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Blog Post
According to the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, over the past three years, fundraising targets for funds focused on small and growing businesses increased by 71 percent, reaching $3.73 billion in 2011. During this same time, 102 SGB funds completed fundraising efforts and began making investments.
On the Upswing: ANDE’s 2011 Impact ReportNews
In 1970, the economist and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman published an article in The New York Times Magazine titled, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” In the article, he referred to corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs as “hypocritical window-dressing,” and said that businesspeople inclined toward such programs “reveal a suicidal impulse.” Even four decades ago, at a time of growing public concern for the environment, his views represented the general skepticism and contempt with which many in Corporate America viewed CSR.
Why Companies Can No Longer Afford to Ignore Their Social ResponsibilitiesBlog Post
Mercy Corps didn’t give out a single solar lantern. It didn’t give out any grants to buy solar panels. But, what the international nonprofit did do was bring solar to rural Uganda.How? Market facilitation. It’s a mouthful, but it’s kind of like matchmaking, and it’s a key role nonprofits can play to boost local economies.
Lighting a Pathway for Solar in Rural UgandaBlog Post
The focus on the proper mix of philanthropy and investment at the individual deal level can obscure even bigger and, I’d argue, more important issues facing the impact investment industry – lack of good deal flow. Lack of good deal flow will become a bigger problem as more capital is mobilized. Imagine Silicon Valley without Stanford. That is the state of the early-stage impact investing movement today.
Guest Post: Silicon Valley Without Stanford? The Role of Philanthropy in Impact InvestingBlog Post
Recent developments in crowdfunding legislation in the U.S. and general growing interest in retail investment in Europe and the US are signaling a growth in new capital available for impact investing. But how does the impact sector ensure there are enough investment products to cater to the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of unaccredited investors who are increasingly interested in international investment opportunities that will deliver diverse environmental, social, and financial returns?
Catalyzing Retail Investment to Fund the ‘Missing Part’ of the Missing MiddleNews
African governments and donor countries should launch a "big push" this year towards meeting the millennium development goals (MDGs), according to a high-level panel.
Africa Progress Panel calls on African governments to drive towards MDGsBlog Post
This year was designated the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All by the UN General Assembly to raise awareness and promote the three objectives: clean energy access, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. 2012 is also the year of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in late June. The moment is ripe for action, and lofty goals have been set, but where to begin?
Achieving Sustainable Energy for All Hinges on International Cooperation and LeadershipBlog Post
In the south of the Brazilian state of Bahia, three organizations are uniting to implement an economic development project that is generating benefits for 60 farmers who live on settlements created after agrarian reform. The two-year pilot project is creating shared value by reorienting how a Brazilian company integrates farmers from poor communities into its value chain.
Mini Case Study: Partnership Creates New Source of Income for Farmers in Brazil
