Policy and Politics
£1m fund for early intervention on offer
A leading venture philanthropy organisation has launched an early intervention programme worth more than £1m to fund early years projects working with disadvantaged families.
Through the Impetus-Sutton Early Years Initiative, organisations will receive a support package over several years with funding up to £350,000 linked to hands-on support and advice.
Chief executive Daniella Barone Soares told Nursery World that what makes Impetus different from other venture philanthropists is their use of pro-bono support.
She said, 'We look at the charity's need. For example, if they need help with their rebranding, we go out and find a rebranding expert.'
This would involve, for example, a specific project to be completed within a set timeframe, which is agreed with the charity, who give feedback on the support received.
Ms Barone Soares is backing the report by MP Graham Allen, which includes plans for a new non-government body called the Early Intervention Foundation, to be independently funded and which will gather evidence on early intervention programmes and develop them.
Ms Barone Soares acknowledged that creative thinking was needed to motivate investors for Mr Allen's proposals.
She said, 'In our experience, in terms of attracting private donors there is a motivation to give when they know their money will be well spent. Monitoring and evidence are very important. When something has been evaluated and there is evidence, it is easier to persuade someone to fund it.'
For this reason, she said, it was important to choose projects that had proven outcomes and were 'already working'.
She said that 'it requires courage to invest' in early interventions in children's early years, when a donor might 'have to wait until someone is 25' before seeing results.
But she added, 'It's not very different from making a strategic stock purchase', when investors might wait ten or 15 years before cashing in. 'The only difference is the kind of return you get,' she said.
Ms Barone Soares said it was vital to have 'interim markers' to monitor and evaluate the programmes. Impetus charities and social enterprises, she said, had grown 'year on year at an average of 40 per cent in the number of people they're impacting'.
'Every single one has increased the investment. Investors won't get their money back, but they get results from a social perspective.'
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