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Analysis: How Environmental Reporting Can Help in Fighting Climate Change
Companies must measure and disclose the impact they have on our environment. Quality reporting can accelerate decarbonisation and identify opportunities for value creation.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Impact Reporting for All: Developing an Approach That Works for Both SMEs and Their Funders
In 2020, nearly $2.3 trillion was invested with the intention of generating positive social or environmental impact – but impact measurement was only used across 28% of that total amount. What is stopping the managers of the other 72% of impact capital from measuring their investments’ impact – and how can those obstacles be addressed? Kevin Horgan, Geoff Kendall and Joanna Robertson at Future-Fit Foundation explain why the difficulty of impact reporting is at the heart of this issue, and present a solution that they believe could revolutionize the impact investment landscape.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Environment, Impact Assessment
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How Blockchain Can Support Social Impact: Three Innovative Use Cases that Highlight its Potential
When it comes to blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin seem to dominate the headlines, whereas blockchain itself – cryptocurrencies’ underlying technology – often gets overlooked. But according to Raj Jain at the Social Finance Fund, blockchain may actually have a more compelling future than cryptocurrency – and the technology is flourishing in a variety of different spaces, including the social impact sector. He highlights three organizations that are putting blockchain to innovative use in social impact.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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Africa: COVID-19 Aid Falling Short
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for African governments to strengthen social protection systems and fulfill people’s rights to social security and an adequate standard of living.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Impact Assessment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Four Insights for Better Measurement: What Businesses Can Learn from the Public and Nonprofit Sectors
In the public and nonprofit sectors, comprehensive monitoring, evaluation and learning approaches are increasingly common – but many small and growing businesses (SGBs) lack the time and resources for these practices. Heather Esper, director of the Performance Measurement and Improvement team at the William Davidson Institute, shares four key data collection and measurement insights from the public and nonprofit worlds that businesses — particularly SGBs — can leverage to improve their decision-making and maximize the social and financial value of their data.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment
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Analysis: Understanding the Risks of Nonparticipation in Philanthropy
How philanthropic organizations can better understand the degree to which they include beneficiaries in their decision-making processes, how contextual considerations shape participation, and where problems and opportunities lie.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Global
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Three Common Mistakes Startups Make When Running Lean Experiments – And How To Avoid Them
Reaching product-market fit is critical to growing a startup, but the process can be chaotic, as founders must solve multiple problems at once. But while planning and strategizing can address some of these issues, Akansha Kasera and Malika Anand at Catalyst Fund argue that the most robust solutions come from experiments and iterations. They explore the lean experimentation approach used by Catalyst Fund's portfolio companies, share a free product-market fit toolkit that can guide experiment design — and highlight three mistakes to avoid during this crucial process.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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The ESG Investing Conundrum: Finding Meaning Behind the Metrics
Funds created to respond to the growing demand for investment vehicles that fit the attributes of “ESG”—environmental, social and governance—are now in a squeeze play between investors seeking assurance that their money is aligned with their morals and demands on business that become more complex by the day.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global