Resonance - Twenty Years Of Impact - Report - Page 68
97 PEOPLE
sleeping rough in Bristol, up from 41 people in 201418
KAREN SHACKLETON
CHAIR OF RESONANCE BOARD,
PENSIONS FOR PURPOSE FOUNDER
It was like a light bulb switching on
I first met Daniel (and Peter Dawe) in a café opposite
the Eurostar platforms in St. Pancras in 2015. Having
recently stepped down as Chief Executive of an
investment advisory company, I was looking to develop
a non-executive portfolio. The moment I met Daniel
and Peter, it was like a light bulb switching on. I hadn’t really heard about impact
investment up to that point, but I realised this was completely aligned to my
personal beliefs that investment capital could be used in a way which benefited
society. I was immediately inspired to get involved with Resonance. It was the
start of an amazing, educational, and catalytic personal journey.
I always say, it takes about three years to become a valuable and valued nonexecutive director. Those first three years saw me learning a lot about Resonance,
meeting the wonderful and passionate team, and getting to grips with the board
agenda items. By 2018, that learning process was beginning to peak, and the
Board approved my appointment as Chair. I had always found the directors to be
respectful and supportive of each other, so I was confident this was going to be an
enjoyable and rewarding opportunity.
Improving the Board’s effectiveness
Daniel and I have worked closely since 2018 to try and improve the Board’s
effectiveness. This has included taking detailed discussions from the main
Board into new sub-groups which could report back to the Board. It allowed
us to maintain a more strategic perspective as directors, and we improved this
further by splitting the agenda items into “the past” (what’s gone on), “the present”
(challenges that the team are facing) and “the future” (strategic opportunities to
discuss). We continue to try and improve Board effectiveness: we are just about
to introduce an agenda item that focuses on macro events that might impact
Resonance, for example. I have always been keen that the executive directors find
it beneficial to attend a board meeting, rather than something that just involves
a lot of preparation but with little value in return, so every board paper now
contains three questions that the executives would like to ask the non-execs.
In 2017, I launched Pensions for Purpose, a collaborative platform helping
pension funds to make informed decisions about impact investment. This gave
me an opportunity to engage with a broader universe of impact managers. It has
been a good reminder of why I chose Resonance in 2015. The passion of team
members, their focus on the impact being achieved, their authenticity, and of
course, their twenty-year track record, all mean they continue to stand out as best
in class.
Source:
18. BBC News 2015
68
509 PEOPLE
in the South West sleeping rough19
THE SOUTH WEST ROUGH SLEEPING FIGURES HAD THE
HIGHEST PROPORTIONAL INCREASE IN ENGLAND19
Transforming lives
I clearly remember listening to one of Resonance’s tenants talk at an event some
years ago. Everyone in the room fell silent as the young woman talked candidly
about the struggle of leaving an abusive relationship, homeless and vulnerable,
sleeping at St. Pancras with a young baby, and then finding the charity St.
Mungo’s, which then housed her in a Resonance flat. The impact of having a new,
permanent home had allowed her to register for college and life had completely
turned around for her. To me, that is what Resonance is about transforming lives,
making a real and long-term difference to those that they help.
Delivering for investors and beneficiaries
But of course, it doesn’t stop there. As a pensions expert, I am equally focused
on the investor perspective and a best-in-class impact manager needs to be
able to deliver to both the investor and the beneficiary. The property funds team
at Resonance, led by Simon Chisholm and John Williams, has worked hard to
understand pension fund investors’ needs and so the funds have been developed
in a way which is aligned to pension fund trustees’ fiduciary duties, delivering
a competitive market-rate, risk-adjusted return combined with genuine social
impact which transforms lives.
Leading the way
Resonance has led the way on so many occasions over the past twenty years:
one of the first impact investment managers in the UK, the first to launch a Social
Investment Tax Return (SITR) fund, quick to respond to the pandemic with a
successful role in the government’s Social Enterprise Support Fund, and one of
the first UK gender-lens focused managers with the launch of the Women In Safe
Homes Fund. It makes me incredibly proud to be the Chair of Resonance.
In recent years, more and more asset managers have launched impact funds.
Just seven asset managers supported the Pensions for Purpose platform in 2017
(including Resonance, of course). That has grown to 117 firms today... which
shows just how crowded the impact investing space has become! Yet how
many of these organisations can point to a twenty-year track record of impact
investment? How many can point to investments that have delivered to the
expected financial and impact goals several times over, during that time?
So where next?
As the focus on impact increases, as investors become more discerning, as social
need in the UK grows, then Resonance will respond. We are already thinking
about investing in impact in a more holistic way, bringing environmental
impact into our property funds, for example. The Impact and Innovation team at
Resonance continues to explore new opportunities, ways to address social need
that has not yet been tackled effectively, and helping social enterprises become
more effective.
But the final shout out must go to Daniel and the team at Resonance. Without
Daniel’s leadership, without his vision, his creativity and his tenacity, Resonance
would not be here today. Without the passionate and hard-working team
supporting Daniel, with enthusiasm and commitment to the firm’s purpose,
Resonance would not be the success that it is. Put a great leader and an amazing
team into the mix, and Resonance emerges, twenty years on, still destined for
even greater things to come.
“AS THE FOCUS ON IMPACT INCREASES, AS
INVESTORS BECOME MORE DISCERNING,
AS SOCIAL NEED IN THE UK GROWS,
THEN RESONANCE WILL RESPOND.”
KAREN SHACKLETON,
CHAIR OF RESONANCE BOARD
& PENSIONS FOR PURPOSE FOUNDER
19. Homeless Link - 2016 Rough Sleeping Count
69