Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over US$1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies across multiple investment areas. According to the OECD, Omidyar Network's financing for 2019 development increased by 10% to US$58.9 million.
Social venture capital is a form of investment funding that is usually funded by a group of social venture capitalists or an impact investor to provide seed-funding investment, usually in a for-profit social enterprise, in return to achieve an outsized gain in financial return while delivering social impact to the world. There are various organizations, such as Venture Philanthropy (VP) companies and nonprofit organizations, that deploy a simple venture capital strategy model to fund nonprofit events, social enterprises, or activities that deliver a high social impact or a strong social causes for their existence. There are also regionally focused organizations that target a specific region of the world, to help build and support the local community in a social cause.
The U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) is an independent U.S. government agency established by Congress in 1980 to invest directly in African grassroots enterprises and social entrepreneurs. USADF's investments aim to increase incomes, revenues, and jobs by promoting self-reliance and market-based solutions to poverty. USADF targets marginalized populations and underserved communities in the Sahel, Great Lakes, and the Horn of Africa. It partners with African governments, other U.S. government agencies, private corporations, and foundations to achieve transformative results.
Socially responsible investing (SRI) is any investment strategy which seeks to consider financial return alongside ethical, social or environmental goals. The areas of concern recognized by SRI practitioners are often linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. Impact investing can be considered a subset of SRI that is generally more proactive and focused on the conscious creation of social or environmental impact through investment. Eco-investing is SRI with a focus on environmentalism.
Social finance is a category of financial services that aims to leverage private capital to address challenges in areas of social and environmental need. Having gained popularity in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, it is notable for its public benefit focus. Mechanisms of creating shared social value are not new; however, social finance is conceptually unique as an approach to solving social problems while simultaneously creating economic value. Unlike philanthropy, which has a similar mission-motive, social finance secures its own sustainability by being profitable for investors. Capital providers lend to social enterprises, who in turn, by investing borrowed funds in socially beneficial initiatives, deliver investors measurable social returns in addition to traditional financial returns on their investment.
Social Finance is a not for profit consultancy organisation that partners with governments, service providers, the voluntary sector and the financial community to find better ways of tackling social problems in the UK and globally. Founded in 2007, they have helped pioneer a series of programmes to improve outcomes for individuals with complex needs. Their innovations include the Social Impact Bonds (SIB) model which has mobilised more than £500 million globally in areas such as offender rehabilitation, children and family, homelessness and housing, young people at risk of becoming NEET, mental health and employment, loneliness and social isolation, and domestic violence.
Conservation finance is the practice of raising and managing capital to support land, water, and resource conservation. Conservation financing options vary by source from public, private, and nonprofit funders; by type from loans, to grants, to tax incentives, to market mechanisms; and by scale ranging from federal to state, national to local.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was an office new to the Obama Administration, created within the White House, to catalyze new and innovative ways of encouraging government to do business differently. Its first director was the economist Sonal Shah. The final director was David Wilkinson.
Blended Value refers to an emerging conceptual framework in which non-profit organizations, businesses, and investments are evaluated based on their ability to generate a blend of financial, social, and environmental value. The term is usually attributed to Jed Emerson, and sometimes used interchangeably with triple bottom line. Blended value propositions are founded on the notion that value cannot be bifurcated, and is inherently made up of more than one measurement of performance. For example, under a blended value proposition, a for-profit business would consider their social and environmental impact on society alongside their financial performance measurement. Within the same context, non-profits would consider their financial efficiency and sustainability in tandem with their social and environmental performance. Blended value suggests the true measure of any organization is in its ability to holistically perform in all 3 areas.
A social impact bond (SIB), also known as pay-for-success financing, pay-for-success bond (US), social benefit bond (Australia), pay-for-benefit bond (Australia), social outcomes contract (UK), social impact partnership (Europe), social impact contract (Europe), or simply a social bond, is a form of outcomes-based contracting. Although there is no single agreed definition of social impact bonds, most definitions understand them as a partnership aimed at improving the social outcomes for a specific group of citizens. The term was originally coined by Geoff Mulgan, chief executive of the Young Foundation. The first SIB was launched by UK-based Social Finance Ltd. in September 2010.
The Grassroots Business Fund is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. It has field offices in Kenya, Peru, and India. Their mission is to build and support high-impact enterprises that provide sustainable economic opportunities to thousands of people at the base of the economic pyramid. These enterprises are grassroots business organizations in developing countries that empower large numbers of the poor as producers of income-generating commodities and products, as consumers of affordable goods and services, and as independent entrepreneurs. GBF actively supports enterprises throughout Latin America, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia.
Better Society Capital Limited (BSC), formerly Big Society Capital, is a social impact investor in the United Kingdom. Its mission is to grow the amount of money invested in tackling social issues and inequalities in the UK. It invests its own capital as well as enabling others to invest for impact too. The capital finances front-line social purpose organizations tackling everything from homelessness to mental health and fuel poverty, enabling them to grow and increase their impact.
The British Asian Trust was founded in 2007 by King Charles III and a group of pre-eminent British Asian business leaders. The Trust works to tackle the widespread poverty and hardship in South Asia to which millions are currently subjected.
Climate finance is an umbrella term for loans, investments, and other forms of financial capital allocation in the area of climate change mitigation, adaptation and/or resiliency.
Payment by results (PbR) is a type of public policy instrument whereby payments are contingent on the independent verification of results. It is being actively promoted by a number of governments for more effective implementation of domestic policy.
Development impact bonds (DIBs) are a performance-based investment instrument intended to finance development programmes in low resource countries, which are built off the model of social impact bond (SIB) model. In general, the model works the same: an investor provides upfront funding to the implementer of a program. An evaluator measures the results of the implementer's program. If these results hit a target set before the implementation period, an outcome payer agrees to provide investors a return on their capital. This ensures that investors are not simply engaging in concessionary lending. The first social impact bond was originated by Social Finance UK in 2010, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, structured to reduce recidivism among inmates from Peterborough Prison.
Blended finance is defined as "the strategic use of development finance and philanthropic funds to mobilize private capital flows to emerging and frontier markets", resulting in positive results for both investors and communities. Blended finance offers the possibility to scale up commercial financing for developing countries and to channel such financing toward investments with development impact. As such, blended finance is designed to support progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set forth by the United Nations. Meeting the SDGs will require an additional $2.5 trillion in private and public financing per year as of 2017 estimates, and an additional $13.5 trillion to implement the COP21 Paris climate accord. The concept of blended finance can contribute to raising the private financing needed. It was first recognized as a solution to the funding gap in the outcome document of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2015.
Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), formerly Media Development Loan Fund, is a New York-registered non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and mission-driven investment fund that provides low-cost financing to independent news and information businesses in challenging environments, mostly in countries with a history of media oppression. As one of the United States-based groups involved in direct media development, it specializes in impact investing and provides affordable debt, equity and quasi-equity financing to help journalists build sustainable businesses around professional, responsible, quality journalism.
Social entrepreneurship in South Asia involves business activities that have a social benefit, often for people at the bottom of the pyramid. It is an emerging area of entrepreneurship that is supported by both the public sector and the private sector.
