Social Finance Round Up: Many Debates Underway, Around the World
SocialFinance.ca produces a weekly round up featuring social finance related news, insights, job openings, and events. We source the content for these round ups from Twitter, an RSS reader, and directly from our community of social finance practitioners. Below is our round up for the week of July 4, 2011.
Last Week on SocialFinance.ca
Dr. Olaf Weber posted Socially Responsible Investment and Impact Investment on June 28, 2011
Alexis Kane Speer posted Raised Capital: The STEPS Story on June 29, 2011
Tim Draimin posted Video: Fixing the Future on June 30, 2011
Canadian and International News
Vancouver Foundation is partnering with the City of Vancouver to expand its Neighbourhood Small Grants program in the Downtown Eastside communities; the City has provided $50,000 for grants in the areas served by the Strathcona, Carnegie, and Ray Cam community centres.
FINCA International has launched a socially responsible investment partnership for microfinance, a subsidiary called FINCA Microfinance Holdings, LLC (FMH). FMH was created to enable a three-year, $74 million capital investment from institutions that are committed to the microfinance sector and have long-term relationships with FINCA, including the International Finance Corporation, KfWBankengruppe, responsibility Global Microfinance Fund, and more.
JPS Global Investments, a boutique investment firm that specializes in green investing, announced that it has successfully listed its Green Economy Fund offering on Mission Markets.
Hub Venture Labs announces the launch of Village Capital London, an incubator programme for social-purposes businesses based in UK and Europe. 16 entrepreneurs will participate in a 12-week program aimed at developing core skills, culminating in two entrepreneurs being peer-selected to receive $50,000.
USAID is seeking new applicants for its Development Innovation Ventures program, which identifies and rigorously tests potential development solutions before funding escalation using a staged financing model.
Vibeka Mair reports on the webinar held by Social Finance UK last week on the potential for designing social impact bonds for the health sector. At this time, preliminary investigations are underway, trying to ascertain possible cost savings.
Clarissa Dann summarizes the NESTA/Braithwate report, Investing in Civil Society, in Caritas Magazine: a restrictive regulatory framework for community and social finance is holding back growth. As reforms to the Financial Services Authority are currently underway by HM Treasury, this is the best opportunity to address this issue.
The Springcreek Foundation (TSF) has just released a new report, which delves into the landscape of sustainable food investment opportunities, including current challenges to investing in this sector.
Elizabeth U offers highlights and a teaser for the upcoming Capital Cookbook.
The Co-operators Foundation's Community Economic Development Fund has granted $149,700 to nine community-based organizations that help marginalized Canadians move toward self-reliance.
Heller Consulting, a firm that helps nonprofit organizations streamline their operations and maximize their use of software for fundraising and mission management, was re-certified as a B Corporation after going through an evaluation process by B Lab.
Social Finance Learning and Best Practices
Anshula Chowdhury was surprised by the lack of Canadian presence at SOCAP/Europe and worries that Canadians might be missing out by not being present. (SocialCapitalMarkets)
Sir Ronald Cohen draws parallels between the rise of venture capital since the 1970s and impact investing today - both global movements that are fundamentally changing the nature of business and can, in turn, profoundly change the world. (Part 1 of 2 essays on the Reuters blog).
Thomas Kostigen profiles impact investing as "the new, new thing among Wall Street insiders and the super rich", tracing its development over the past few years into the burgeoning movement it is today. (Second Act)
Daniel Altman and Jonathan Berman of Dalberg post a summarized version of their recent report, advocating a long-term single bottom line instead of a double- or triple-bottom line model. (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
John Hildebrand highlights alternatives to the social impact bond as charitable institutional investors wait for the model to be ready for mainstream investment. (ThirdSector)
Sadna Samaranayake investigates how technical assistance (TA) at the client level can catalyze market activity and impact bottom-of-the-pyramic (BoP) markets. (NextBillion)
Gergory Chen puts the recent microfinance woes in the context of political interference, and notes that micro-savings are a potential buffer. (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, CGAP)
Mayur Patel profiles Macon Money, a fascinating game that is making social finance personal and helping revitalize both businesses and community relationships in the downtown area in Macon, Georgia. (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
Kevin Doyle Jones puts forward the case for greater support for the social capital markets and "people-powered capital". (SocialCapitalMarkets)
Robert Kropp talked to George Gay, CEO of First Affirmative, about his study of SRI portfolio performance, tracking and comparing the performance of the MSCI KLD 400 Social Index with the S&P 500. (SocialFunds.com)
Rob Greenland challenges the Yunus Centre's principles of social business - specifically, the one forbidding dividends beyond investment money. (Guardian)
Kathi Jaworski tells everyone to keep an eye on social impact bonds, especially the developments in Massachusetts, which may become the first state to implement a 'pay for performance' model in the United States. (The Nonprofit Quarterly)
Gabi Zedlmayer says that a shift in perspective is needed for the private sector to drive social innovation: from responsibility to opportunity. (Forbes)
Luke Fletcher says that the system of financial regulation is geared towards large financial institutions and against the social sector, and the system must be balanced fairly for social investment to flourish. (Guardian)
Upcoming Events
Agora Partnerships Impact Investor Retreat 2011
July 12-15, 2011, Granada, Nicaragua
Workshop: Call for Participation:"Socially Responsible Investment and Canadian Extractive Industries"
September 10-11, 2011, University of British Columbia (UBC)
Impact Investing Summit
September 20-21, Washington D.C.
Jobs
Social Innovation Generation (SiG) at @ MaRS is looking for a Manager, B Corporation and Social Impact Metrics to manage B Corporation business development and impact metrics activities at Social Innovation Generation (SiG) at MaRS
Calvert Foundation is looking for a Giving Fund Associate who seeks to use her/his education and experience to support the impact investment platform teams at Calvert Foundation and the separate but affiliated organization, ImpactAssets.
Did we miss any news, insights, or events? Use the comment form below to add to this round up. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/benimoto/603815615/
