Impact Investing
The Impact Investor: The Need for Evidence and Engagement
The Impact Investor is a project to build data-driven and practitioner-guided knowledge for the rapidly growing field of impact investing. It is a partnership between InSight, the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University, and ImpactAssets. It is supported by the Omidyar Network, the Annie E.Casey Foundation, the RS Group (Hong Kong), […]
Jul 28, 2015 – Blog and News • Impact Consulting • Impact Investing •
Impact at Scale: Policy Innovation for Institutional Investment with Social & Environmental Benefit
We examine investments with the intent to create measurable social or environmental benefit in addition to financial return. Policymakers are drawn to this by the promise of leveraging private capital to support public purpose and the opportunity to make better use of scarce resources to support social benefits. Executive Summary Full Report
Jul 28, 2015 – Blog and News • Impact Consulting • Impact Investing •
Solidifying the Business Case for CDFI Nonfinancial Performance Measurement
In this article I contribute a number of additional questions and next steps to the conversation about measurement that started well over a decade ago—a conversation that led to the development of CARS, the Community Investment Impact System (CIIS) at the CDFI Fund, and the CDFI Data Project, among other innovations. Colby Dailey and I […]
Jul 28, 2015 – Blog and News • Impact Consulting • Impact Investing •
Building Scale in Community Impact Investing through Nonfinancial Performance Measurement
The measurement of nonfinancial performance is becoming increasingly important in the impact investing industry, where individuals and institutions actively deploy capital for intentional social and environmental benefit, including in low-income domestic markets. This paper, co-authored by InSight Director Ben Thornley, discusses the limited practice and future direction of nonfinancial performance measurement.
Jul 28, 2015 – Blog and News • Impact Consulting • Impact Investing •
Impact Investing: A Framework for Policy Design and Analysis
The Rockefeller Foundation launched its program initiative on impact investing with an important premise in mind: that the resources of government and philanthropy alone are insufficient to address the world’s biggest problems. We have been supporting the development of networks, infrastructure, intermediaries and research designed to accelerate the maturation of an impact investing industry that […]
Jul 28, 2015 – Blog and News • Impact Consulting • Impact Investing •
Community Equity Capital: The Opportunities and Challenges of Growth
InSight was commissioned by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2010 to research and analyze the recent performance of the community development venture capital (CDVC) sector. Our work, which continues in 2011, has resulted in the publication of a report on the challenges of private equity investing in underserved markets and makes recommendations to advance […]
Jul 28, 2015 – Blog and News • Impact Consulting • Impact Investing •
Three Steps to Establishing an Asset Class for Investing in Underserved Markets
Nearly 5 million Californians—over 13% of the state’s population—have incomes below the federal poverty level. In 2005, more than half the jobs in the California economy provided full-time, year-round wages that were insufficient to support an adequate standard of living. And, while the state’s unemployment rate is down, the jobs being created tend to pay […]
Jul 28, 2015 – Blog and News • Impact Consulting • Impact Investing •
A Special Announcement About Our GLE Project
Thanks to everyone who has supported the pilot of a Global Learning Exchange in 2014. This bold experiment has exceeded the expectations for what a multi-stakeholder exchange could contribute to the growth of the impact investing market when it was launched at the Social Impact Investment Forum in 2013. Unless core funding is secured for another stage […]
Jul 12, 2015 – Impact Consulting • Impact Investing • PCV News •
A Big Idea for Job Creation
The California Organized Insurance Network (COIN) CDFI Tax Credit program (the Program), administered by the California Department of Insurance, has a track record of creating jobs in some of California’s most underserved communities. Drawing on a well-designed policy framework, an efficient and dedicated team of public officials responsible for COIN, and an effective statewide infrastructure […]