Typically, our clients have a degree of sector track record and financial history against which we can appraise their performance. However, we have worked with several ‘new’ renewable energy projects where they have Feed-in-Tariff pre-accreditation (and hence visibility over future, government-backed income streams) and where we are familiar with the management team and construction partners involved from other projects.

Equally we might consider working with an established charity looking to develop a new social enterprise arm if the business case is compelling. We have also worked with one or two genuine start-up organisations where we felt the business case was robust, the impact was high and the quality of management clear.

So if there is clear visibility, or better still, contractual security over future income streams and cash inflows, we’d be happy to explore this with a prospective client but with the caveat that the majority of our clients are further progressed along their journey.

This depends entirely on you. We first help to determine what kind of capital you need. We then ensure we find the right mix of investors to provide it.

We have unique access to over 6,000 registered users on our investment crowdfunding platform – we’re the only UK bank to offer its own crowdfunding platform. These social investors are keen to make a positive impact with their money, as well as earn a financial return.

Over the last 20 years, we have also developed strong relationships with an increasingly wide range of other investors including:

• Charitable trusts and foundations
• Social investment funds
• Family offices
• Housing associations
• Private banks and wealth managers
• IFAs and financial planners

In recent years, we’ve raised over £150m capital for over 60 impact projects and from a blend of these investors.

As you can see from our track record section, we work with a hugely diverse range of clients, operating across a breadth of sectors. What unites our clients is their positive impact on people and the planet and the fact that their values and ethos are aligned with ours. This can be subjective but if we feel that a prospective client is seeking to bring about positive change then we’re open to engaging with them to see if we can help. At all times we comply with the bank’s minimum standards.

Of course, the organisation or project needs to have the ability to service repayable finance and hence we need to feel comfortable that it has a clear and robust business plan - we’d also need to get comfortable with its financial position and performance (both historically and projected), the quality of management and with its track record in its sector. Some clients are much earlier in their journey than others and may not yet have ‘all the boxes ticked’ but we are open to exploring their needs and ambitions and we may feel that, with investment readiness support over a period of time, we can help them get to a position where they are well placed to take on investment.