As Kindred marks its fifth birthday, there’s plenty to celebrate. The 2024 impact report paints a picture of how social investment is powering real change across the Liverpool City Region, with a thriving and inclusive social economy that’s making a real difference. Since our launch in 2020, Kindred has been backing people and organisations who put purpose at the heart of what they do. The impact report includes data to the end of December 2024 – and the results are now clearer than ever.
Growing a fairer economy
Kindred has made 66 investments, totalling £3m so far, in 51 socially-trading organisations (STOs) – businesses that trade commercially, with social impact at their heart.
In 2024 alone, £615,720 was invested in 13 organisations, including nine new STOs. This growing group now includes almost 1,500 organisations working to build a fairer local economy rooted in community, creativity and care.
Not only that, but the social and economic ripple effects are huge. Since 2020, Kindred’s investments have helped create £35.9 million in social and economic value*, showing just how powerful this model can be when people and place come first.
Key figures at a glance
Here’s what the impact looks like in numbers:
- £35.9 million in total economic and social value created since 2020*
- £2.38 million raised in 2024 to support STOs
- 51% of Kindred’s investment goes to women-led organisations
- 31% to Black-led organisations
- 100% goes to underinvested communities
- £16.4 million leveraged by investees after Kindred’s support
- 71.6% increase in employment across investee organisations since 2020
- 323 jobs safeguarded and 74 new jobs created in 2024 – that’s 200 new jobs in total since 2020
- £1.89 million in turnover generated by STOs in 2024, up 20% on the year before – meeting the OECD’s definition of high growth
- Collectively, investees have created £11.5 million in turnover since 2020
- Between them, those organisations have reached 421,735 people
These are more than just numbers – they tell the story of how investment in community-led businesses creates real, lasting benefits.
“Kindred’s investment is about relationships, lived experience and partnership,” says director Jen Van der Merwe. “We don’t just back ideas – we back people in every borough who understand their communities and what real change looks like.”
Mayor Steve Rotheram, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, said: “Kindred is helping to rewrite the rules of what an economy can look like when you put people and purpose first.
“It’s showing that by backing local entrepreneurs with strong social values, we can grow businesses that create good jobs and keep wealth in our communities. That’s what devolution is all about – giving local people the power and support to build a fairer, more inclusive economy, the Liverpool City Region way.”
Diversity and inclusion continue to be at the heart of Kindred’s mission. More than half of its funding goes to women-led businesses, and almost a third to Black-led organisations. The BlaST (Black-led STOs) portfolio is thriving, too – with an average growth rate of 46%, more than double the OECD’s benchmark for high growth.
“Our portfolio is one of the most diverse in the UK, because we invest where traditional finance doesn’t,” says BlaST director Joanne Anderson. “By listening to lived experience and backing Black-led and women-led organisations, we’re proving that inclusion isn’t just moral – it’s good business.”
As well as boosting business growth, Kindred’s investments are opening up new opportunities in places other investors often overlook. Jobs are being created and safeguarded, wages and hours are improving, and the social value goes way beyond the balance sheet.
“STOs offer a pathfinder to a new economy,” says strategy director Erika Rushton. “They fill gaps in supply chains and address market failures. Alongside increasing numbers of jobs created and safeguarded, they enable upward mobility, increasing the hours, wages and stability of their teams.”
Liverpool City Region’s social economy is looking bright – powered by the people who know the places they live and work best.
You can read the impact report in full here…
* £35.9m total economic and social value since 2020, is made up of:
- £5.7m additional turnover
- £13.8m economic and social value – this is based on a calculation of £6 social value for every £1 invested – calculated by an independent Liverpool City Region Combined Authority-appointed consultant at £6.38 for every £1 invested.
- £16.4m additional funds levered by STOs