Many of us have issues within our communities which are un(der)funded, and yet we are passionate about them and can see the socio-economic benefits they would bring if money was available. My issue is broadband. As a business, it is costing me money to not have it. Alone, I can not invest enough to make it happen but with my neighbours, potentially we can raise money to matchfund, borrow etc.

My idea would be a website with a simple backend database to harvest data such as name, address, amount, Parish, email.

Front end would show a map of each parish in the UK, with a running total for that specific issue that has been pledged within the Parish. District and county councils totals could be shown too. The private data behind the site - names and contact - should only be shared with the Parish Council. The amount pledged can be kept confidential as it should not be considered a commitment per se.

This approach is based upon the concept of an people-centered form of capitalism which redefines profit in human terms. Going further than a "community investment" company, it advocates business focussed on people and their needs with the neediest having first priority.

Profit making business investing in CDFIs provides funds for seed funding both social enterprise and conventional micro business at the local level.

Once considered radical, it has recently entered the world of mainstream economic thinking when Harvard began advocating the creation of shared value.

A earlier proposal to propagate this approach across the UK may be found at this link. It project a yield of £70 million annually for community investment while at the same time addressing the need for rural broadband access.

http://www.box.net/shared/y3tpik8eg6

The profit-fort-purpose model, proven in an international context is unchanged, though the technology for the 2011 version will be updated