The UK’s venture philanthropy pioneer, Impetus Trust, has announced four new investments as part of its recently launched Impetus for Reducing Reoffending Initiative (IRR Initiative). Impetus’s partners in the £1.7m Initiative – the Indigo Trust (part of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts), the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Henry Smith Charity and the J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust – are contributing to the success of the project with money, expertise and access to their networks. The IRR Initiative aims to reduce the national reoffending rate by investing in carefully selected organisations focused on building the skills that offenders need to enable them to turn their lives around. Impetus’s objective is to enable those charities to multiply their impact, and by doing so, help to break the cycle of reoffending which costs the nation over £18bn a year. After completing a rigorous due diligence process, which involved reviewing more than 70 applications, Impetus has selected Kainos Community, Prisoners’ Education Trust, Prison Radio Association and Shannon Trust to receive its combined investment package of strategic funding and expertise. The investment will be for an initial period of 12-18 months. Each investee charity will receive £50,000 of unrestricted funding, with the intention to invest further after the initial period. As part of the Impetus package, the charities will receive hands-on management support from the team of Impetus Investment Executives and specialist expertise provided by a pool of experienced executives willing to share their skills on a pro bono basis. Impetus chief executive Daniela Barone Soares commented: “The cost to society of reoffending, not only financially, but also in terms of the devastating consequences for individuals, their families and communities, is far too great to be ignored. After years of expertise in growing charities in the reoffending space – including St Giles Trust and Blue Sky Development & Regeneration – Impetus is piloting this collaborative approach to reducing reoffending and helping to make society safer for every citizen.” Rob Owen, chief executive of Impetus ‘graduate’ charity St Giles Trust said: “Pump priming innovative organisations that have real solutions to gritty problems is what Impetus does best. This is an exciting time for the four new charities, as it was for us a few years back. Never has there been a better time for step changes in thinking – being bold and achieving exponential changes and in so doing creating thousands fewer future victims of crime.” www.impetus.org.uk