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Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society.

The landscape of funding tools

Last year we prepared a summary note on different ways which funders - whether governments, foundations or agencies - could provide finance. The options range from grants, loans and equity to various convertible forms of finance, crowd-funding, SIBs and DIBs etc. We shared the note with quite a few agencies and government departments who seemed to find it very useful. Most only have experience of one or two tools, and weren't really aware of the other options.

We've used most of them at Nesta, and so have some feel for how they work in practice. We hope it's at least a starting point for thinking more creatively about how money can be used (and it's a complement to my earlier blog on innovation in public finance).

Download the paper: The landscape of funding tools

Author

Geoff Mulgan

Geoff Mulgan

Geoff Mulgan

Chief Executive Officer

Geoff Mulgan was Chief Executive of Nesta from 2011-2019.

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