Below is a list of frequently asked questions, which we hope will respond to your areas of interest. If you would like any further information about Impetus, please contact us.
| What does Impetus Trust do? | Impetus provides a highly effective venture philanthropy package to ambitious, innovative charities and social enterprises to help transform their performance. The package consists of strategic funding, management support and capacity-building expertise. |
| How is Impetus different to other grant-makers? | Traditional grant-makers offer funding alone, often on a relatively short-term basis and often tied to specific projects. Impetus provides unrestricted funding over a longer term (4-6 years on average), combined with hands-on management support and specialised expertise, tailored to the individual charity. |
| Does Impetus make a profit? | No. Impetus is a registered charity and does not make a profit. |
| Does Impetus provide charities and social enteprises with funding alone? | No. We only offer selected charities and social enterprises the Impetus venture philanthropy package, as outlined above. |
| Does Impetus fund projects within an organisation? | No. We support a strategic plan for the whole organisation, to
help it increase its social impact. |
| Do you ask charities and social enterprises to repay Impetus funding? | We most often provide grants, though, on occasion, when the organisation has a trading activity, we may request a surplus share arrangement. If this were the case we would receive a percentage of any income over a pre-agreed target, which we could then re-invest. |
| What does an 'Investment Executive' do? | The Impetus Investment Executive manages the partnership between Impetus and the portfolio charity. He/she will meet at least once a month with the chief executive and senior management team of the charity and is responsible for: providing direct support; coordinating specialist projects; reviewing performance against the agreed plan; revising action plans if necessary, and managing the "graduation" (exit) from the portfolio once the targets have been achieved. |
| How does Impetus select charities and social enterprises? | We have specific selection criteria, which include that the charity or social enterprise must work with economically disadvantaged people and have been in operation for at least three years. |
| Does the Impetus venture philanthropy approach work? | Yes. On average, charities and social enterprises supported by Impetus have increased their income by 40% and the number of people helped by 56% each year. Read more about the impact of our portfolio. A comparison of the average growth of charities in the UK and charities supported by Impetus has shown that charities supported by Impetus grow more than ten times faster than the sector average. (Statistical comparison of the growth of Impetus portfolio charities and data from the National Council of Voluntary Organisations) |
| How does the expertise part of the support package work? | Impetus has a network of over 150 individuals and over 15 companies who offer their specialised expertise to Impetus portfolio charities and social enterprises on specific capacity-building projects. These projects have a defined timeframe and pre-agreed outcomes. |
| What sorts of projects do Impetus experts do? | Past projects have included: strategic review; income generation review; competitor analysis; senior team coaching; re-branding. Read more about Impetus experts. |
| Can I apply to be an Impetus expert? | Yes. We welcome applications from individuals and companies. Please read more about applying. |
| How much experience do I need to be an Impetus expert? | Our pro bono experts have a minimum of 5 years' experience in their area of expertise. However, the majority of Impetus experts have 10+ years' experience. Read more about volunteering to transform our portfolio charities and social enterprises. |
| Why should I give to Impetus, rather than giving to the charities directly? | By giving to Impetus, the value of your donation will be multiplied: for every £1 of funding we invest in a portfolio charity, the value of this is at least doubled through our use of co-investment and pro bono expertise. In addition, our funding is linked to the charity or social enterprise meeting pre-agreed milestones, so you will have the security of knowing that funding will only be paid out if the charity is progressing. Read more about why our donors give to us. |
| How can I give to Impetus? | You can give money and you can give expertise. Read more about giving to Impetus. |
| Are there any tax benefits of giving to Impetus? |
Yes. If you are a higher-rate tax payer and eligible for Impetus to claim Gift Aid on your donation you can also claim back the difference between the basic and higher rate tax. If you chose to give shares, your gift will be exempt from Capital Gains Tax, and you can also reduce your taxable income by the market value of the shares. Read more about the different options for giving to Impetus. |
| What is co-investment? | Co-investment is investing financially in one (or several) chosen portfolio organisations alongside Impetus funding. Read more about co-investing. |
| Who runs Impetus? | The Chief Executive of Impetus is Daniela Barone Soares. Impetus is governed by a board of trustees. |
| How is Impetus funded? | Impetus is supported by a number of individual donors, corporate donors and grant-making foundations. |
People often have a negative concept of what management consultants do - so it was lovely to be told [by the Impetus charity]: "I wasn't expecting you to be so helpful!"
Bob Harris, Worshipful Company of Management Consultants
Impetus pro bono expert
