Last week, nearly 2,000 social entrepreneurs, impact investors, business leaders, philanthropists, policymakers, and researchers from around the world converged at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. This annual confluence of experts and entrepreneurs, icons and innovators is known as SOCAP, a conference series showcasing new ways people across the globe are using market forces to change the world for the better.
We at PCV InSight share the SOCAP mission of “accelerating the good economy.” We had the opportunity this year to present at the conference and share findings from our landmark research project, the Impact Investor. For the past two years, we have been working with Jed Emerson of ImpactAssets and Cathy Clark of CASE i3 at Duke University to conduct in-depth research on top performing impact investing funds and firms around the world. These intermediaries channel investors’ money into businesses that offer a social upside – such as creating jobs in low income areas or addressing social or environmental problems through their products and services – while generating a financial return. Over the past two years, we have looked at how these firms raise and invest their funds, the impact (both social and financial) their investments made, and the lessons they can offer the field of impact investing – a field often dismissed as “a lot of talk and little action.”
On Wednesday, September 4th, PCV InSight Director Ben Thornley took the SOCAP stage at the morning’s plenary session, alongside our fellow researchers at Duke and ImpactAssets. During their 15-minutes on the SOCAP main stage, Ben, Cathy and Jed gave a short presentation briefly introducing four key findings from the research. Each finding debunked a common misconception about impact investing; for instance, the myth that investors should be wary of any kind of government involvement. On the contrary, we found that partnering with government – whether taking advantage of supportive financial policies and/or seeking investment from government bodies – often enables impact investors to realize greater impact and financial returns.
After the plenary session – which offered just a “taste” of our key findings – Jed, Ben and Cathy led a much lengthier series of panel discussions featuring fund managers from seven of the project’s 13 case studies, including: Vineet Rai of Aavishkaar; Mildred Callear of Small Enterprise Assistance Funds; Mark Narron of Deutsche Bank; Ted Levinson of RSF Social Finance; Paula Goldman of Omidyar Network; Jennifer Pryce of the Calvert Foundation; and Maya Chorengel of Elevar Equity.
Each of the three panels was designed around one of the findings presented at the plenary session. As it turns out, the SOCAP audience, much like the impact investing market at large, was hungry for the kind of in-depth information we have gathered. The session room was packed to capacity – we quickly ran out of chairs and many eager attendees took a seat on the floor. We were pleased to find the audience just as vocal as they were attentive, posing questions and engaging our panelists in dynamic discussions both during and after the sessions.
The overwhelming response we received from SOCAP attendees filled us with a renewed sense of purpose. As we enter into the final phase of our research, we are more aware than ever that sharing our findings from these 13 different stories of struggle and success can have profound implications for the impact investing market. For more detail on our preliminary findings, see the recent blog post by Cathy and Ben on the Huffington Post.
Our full report will be released in November of this year. In the meantime, stay up-to-date on the research by following us on Twitter: @ImpactInSight, #impinv2.0