Co-Designing a Place-Based Social Impact and Blended Finance Fund with Cambridge City Council
AchieveGood partnered with It Takes a City (ITAC) and Cambridge City Council to co-design solutions that could build on local assets and be transformative in tackling social issues and delivering better outcomes.
The Challenge:
It Takes a City (ITAC), a pioneering charity, brings together public, private, and third-sector bodies to collaboratively address homelessness in Cambridge. Recognising that no single entity can tackle this issue alone, ITAC's role is to convene, clarify, and coordinate efforts.
Our initial work involved reviewing ITAC’s social impact to explore the potential for social impact investing. This led to a collaboration with Cambridge City Council to co-design a place-based social impact fund.
Our Co-Design Approach for Inspiring Impact:
Our process was divided into a three-phase approach designed to build on local assets and create lasting solutions.
PHASE 1
Discover & Inspire
We conducted interviews with investors, organisations, foundations, and public sector leaders to understand their views on the needs of Cambridge.
We wrote “Coming Together” which outlined the issues identified and the potential of a place-based fund.
PHASE 2
Design & Development
We conducted a social sector engagement event with 30 local organisations to hear about local barriers and opportunities.
We hosted an investor roundtable with 20 attendees to build the case for the fund.
A compelling business case was written and approved by the Cambridge City Council, paving the way for Phase 3.
PHASE 3
Delivery & Impact
AchieveGood are currently delivering this phase, which involves founding the new organisation “Greater Cambridge Impact Fund”, initiating its governance, and developing local impact opportunities.
The Outcome:
The Greater Cambridge Impact Fund will be a strategic initiative aimed at improving outcomes for the most vulnerable and addressing inequality in the Cambridge area.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with AchieveGood. They bring social purpose, a co-design approach and technical insights that have quickly progressed our social investing and blended finance project. We are now in a great place to turn ideas into action, achieve good and create impact together with our communities.”
