough MBE, Co-founder and Senior Advisor
A Decade of Difference

Social Business Trust marked 10 years of supporting the growth of social enterprises with A Decade of Difference report. The report showcases some of the impact the corporate partners and the social enterprises have achieved together.
Register interest in volunteering

We couldn't do what we do without talented people giving their time and energy! If you'd like to volunteer your skills to help social enterprises and charities scale-up, please get in touch.
Setting Up for Growth

A member of our portfolio, London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), is dedicated to providing high-quality care and education for young children across London regardless of income level. June O'Sullivan MBE, CEO of LEYF explains how Social Business Trust has been instrumental in their journey.