Solution

How Impact Investors Actually Measure Impact

This solution addresses identifying the specific practices actually used to measure social impact. in the world for impact investors

Problem Description

There is much discussion about how investors can measure their social impact, but this talk is often overly hypothetical or theoretical. This solution (and the study it documents) aims to instead head in the direction of reality, and document what investors are actually doing to measure their impact.

Building Blocks

Story

The report that this solution documents was developed as part of an independent project through the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative in fall 2014, under the supervision of Alnoor Ebrahim. It is authored by Ivy So and Alina Staskevicius. It's titled, Measuring the “Impact” in Impact Investing.

The study interviews a diverse set of over 20 entrepreneurs from leading impact investing organizations. It combines interview results with independent research findings to develop what the researchers see as common categories of measurement methods. The study looks at these methods over the entire span of the investment cycle (Estimating, Planning, Monitoring, Evaluating). It also provides analysis on the advantages and disadvantages of each of these techniques.

Level of Analysis

System / Ecosystem

Photos

Resources

Link to Main Study
Link to "Measuring the 'Impact' in Impact Investing"
How Impact Investors Actually Measure Impact
An overview article, written by the authors, published in SSIR

Contributed By

Ivy So, Harvard Business School
Alina Staskevicius, Harvard Business School

Solution Stage

One of the 7 stages of an innovation. Learn more

STAGE	SPECIALIST SKILLS REQUIRED	EXAMPLE ACTIVITIES	RISK LEVEL AND HANDLING	FINANCE REQUIRED	KINDS OF EVIDENCE GENERATED	GOAL
Exploring opportunities and challenges1	Research and analysis for exploratory work	Horizon scanning Evidence scanning Ethnography and insight generation Systems mapping Foresight Complaints and consumer research	Low risk of failure, but clear decisions should be taken about how to act on insights. LOW	Grants LOW	Insights derived from formal research and informal knowledge gathering	A well understood and clearly defined problem or opportunity

Submitted By

Bryan Lehrer