This report provides a framework for assessing the social impact investment market and focuses on the need to build the evidence base, in particular for impact assessment compared to existing social service delivery models.

This publication is a sequel to the OECD 2015 report on social impact investment (SII), Building the Evidence Base, bringing new evidence on the role of SII in financing sustainable development.

Apply a rigorous investment process and integrate social impact analyses to successfully select and invest in social impact investments Impact Investment: A Practical Guide to Investment Process and Social Impact Analysis is a must-read guide for investors and wealth managers entering the social finance investment space known as "impact investing." This book walks readers through the demanding task of properly executing an impact investment strategy, providing solutions to some of the most vexing challenges that arise when investing for both financial return and social impact. Readers will learn how impact investing is different from other strategies, how the organization's mission affects investment decisions and structures, and what to look for in an organization prior to investing. A running example of a village distribution company illustrates the methods and concepts in action, and a full-fledged case study utilizing downloadable professional level analytical tools consolidates all examples into a real-world setting. Impact investing is generating significant momentum, but many individuals operating in this space come from alternative backgrounds and lack the knowledge to form a rigorous investment process. Disparate funding sources, immature markets, variations in fund economics, and the need to generate and report social impact all complicate the industry even further, creating a barrier for curious investors. This book is a guide to applying standard investment processes and social impact analyses to impact investing, helping readers: Adjust standard analysis techniques to suit the particularities of impact investing Discover how social mission influences the entire investment from entry to exit Plan and execute a robust custom impact investment strategy Understand social impact entities and the management of impact investments Investing with the goal of social impact doesn't remove the need for rigorous investment techniques and diligent processes. Impact Investment: A Practical Guide to Investment Process and Social Impact Analysis is a guide to putting it all together, for a more targeted approach to impact investing.

Social Value Investing presents a new way to approach some of society’s most difficult and intractable challenges. Although many of our world’s problems may seem too great and too complex to solve — inequality, climate change, affordable housing, corruption, healthcare, food insecurity — solutions to these challenges do exist, and will be found through new partnerships bringing together leaders from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. In their new book, Howard W. Buffett and William B. Eimicke present a five-point management framework for developing and measuring the success of such partnerships. Inspired by value investing — one of history’s most successful investment paradigms — this framework provides tools to maximize collaborative efficiency and positive social impact, so that major public programs can deliver innovative, inclusive, and long-lasting solutions. It also offers practical insights for any private sector CEO, public sector administrator, or nonprofit manager hoping to build successful cross-sector collaborations. Social Value Investing tells the compelling stories of cross-sector partnerships from around the world — Central Park and the High Line in New York City, community-led economic development in Afghanistan, and improved public services in cities across Brazil. Drawing on lessons and observations from a broad selections of collaborations, this book combines real life stories with detailed analysis, resulting in a blueprint for effective, sustainable partnerships that serve the public interest. Readers also gain access to original, academic case material and professionally produced video documentaries for every major partnerships profiled — bringing to life the people and stories in a way that few other business or management books have done.

This book provides a preliminary attempt to understand the impact investors’ preferences and characteristics. It offers an empirical insight of the main features characterizing social risk of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) and explores the correlation existing between social risk and financial return. It assesses case studies of social impact investment architectures and their legal and operational limits. It also analyzes new trends in social impact measurement, focusing on the Spanish and Swedish experiences. The book concludes with a road map of priorities and policy strategy for social impact investments development.

This book provides a detailed study of the social impact funds industry. In particular, chapters focus on: The contextualization of social impact funds within the social impact investment market; The exploration of features, investment strategy and classification of funds; An in-depth analysis of the emergent literature; An analysis of case studies of impact funds; A synthetic assessment of the industry, conducted through a cluster analysis; The exploration of investment strategy and mission consistency of funds active in the market aimed to show funds attitude to be defined as “impact-oriented funds”; The investigation of determinants of funds’ target performance. This volume will be useful to scholars, students from different academic disciplines such as economics, finance, political science, entrepreneurship, and practitioners who are interested in impact investing and in the financing of social impact programs through impact-funds.

The triple bottom line is an accounting framework with social, environmental and financial factors. This Handbook examines the nexus between these areas by scrutinising aspects of socially responsible investment, finance and sustainable development, corporate socially responsible banking firms, the stock returns of sustainable firms, green bonds and sustainable financial instruments.

Providing an in-depth case study on the emergence of social impact investing in the UK, this book develops a new perspective on financialization processes that highlights the roles of non-financial actors. In contrast to the common view that impact investing gears finance toward the solution of social problems, the author analyzes how these investments create new problems and inequalities. To explain how social impact investing became popular in British social policy despite its unclear effectiveness, the author focuses on cooperative relations between institutional entrepreneurs from finance and various non-financial actors. Drawing on field theory, he shows how seemingly unrelated social transformations – such as HM Treasury's expanding role in public service reform – may act as resonance spaces for the spread of finance. Opening up a new perspective on financialization processes in the terrain of public policy, this book invites readers to refocus scholarship on capitalist dynamics to the meso-level. Based on this analysis, the author also proposes ways to transform social impact investing to increase its potential for reducing global inequalities.

Impact Investment and Social Finance gain more and more international attention. Local ecosystems are forming share, national legislation and other factors highly influencing this development. Comparing those ecosystems can give valuable insights, what countries could learn from each other and to what extend national solutions are needed. This study is a first comparison between the UK and German impact investing markets. It is based on a qualitative research method, namely explorative and semi-structured interviews as well as two focus groups. The status quo of both countries as well as the challenges found in the German market are then used to draw conclusions on how the German market could benefit from the UK's development. Results are clustered around demand, intermediaries and supply as well as national context, regulatory framework, impact and leadership. This study concludes to what extent the UK market can act as a role model and which challenges require a 'German solution' or can be met by adapting actions taken in the UK.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development offers a masterplan to create a better world for the people and the planet. It’s scale and ambition, however, requires new development partnerships supported by adequate financial and technical resources. As a response, development practitioners started to explore alternative and complementary innovative instruments to finance the SDGs -one of which is the prospects for increased cooperation and coordination between Islamic finance and impact investing. To date, however, the academic and development literature has lacked a systematic exploration of this promising collaboration between Islamic finance and impact investing. This present study attempts to fill this gap by developing the first knowledge product to increase awareness on this collaboration. I for Impact attempts to raise awareness on the compatibility between Islamic finance and impact investing. It reviews recent developments and key factors for growth, pinpoints similarities between the two sectors, and makes policy recommendations for development actors to create the conditions for the two sectors to benefit from each other.