Charity Leaders’ Exchange |
Charity Leaders' Exchange Extended Seminar | Should Charities borrow to increase their impact?
Thursday, 21st May 2015 at 16:00 to Thursday, 21st May 2015 at 19:30
Fleet Street | 154 - 160 Fleet Street London, EC4A 2DQ

The Charity Leaders’ Exchange (CLE) is an experience-sharing network for forward-thinking Charity Leaders helping to drive positive change. The CLE provides intelligently selected guidance to help inform the decision-making of its members. Structured around topics that will challenge them to think differently, it facilitates connections between like-minded senior charity leaders and provides easy-to-access insights into their experiences.
The Charity Leaders’ Exchange is developing research into attitudes towards, and adoption of, different forms of funding, in particular social finance and debt.
Topic – Charities and Debt:
Our next event is an extended seminar and research related to Charities and Debt – “Should charities be borrowing to increase their impact?” As part of this project we are running a survey of charity leaders.
The seminar itself will start at 4pm on 21st May, lasting three hours with a break for networking.
During the Seminar:
• You can listen to case studies from charities that have taken on debt to increase their impact.
• There will be a presentation of preliminary results from the survey.
• There will be a short presentation from Andy Davis, former Editor of the Weekend FT (and now Programme Director of the Alternative Funding Network) on some of the new forms of Alternative Debt Finance that are appearing in the market.
We will have two Case Studies to provide some “real world” balance to our discussion. One of those case studies will be with Paul Bott, CEO of http://www.vistablind.org.uk who are based in Leicestershire. They have revenue of £7million, running a series of care centres for the visually impaired.
The second Case Study will be with Mark Salway who, until recently, was Director of Finance and Operational Support at http://www.careinternational.org.uk , and is now Director of Social Finance at CASS Business School.
Order of Events:
4:00pm Registration
4.15pm Welcome from Chris Dines
4.20pm Initial Findings from the CLE survey – should charities borrow to increase their impact?
4.35pm The changing mix of commercial finance – Andy Davis, Executive Editor, Informed Funding
4.50pm Social Finance and the Charity Sector – Phil Caroe, Director of Social Finance, Allia
5.10pm Case Study – with Paul Bott, CEO of Vista
5.30pm Brief Break – Coffee/Tea
5.50pm Case Study – with Mark Salway, Director of Social Finance at CASS and formerly Director of Finance and Operational Support at Care International
6.10pm Open panel discussion. Paul and Mark will be joined by Eddie Finch (Partner, Buzzacott) and Jonathan Burchfield (Partner, Stone King). Chaired by Chris Dines.
6.40pm to 7.30pm Networking over drinks
The Survey
It covers:
• Knowledge and, experience of, different forms of debt finance.
• Mix of current funding.
• Attitudes towards different types of debt finance.
• Perceived and actual barriers towards using debt.
• Use of reserves to lend to others.
Initial results will be presented at the event on 21st May. A full report will be produced from this which will be available in mid-June.
We would invite you to participate in a short, 30 minute, survey that is designed for use by individuals in influential positions (not just finance oriented!), including trustees, in any size of third sector organisation.
The SURVEY, which is entirely confidential, CAN BE COMPLETED here: “Should charities borrow to increase impact?”
The report will also include case study samples and expert insight.
Additional content
In addition to the report, and either side of the event, the Charity Leaders' Exchange will be producing case studies interviews to share across the network.
How to access the seminar for free?
Leaders who hold senior roles from the UK's Charity sector may attend this seminar free-of-charge. We do ask that you help us by participating in our research.
Please book yourself in below or contact us and we can confirm your registration.
Please contact the team to register for this event on charitiesdebt@knowledgepeers.com.
What are your Paid Options?
If you wish to attend our seminar but don't wish to participate in our research, don't currently hold a senior role in your organisation, or if you're outside of the Charity Sector please contact us on payment@knowledgepeers.com for more information.
The Charity Leaders’ Exchange is developing research into attitudes towards, and adoption of, different forms of funding, in particular social finance and debt.
Topic – Charities and Debt:
Our next event is an extended seminar and research related to Charities and Debt – “Should charities be borrowing to increase their impact?” As part of this project we are running a survey of charity leaders.
The seminar itself will start at 4pm on 21st May, lasting three hours with a break for networking.
During the Seminar:
• You can listen to case studies from charities that have taken on debt to increase their impact.
• There will be a presentation of preliminary results from the survey.
• There will be a short presentation from Andy Davis, former Editor of the Weekend FT (and now Programme Director of the Alternative Funding Network) on some of the new forms of Alternative Debt Finance that are appearing in the market.
We will have two Case Studies to provide some “real world” balance to our discussion. One of those case studies will be with Paul Bott, CEO of http://www.vistablind.org.uk who are based in Leicestershire. They have revenue of £7million, running a series of care centres for the visually impaired.
The second Case Study will be with Mark Salway who, until recently, was Director of Finance and Operational Support at http://www.careinternational.org.uk , and is now Director of Social Finance at CASS Business School.
Order of Events:
4:00pm Registration
4.15pm Welcome from Chris Dines
4.20pm Initial Findings from the CLE survey – should charities borrow to increase their impact?
4.35pm The changing mix of commercial finance – Andy Davis, Executive Editor, Informed Funding
4.50pm Social Finance and the Charity Sector – Phil Caroe, Director of Social Finance, Allia
5.10pm Case Study – with Paul Bott, CEO of Vista
5.30pm Brief Break – Coffee/Tea
5.50pm Case Study – with Mark Salway, Director of Social Finance at CASS and formerly Director of Finance and Operational Support at Care International
6.10pm Open panel discussion. Paul and Mark will be joined by Eddie Finch (Partner, Buzzacott) and Jonathan Burchfield (Partner, Stone King). Chaired by Chris Dines.
6.40pm to 7.30pm Networking over drinks
The Survey
It covers:
• Knowledge and, experience of, different forms of debt finance.
• Mix of current funding.
• Attitudes towards different types of debt finance.
• Perceived and actual barriers towards using debt.
• Use of reserves to lend to others.
Initial results will be presented at the event on 21st May. A full report will be produced from this which will be available in mid-June.
We would invite you to participate in a short, 30 minute, survey that is designed for use by individuals in influential positions (not just finance oriented!), including trustees, in any size of third sector organisation.
The SURVEY, which is entirely confidential, CAN BE COMPLETED here: “Should charities borrow to increase impact?”
The report will also include case study samples and expert insight.
Additional content
In addition to the report, and either side of the event, the Charity Leaders' Exchange will be producing case studies interviews to share across the network.
How to access the seminar for free?
Leaders who hold senior roles from the UK's Charity sector may attend this seminar free-of-charge. We do ask that you help us by participating in our research.
Please book yourself in below or contact us and we can confirm your registration.
Please contact the team to register for this event on charitiesdebt@knowledgepeers.com.
What are your Paid Options?
If you wish to attend our seminar but don't wish to participate in our research, don't currently hold a senior role in your organisation, or if you're outside of the Charity Sector please contact us on payment@knowledgepeers.com for more information.