Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC), the award-winning UK fund manager and social enterprise, has made a follow on investment of £300,000 in Brook, a charity with over 55 years’ experience delivering sexual health and wellbeing services. SASC’s first investment of £200,000 was repaid by Brook in March.
For more than 25 years Brook has been supporting young people in Cornwall through its holistic combination of clinical services and education programmes. This year the charity extended its provision in Cornwall to people of all ages and launched an innovative digital offer to improve accessibility.
SASC’s investment will provide working capital to support the delivery of this new contract, which started on 2nd December. This is an important milestone for Brook as it demonstrates its commitment to digital transformation, increasing accessibility and collaborating with partners to improve health outcomes. This seven-year contract also provides an opportunity for Brook to work with local residents to codesign services in order to meet the individual needs of Cornwall’s unique population.
SASC’s first investment of £200,000 was the first time the charity had used social investment and was provided to develop and extend the education activities of the charity as well as support strategic development.
Brook was established in 1964 by Helen Brook who opened the first sexual health clinic for women in London. It now operates in 22 locations in England and delivers relationships and sex education (RSE) in 43% of English local authorities.
Since January 2019 Brook’s clinical services have seen more than 60,000 visits, and over half a million young people have accessed the charity’s newly redeveloped online help and advice pages. 100,000 young people have benefitted from its education and wellbeing programmes, with a further 10,000 young women and girls engaged through its period poverty project.
Ben Rick, Managing Director of SASC said,
“We’re delighted to offer follow-on investment to Brook, a charity that is providing a hugely valuable service to young people. From an impact perspective, the delivery of an all-age contract by Brook means that young people’s services can be targeted and specifically designed within their overall offering. By working with young people they can reduce the incidence of illness once they become adults.
“Health services in general are becoming more innovative by introducing digital options but young people expect this as it’s how they communicate. Being able to innovatively respond to young people’s needs means greater engagement and wider accessibility for young people.
“Brook is committed to helping young people take more independent control of their own health at an earlier age. This should reduce their reliance on statutory health services in the future meaning that these stretched resources can be better allocated to more severe health needs.”
Helen Marshall, Chief Executive at Brook said,
“Thanks to the first investment from SASC we have been able to accelerate our work in preparation for relationships and sex education becoming compulsory in schools from September 2020.
“We’re delighted to be working with SASC again. This second round of investment will enable us to better support Cornwall’s residents. By investing in digital health innovations, we will equip people with the skills and confidence to manage their own sexual health and wellbeing”.
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Notes for Editors
About Social and Sustainable Capital
www.socialandsustainable.com
SASC provides simple finance for extraordinary charities and social enterprises. We believe greater access to the right kind of investment makes charities and social enterprises better able to tackle society’s most pressing challenges. Our funds provide flexible capital to enable social sector organisations to grow their social impact, improving the lives of disadvantaged people across the UK. SASC is a social enterprise
