Impact Investment Fund

Investing in startups and social enterprises

Traditional development approaches alone are not enough to solve the world’s most complex problems. Startups and social enterprises have the potential to create enormous social impact. But too often, these enterprises don’t have the capital to help them grow their businesses and achieve impact at scale.

Our Impact Investment Fund provides loans and equity investments to help startups and social enterprises grow. We invest in enterprises aligned to Save the Children’s mission and back them with everything we’ve got to improve the lives of underserved children and families. We are excited about the opportunities in EdTech, Fintech and E-health to support rapid progress for children globally.   

We use more than just our financial investment to help enterprises grow. With 25,000 Save the Children staff working in 115 countries, we have a global platform, operational footprint, networks and partnerships to bring to the enterprises we invest in. 

We want to identify the companies that can make the best use of our skills and back them for the long run to generate financial returns for investors in our Fund. Our Fund is about creating solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems, whilst helping entrepreneurs and start-ups grow. We have the potential to change the world for the better, together, faster. 

What we invest in

We provide loans and equity investment to enterprises that are improving the lives of vulnerable children and families. We focus on enterprises that: 

• have a positive impact at the core of their business

• are already generating revenue 

• have passionate and talented founders and teams

• have a strong and scalable business model. 

The Fund will provide flexible finance from $100k - $1m. It will invest in both not-for-profit and for-profit organisations, and enterprises can be in Australia or overseas.

Our investments

Our Board 

Harvey Collins (chair)
Chair, Insitor Impact Investment Fund; Director, Save the Children Australia; Former Chair, Bankwest, Navitas, HBF Inc. 

Peter Hodgson
Chair, Save the Children Australia; Former CEO, Myer Family Company, ANZ, BoA. 

Jan Owen
Former CEO, Foundation for Young Australians; Former Exec Director SVA.

Paul Ronalds
CEO, Save the Children Australia; entrepreneurial and legal background.

Alistair Brown
CFO, Save the Children Australia; Former CFO AXA Asia.

Caitriona Fay 
GM, Community & Social Investments, Perpetual; Formerly Ian Potter Foundation& heritage Lottery Fund.

Amanda Healy
CEO Warrikal, a mechanical maintenance business; MD Kirrikin, an Indigenous social enterprise.

Our Investment Committee

Michael Standford (chair)
Director, Virtus Health; NorthWest Healthcare Property Management Ltd; Nucleus Networks, Former CEO.

Harvey Collins
Chair, Insitor Impact Investment Fund; Director, Save the Children Australia; Former Chair, Bankwest, Navitas, HBF Inc.

Adam Schwab
Co-founder, Luxury Escapes; active angel investor; corporate lawyer.

Richard Hedley
Sunsuper; formerly State Super and Deutsche Bank; investment management, private equity, commercial law. 

Mary Sue Rogers
Director, Women on Boards Australia; former executive IBM, PWC and Talent2. 

Karen Lawson
Former MD Spotify, Australia & NZ; Board member Sydney startup Hub; former CEO Slingshot (corporate accelerator) 

James Pearson
Head of Impact and Responsible Investments at QBE Insurance Group; 10 years in the global equities markets as a Stockbroker, Research Analyst and as a Portfolio Manager. 

Get in touch

To express your interest in investing, or if you have a great social enterprise you want to take further, we’d love to hear from you. Email: Laura Scott, Head of Impact Investing at impactinvesting@savethechildren.org.au