Real Deals' Private Equity Awards. Social investment In 2000, at the invitation of the Treasury he became Chairman of the Social Investment Task Force (SITF). The remit of the SITF was "to set out how entrepreneurial practices could be applied to obtain higher social and financial returns from social investment, to harness new talents and skills, to address economic regeneration and to unleash new sources of private and institutional investment". The SITF made several recommendations to Government, including that it: (1) introduce Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR); (2) match finance to help set up the first community development venture capital fund; (3) encourage banks to disclose more of their lending activities; (4) to support legislative and regulatory changes to provide greater latitude and encouragement for charitable trusts and foundations to invest in community development finance; and (5) to create the Community Development Finance Association (cdfa) to provide support for community development finance institutions (CDFIs). In 2002, he co-founded and became chairman of Bridges Ventures, an innovative sustainable growth investor that delivers both financial returns and social and environmental benefits. Bridges Ventures has raised eight successful funds to date: Bridges Sustainable Growth Funds I, II and III, the Bridges Sustainable Property Fund, the CarePlaces Fund, Bridges Property Alternatives III, the Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund, and the Bridges Social Impact Bond Fund. The organisation currently has almost £600 million under management. The portfolio includes a number of businesses who invest in regeneration areas or have a sustainable business model. Bridges Ventures has had several successful exits to date, including The Gym Group, The Office, Simply Switch, HS Atec and Harlands of Hull. In 2003, Cohen co-founded the Portland Trust with Sir Harry Solomon, co-founder and former chairman and CEO of Hillsdown Holdings. The aim of Portland Trust is to help develop the Palestinian private sector and relieve poverty through entrepreneurship in Israel. Portland Trust is involved in a number of important initiatives, including the development of financial and economic infrastructure, housing, trade, investment, and entrepreneurship. The Portland Trust has offices in London, Tel Aviv and Ramallah. In 2005, Cohen chaired the Commission on Unclaimed Assets. which looked into how unclaimed funds from dormant bank accounts could be used to benefit the public. The final recommendation of the Commission was that a Social Investment Wholesale Bank be created to help finance charitable and voluntary projects by providing seed capital and loan guarantees. In