Social Investment Scotland Appoints First Head of Impact

Social funding provider, Social Investment Scotland, underlines its commitment to social impact with the appointment of its first ever Head of Impact.

Scotland’s leading responsible finance provider, Social Investment Scotland (SIS), has appointed its first ever Head of Impact as it looks to further evolve and strengthen its position as an expert enabler for social and economic impact across Scotland.

As SIS’s first ever Head of Impact and a member of the leadership team, Lindsay Wake will be tasked with devising the organisation’s impact strategy and objectives. She will also take responsibility for developing social impact practices across all its current investment activities, working closely with customers, stakeholders and partners.

Stepping up from her current role as Business Support and Development Manager at SIS, Lindsay has more than 16 years of experience supporting and advising social enterprises, community organisations, businesses and charities.

Since opening for business in 2001, SIS has established a reputation as one of the UK’s leading experts in the field of social impact. As well as investing £71M in more than 350 organisations during that 18-year period, SIS became the first responsible finance provider outside of the U.S. to receive the highest impact rating (AAA 2) from impact assessment agency, Aeris.

Impact-led initiatives have included the launch of the pioneering impact investment fund SIS Ventures, the development of Scotland-wide workshops for social enterprises and masterclass programmes for leaders of social purpose organisations, including the flagship SIS Retail Academy and Ambitions Masterclasses, and the production of an annual Social Impact Report; demonstrating and showcasing the variety of social and environmental impacts delivered by its customers.

Lindsay is looking forward to working with Converge, its 2020 cohort and its alumni to further enable positive impact within Scottish businesses. SIS hopes to share guidance, knowledge and resources which support organisations to implement greater impact practices, from the outset, to encourage business and environmental sustainability.

Commenting on her new role, Lindsay Wake, Head of Impact, said: “It’s a really exciting time for SIS and, more widely for the fields of social and impact investment. As the finance community increasingly wakes up to the potential of social investment, so SIS must increasingly demonstrate new, authentic and innovative ways of increasing and measuring social impact. I’ll be looking at how we can really maximize the social impact of all our activities, whether that be through social investment funds, investment-readiness programmes or leadership masterclasses. While our most recent Social Impact Report shows that our work is reaching and benefitting around a fifth of the population, there is always scope to do more! Scotland, and indeed the world, needs all organisations to think about positively impacting people, place and planet and SIS has an important role to play in making that happen.”