Coming Together – From Research to Reality in Greater Cambridge
In 2022, AchieveGood partnered with Cambridge City Council and It Takes a City to explore how place-based social impact investment might help address the stark inequalities affecting Greater Cambridge. The resulting report, Coming Together, laid bare a challenging paradox: one of the world's most innovative economies sits alongside some of the country's deepest disparities in income, health, and opportunity.
Our research identified housing affordability, homelessness, educational inequality, and community resilience as priority areas where blended finance and social investment could make a meaningful difference. Cambridge, with inequality at the centre, offered clear opportunities around housing, community infrastructure, net zero initiatives, and outcomes-based approaches in skills and homelessness. Cambridge City Council - Coming Together Report
What has happened since? The vision outlined in Coming Together has become reality.
In December 2024, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority approved £1 million in funding for Greater Cambridge Impact, matching Cambridge City Council's earlier commitment. Cambridge City Council
This £10 million, ten-year social impact investment fund will take an innovative approach to tackling inequality, investing in charities, social enterprises, and community interest companies offering bold solutions across education, social mobility, health, and homelessness.
Alongside the fund, the Cambridge Pledge has been established to encourage local entrepreneurs to commit future wealth, providing first-loss capital for a successor fund. Signatories already include the Aidan Trust, Jesus College Cambridge, and prominent figures from the city's technology and innovation sectors. The Cambridge Pledge
Greater Cambridge Impact demonstrates what becomes possible when public authorities, philanthropy, and the private sector align around shared priorities. It offers a compelling model for other regions seeking to harness local prosperity for broader social benefit
Learn more at greatercambridgeimpact.org and cambridge-pledge.org
Jack Scriven
