Ask anyone involved with social finance and they’re likely to tell you that tracking the impact of their investments is one of their greatest challenges. In fact, a recent report from J.P. Morgan shows that the industry’s biggest risk is around investment illiquidity and uncertainty of financial returns.

At the same time, impact investing is expected to represent as much as $500 billion in assets over the next 10 years, which means the task of tracking and analyzing the impact of social investments is a big one, and getting bigger.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

This week has been a fairly significant one for the B Corp movement. On Wednesday, March 7, B Lab released their 2012 Annual Report and lists of "Best for the World" B Corps that are making a difference. On SocialFinance.ca, Joyce Sou highlighted the six Canadian B corps that made it to the "Best for the World" lists, and Alex Wood spoke about the evolution of capitalism in a thought-provoking post.

Last week, PBS NewsHour also featured this burgeoning movement.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Discussions about social enterprise and not-for-profits are often dominated by the topic of measurement. Measuring output, outcomes, and impact can be useful for improving organizations and, furthermore, investors and donors increasingly demand such data.

Catherine Clark is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University and directs the Research Initiative on Social Entrepreneurship at (RISE) Columbia University, and discusses social impact assessment in this short video.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I know what you’re thinking. As the Manager, B Corporation and Social Impact Metrics at MaRS, of course I’m going to make a case for social impact metrics. But hear me out.

Measuring the social impact of nonprofit and charitable organizations is a polarizing concept. Some think quantitative measures are the only way to go, while others believe imposing additional regulations strangles the effectiveness of an organization. And then there’s an entire group that thinks social impact metrics simply can’t be viewed the same way in which the business community views financial metrics and accounting as their means of evaluation.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Last year, over 300 people gathered at the MaRS Discovery District for the launch of the landmark report Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good by the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance. The event was a call to action for all to consider the role of capital markets in creating not only economic value, but also social and environmental sustainability in our society.

With the one-year anniversary of this publication as the backdrop, we are excited to announce the 2011 Social Finance Forum on December 13th and 14th at MaRS. Join leaders from across the country to drive the development of Canada’s impact investing marketplace and to learn what it means to invest in good deals.

 READ MORE

Share:  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•