Barring brief diversions as a chef, musician and editor, Emilie Goodall’s career has focused on innovative strategic work with charities and social enterprises.
As Senior Investment Manager at CAF Venturesome, Emilie leads the team’s Development Fund which provides growth capital to charities and social enterprises, many of which are excluded from access to mainstream finance.
Venturesome’s investment readiness support and capital investment enables charities to develop an infrastructure around their social activities, strengthening financial resilience in order to protect and sustain their impact.
Venturesome pioneered the use of risk capital for charities and social enterprises, and as an independent fund has offered £18m to 250 organisations since its inception.
Alongside supporting entrepreneurs, Emilie has authored several publications about the UK social investment market and its role in building civil society, including Financing Civil Society (2008) and Access to Capital (2009).
Prior to working in social investment, Emilie worked in the Research team of New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), a think-tank that promotes effective giving. There she authored research reports on social issues such as truancy and exclusion and child abuse, which led to £5m of donations being channelled to highly effective charities tackling these difficult issues. Whilst with NPC, Emilie also led research on opportunities for young Scots for a pioneering venture philanthropy initiative, Inspiring Scotland.
Emilie has twice been listed in Financial News’ 100 Rising Stars and Management Today’s 35 Under 35. She was the youngest of 20 selected for the International Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society’s inaugural Rising Stars programme, where she won a JP Morgan award for her work with The Place2Be, a children’s counselling service.
She holds an MA in Philosophy and French, and qualifications in Financial Management and Development Management. She is a trustee of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, and enjoys extensive travelling - and trying to keep up the cooking and music.
