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Impact measurement

Now free to read – Impact investing in a democracy: A response to the Alliance special feature ‘Markets for Good: removing the barriers’

NESTA 5 October 2014

When I first started out in social impact investing, it was hard to find anyone writing or talking about it (apart from my boss at Venturesome, John Kingston). But the tables have turned, and in …


New European Standard on Impact Measurement: a great step for venture philanthropy

European Venture Philanthropy Association 26 June 2014

As a social funder, foundation, social enterprise or NGO you must have been faced with the dilemma of how to measure or present the impact of what you do. For venture philanthropists, impact measurement and …


Are European banks finally becoming interested in social impact?

Ruth Whateley 27 March 2014

Last week saw the launch of a new EVPA report Social Impact Strategies for Banks: Venture Philanthropy and Social Investment  by Dr Leonora Buckland supported by London Business School. This is the first report on …

2013 SIAA conference: is impact measurement the highway to hell?

Martial Paris 12 December 2013

The annual conference of the Social Impact Analyst Association (SIAA) took place in Paris on 10 December. SIAA was founded in 2011 to ‘build an active international community of social impact analysts’. The conference theme, …

Are funders made to measure?

1 Alex Van Vliet 14 November 2013

Giving money away is one thing; understanding what happens next is quite another. In a world where metrics are valued, the challenge of knowing the difference you make as a grantmaker, philanthropist or corporate foundation …

Re-imagining Futures – why capturing the detail of impact matters

1 Tim Robertson 12 November 2013

The arts can easily be caricatured as a fluffy non-essential. Yet, at the Arts Alliance, the UK’s national body for arts in criminal justice, we know that the arts are uniquely powerful as a means …

I’m an impact investor

Tom Bird 23 September 2013

Endeavouring to ‘do more’ with my money and my life, I’ve been an impact investor for 15 years. Back in the 80s at business school, I learned about the equation: value = benefits-price. And seven years ago, …

GSBI Accelerator program: Vanity metrics and the difference between finding ‘fit’ and finding scale

1 GSBI Accelerator 19 September 2013

For the final part of our series of articles focusing on the GSBI® Accelerator program, we are publishing an interview in which GBSI talked with Mark Straub and Aparna Surendra from Khosla Impact. GSBI: The …

Is this real life? Is this just fantasy? – Using social impact analysis to improve (part 1)

1 Ruth Whateley 26 July 2013

Social impact analysis and measurement is the growing hot topic among professionals involved in civil society organisations, philanthropy and social finance across Europe. However, it is important to ask the question are we all living …

Funders are in the driving seat when it comes to developing a culture of impact measurement – but are they heading in the right direction?

2 Lena Baumgartner 16 April 2013

At a time when many charities are facing falling incomes and rising demands, it has never been more important for them to be able to understand and assess their achievements. Funders have a huge influence …