10 SSIR Stories on Impact Investing’s Next Phase

(Photo by iStock/Foryou13)

Since the term was coined in 2007, the impact investing field has grown exponentially, with $1.164 trillion in assets under management globally today. Questions remain about whether impact investing can achieve market-rate returns while also driving meaningful, systems-level social change. The following SSIR articles highlight innovations like the emerging field of social impact markets, showcase examples of how impact investing can support farmers and community-based leaders, and lift up ongoing debates about market investment return and improving support for social entrepreneurs. Read on, and if you have an impact investing article idea of your own, let us hear from you.

1. Impact Investing Can’t Deliver by Chasing Market Returns by Jim Bildner

Is it possible to achieve both market returns and meaningful social returns? Jim Bildner, CEO of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, takes aim at the “it depends” refrain to that question and suggests a coordinated capital approach for making an impact.

2. Impact Markets: The Next Frontier by Jason Saul, David Rabinowitz, Isra Hussain & Drew Gannon Singh

Growing demand for social impact among investors is fueling a movement toward a social impact marketplace—a potential game-changer for funding outcomes. A complimentary webinar on trading social outcomes in an impact marketplace, featuring perspectives from nonprofit organizations and funders, is also available.

3. Buying and Selling Social Impact by Sarah Murray

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Learn how the UBS Optimus Foundation used OutcomesX, a social impact marketplace that converts social impact into “verified impact units,” to support education and mental health nonprofits serving children in Ukraine.

4. ESG Is Not Impact Investing and Impact Investing Is Not ESG by Jaclyn Foroughi

This primer on the differences between environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and impact investing is an essential read for anyone in the impact sector.

5. A Social Movement Requires Momentum by Lisa Nutter & Tim Freundlich

The authors of this story propose five “what if” scenarios focused on designing new channels for deploying capital that could elevate community-based leaders and under-capitalized communities.

6. Impact Investing for the Missing Middle in Agri-Finance by Wouter Vandersypen, Chris Claes & Steven Serneels

“When agricultural enterprises have access to the right type of growth capital to grow, they generate great and lasting benefits for the communities they serve.” The authors of this story describe the stakeholder-shareholder model Kampani, a Belgian social impact investment fund, uses to invest in agri-food businesses in low-income countries.

7. How a Nonprofit Raised Growth Capital From Public Markets by Dara Westling & Ken Tsunoda

This story shares lessons the nonprofit TechSoup learned from engaging investors, corporate partners, foundations, nonprofits, employees, and board members as impact investors to support the organizations’ long-term growth.

8. The Social Impact Investment Mirage by Amanda Levinson & Natasha Freidus

“The system is rigged. Underneath every accomplishment lies a profoundly broken funding landscape for social innovation.” The women cofounders of NeedsList, a tech company focused on humanitarian action, share their journey to raise investment through impact investors and urge funders to reimagine how they supportsocial entrepreneurs.

9. Roles Foundations Play in Shaping Impact Investing by David Wood

There’s no escaping the tensions inherent in impact investing's simultaneous critique and embrace of finance. This story looks at a range of philanthropic tools foundations have deployed to navigate these tensions and bring private capital to public purpose. (This article is part of a recent SSIR series on impact investing)

10. The Next 10 Years of Impact Investment by Yasemin Saltuk Lamy, Christina Leijonhufvud & Nick O’Donohoe

To get an idea of where impact investment might be headed over the next decade, the authors of this story examine three trends—DEI, climate, and investment tools—that play an outsized role in the field’s goals and practices.

SSIR is constantly seeking out new contributors and story ideas that will inspire and inform leaders of social change. We encourage social innovators of all identities and backgrounds, at all levels of their careers, and in all countries around the world to review our submission guidelines and consider sharing their ideas and experiences with the SSIR community.

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