The Big Issue- Initial Research

• A magazine which offers to people in poverty.

• Aim to dismantle poverty through giving job opportunities.

• Launched in 1991 in response to the amount of homeless people on the streets in London.

• Offers a legitimate income.

• Vendors purchase the magazine for £1.25 and sell it for £2.50, meaning they are working and not begging.

• More than 200 million copies of the magazine have been sold.

• 92,000 people have sold the Big Issue.

• In the past 25 years vendors have earned £115 million.

• 3700 new vendors go to The Big Issue everyday.

• Currently around 1500 vendors.

• The magazine is read by 379,195 people.

• 82,294 copies circulated every week.

• Inspired over 120 similar magazines in 35 countries.

• Big Issue Invest founded in 2005.

• UK's first 'Social Merchant Bank' by social entrepreneurs for social entrepreneurs.

• Big Issue Invest offers social enterprises, charities and profit-with- purpose businesses, loans and investment from £20,000 to £3 million.

• Since 2005, they have invested in approximately 300 social enterprises and charities, all of which have positively influenced the lives of an estimated 1 million people across the UK.
• The Big Issue Foundation founded in 1995.
• The Big Issue Foundation addresses the fundamental issues attached to social and financial exclusion by working with individuals who have made the first step towards working themselves out of poverty through selling the magazine.