Change Consortium signs up Big Society boss for conference
WEST Bromwich-based social enterprise The Change Consortium has signed up a major player in Prime Minister David Cameron’s Big Society policy to be the keynote speaker at its upcoming conference.
Nick O’Donohoe, chief executive of Big Society Capital – the first social investment institution of its kind in the world – will detail how third sector organisations can increase their impact on society.
He will speak at the National Social Giving Conference 2012, at Maple House, in Birmingham on November 15.
Sarah Marshall, managing director of The Change Consortium, said: “It is a real coup to get someone as high profile and at the cutting edge of Big Society as Nick O’Donohoe to speak about the latest developments.
“His knowledge and views on social investments will be a real insight for organisations who want to make the most of Cameron’s Big Society policy.”
Big Society Capital, formerly referred to as the ‘Big Society Bank’, was launched with a £600m pot in July last year as an independent financial institution. It gives organisations, from charities to social enterprises tackling major social issues, access to new sources of money so they can thrive and grow.
It uses an estimated £400m in unclaimed assets left dormant in bank accounts for over 15 years and £200m from the UK’s largest high street banks. Organisations it aims to assist include those helping long-term unemployed people back to work.
Mr O’Donohoe, the former global head of research at JP Morgan, has worked closely with David Cameron’s Government on its flagship Big Society policy.
Other speakers discussing latest developments in Corporate Social Responsibility at the Conference include Kate Van der Plank, head of UK Community Investment at National Grid; Peter Grant, senior fellow in Grant Making, Philanthropy & Social Investment at Cass Business School in London; and Amanda Long, the chief executive of Corporate Culture.
