This study of the theory and practice of professional social investment offers a conceptual foundation for investment policy and research and reviews empirical studies supporting new directions in investment policies.

The Uses of Social Investment provides the first study of the welfare state, under the new post-crisis austerity context and associated crisis management politics, to take stock of the limits and potential of social investment. It surveys the emergence, diffusion, limits, merits, and politics of social investment as the welfare policy paradigm for the 21st century, seen through the lens of the life-course contingencies of the competitive knowledge economy and modern family-hood. Featuring contributions from leading scholars in the field, the volume revisits the intellectual roots and normative foundations of social investment, surveys the criticisms that have leveled against the social investment perspective in theory and policy practice, and presents empirical evidence of social investment progress together with novel research methodologies for assessing socioeconomic 'rates of return' on social investment. Given the progressive, admittedly uneven, diffusion of the social investment policy priorities across the globe, the volume seeks to address the pressing political question as to whether the social investment turn is able to withstand the fiscal austerity backlash that has re-emerged in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

The Uses of Social Investment provides the first study of the welfare state, under the new post-crisis austerity context and associated crisis management politics, to take stock of the limits and potential of social investment. It surveys the emergence, diffusion, limits, merits, and politicsof social investment as the welfare policy paradigm for the 21st century, seen through the lens of the life-course contingencies of the competitive knowledge economy and modern family-hood.Featuring contributions from leading scholars in the field, the volume revisits the intellectual roots and normative foundations of social investment, surveys the criticisms that have leveled against the social investment perspective in theory and policy practice, and presents empirical evidence ofsocial investment progress together with novel research methodologies for assessing socioeconomic "rates of return" on social investment. Given the progressive, admittedly uneven, diffusion of the social investment policy priorities across the globe, the volume seeks to address the pressingpolitical question as to whether the social investment turn is able to withstand the fiscal austerity backlash that has re-emerged in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

This book contributes to the growing literature on social investment by discussing the way social investment ideas have been adopted in different countries and in various academic and professional fields, including social policy, development studies and non-profit management. Documenting the experience of implementing social investment in different communities, it encourages a One World perspective that integrates these diverse experiences and promotes policy learning between different nations.

Social finance and social investment are not challenging concepts to grasp. They use commercial-style investment tools to create a social as well as a financial return. The application, however, is not always as straightforward. This book begins in the wider field of social finance but focuses primarily on social investment as a tool. The reader is helped to understand this from different angles: introducing social investment, discussing social investment and taking a "deep-dive" into it to bring it to life. This unique book takes the reader on a journey from first principles to detailed practical application. This book examines the policy context and asks why social investment has only recently become so popular, when in reality this is a very old concept. This is linked to the agenda of making charities more "business-like", set against the changing face of investment, as charities can no longer rely on donations and grants as guaranteed income. The work they do is more important than ever and social investment, used with care, offers a new opportunity that is further explored in this text. Mark Salway, Paul Palmer, Peter Grant and Jim Clifford will help readers understand how a small amount of borrowing, or a different business model focused away from grants and donations, could be transformational for the non-profit sector.

This book, concerned with the theory and practice of social investment as a profession, offers a conceptual foundation for investment policy and research, and reviews empirical studies supporting new directions in investment policies. It also provides guidelines for fiduciaries, based on the best available knowledge of corporate behavior, and presents researchers with key hypotheses to follow in gathering data for the evaluation of social investment norms.

Since the late 1990s, new strategies concerning the role and shape of welfare states have been formulated, many of which are guided by a logic of social investment. This book maps out this new perspective and assesses both its achievements and shortcomings. In doing so, it provides a critical analysis of social investment ideas and policies and opens up for discussion many of Europe's most pressing concerns--such as an aging population, the current economic crisis, and environmental issues-- and whether social investment can provide adequate responses to these challenges.