Our vision

Councils borrow to fund initiatives that will benefit their citizens long-term. We believe in a future where more of that funding comes from citizens themselves.

Reinventing municipal investing for the digital age

For over 150 years, local government financing has rested on three pillars: central government borrowing, financial institutions and municipal bonds, which allowed businesses and citizens to invest directly.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, local government raised a large proportion of their funding from citizens. Municipal corporations issued bonds to finance waterworks, electricity generation, tramways and housing — enabling people and businesses to invest in the growth of their towns and cities. At its peak in the early 1900s, around 15% of local authority financing came from individuals.

Despite this long history, citizen lending gradually fell from favour. High administrative costs made this type of investment less viable. At the same time, the simplicity and accessibility of PWLB borrowing made it the default option for many authorities.

Since 2020, our municipal investments have begun to repopularise the idea of citizen investment. Our regulated online platform offers local government cost-effective financing and citizens the opportunity to become an investor in the future of local places.

Creating a local NS&I

Over the last 160 years, the national Government has steadily built a way for people to invest in government activity. National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has become a stable, competitively priced source of funding. Millions of citizens save and invest through premium bonds and its other financial products.

We want to create an NS&I for local government, to let citizens take the central role in place-based finance that they once did - and share the benefits.

How we brought back municipal lending

In 2020, we worked with the Financing for Society project at the University of Leeds to explore how municipal investing could be reintroduced using digital platforms. This research was led by Professor Mark Davis and funded by DCMS.

The research led to a pilot programme allowing councils to raise capital from residents for the first time in over 40 years. Following that successful pilot, 18 councils across the UK have now launched citizen investment programmes, raising £25m to date.

Read case studies

Creating a new generation of citizen investors

For generations, the idea of being an investor in a town or city was commonplace. Across the 19th and early 20th centuries thousands of ordinary people became active stakeholders in their place by investing in municipal bonds. At a time when many people were unable to open bank accounts, these investments showed how councils can play a role in building a more inclusive financial system.

“I’ve actually stood in places where the work has been done and thought: my money helped make this happen. That’s a really good feeling.”

Citizen investor: Hammersmith & Fulham

Today, our municipal investments are bringing back this idea of tangible, local investment for the digital age. Since 2020, thousands of people across the country, from all walks of life, are becoming investors in their places - and it is already starting to have a transformative effect on how they see, and engage with, their councils.

“[I invested because I am] funding initiatives that mean something to me, in a place that means something to me.”

Citizen investor

Building trust and engagement

Mutual trust between citizens and their councils is an essential ingredient for effective local government. In recent years, research suggests that this trust has started to waver, and evidence from the Office for National Statistics shows that higher levels of transparency and communication are associated with greater public trust and support.

At a time when public understanding of the role of local government is low, municipal investments offer a tangible way for councils to build trust through demonstrating real project delivery. Our experience is showing that is translating into real world shifts in how citizen investors view their councils and their places.