Ethex in £1m partnership

Ethex in £1m partnership with People’s Postcode Lottery and MCS Charitable Foundation. Both organisations will invest alongside everyday people (retail investors) to support ethical businesses and accelerate the UK’s transition to net-zero and help to build back better from the effects of the COVID pandemic.

Ethex is pleased to announce two new strategic partnerships that combined will result in match funding and co-investment of £1m – helping to crowd in around a further £3 million of additional investment from everyday people to support highly impactful environmental and social organisations to scale and grow across the UK.

By directly investing in such pioneering and impactful organisations, MCS Charitable Foundation and People’s Postcode Lottery are acting as trailblazers demonstrating to other foundations how capital funds can act as a significant multiplier in impact investing. This funding will help to leverage additional investment from inpiduals, delivering the critical finance that organisations protecting people and the planet urgently need to deliver on the UK’s climate change ambitions, at the same time as presenting value for communities hit hard by the COVID 19 pandemic.

MCS Foundation, a UK charity, whose mission is to accelerate the widespread adoption of renewable energy and low carbon technologies, will be providing £500,000 through its capital fund to co-invest at least 10 organisations focused on renewable energy, sustainable transport and green technologies. It is anticipated that the first investment will be made before the end of the year.

In addition, players of People’s Postcode Lottery will also be awarding £500,000 of match funding from Postcode Innovation Trust. Ethex will be deploying £150,000 of match funding via its platform in Q4 2020 into organisations including Bristol Energy Cooperative, Brighton and Hove Community Land Trust and Common Ground and the remaining £350,000 will be invested during the course of 2021.

Lisa Ashford, CEO, Ethex: “There are a huge number of impactful organisations that need strategic investment to truly build back better in a way that benefits everyone in our society. It’s fantastic to be working with People’s Postcode Lottery and MCS Charitable Foundation who are leading the way when it comes to blended finance, investing in ways that can act as a significant catalyst for the sector by leveraging at least 3 - 4 times the amount of investment from inpidual people who now more than ever want to have impact with their money.

"We’ve seen the potential that this kind of blended finance has had on our sister site Energise Africa from our partners UK aid, Virgin Unite and Good Energies Foundation. It’s great to see this approach in action to support social enterprises, community benefit societies and profit for purposes businesses in the UK – creating sustainable investment flows that will ultimately revolve as investments are paid back so that many more organisations can benefit over the longer-term.

Adrian Ramsay, Chief Executive of the MCS Charitable Foundation: "By allocating funding to direct investments through an ethical crowdfunding platform we have a triple win. Our funds are supporting projects that accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy, whilst helping to secure additional investments from everyday people and generating a return to support our charitable work. This is a great opportunity to advance the trend for charitable foundations to use our capital funds for direct impact at a time when we have a huge opportunity to develop the green economy and ensure we create jobs, support communities and build back better. We are proud to be partnering with Ethex and advancing our vision of renewable energy accessible to all."

Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery: "At People’s Postcode Lottery we are committed to supporting charities and social enterprises to create lasting social and environmental change. Funding raised by our players will help leverage the funds raised on Ethex’s crowdfunding platform to deliver impact to communities across Great Britain during a period of genuine need. We are very pleased to be partnering with Ethex to provide match-funding to a wide variety of ventures with social and environmental mission at their heart."