I would like to extend a formal invitation to you to join the fledgling USA SROI Network that Cynthia Gair of REDF and I organized starting at the tail end of 2010. We have a Google group to exchange ideas, an SROI intern to help capture the discussion and create a web presence, and we’ve been holding monthly discussion calls. The Network is for those using the principles of SROI analysis to measure, manage and communicate the extra-financial value of businesses, nonprofits, and other entities.
Open Letter to OPIC and Cambridge Associates on the Impact Investing Initiative
From OPIC’s press release March 8: “The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, has engaged investment advisor Cambridge Associates to invite input from investors, advisors, entrepreneurs and other interested parties about how best to design a call for proposals to catalyze ‘impact investments’ – projects which deliver significant social and environmental impacts to emerging markets while at the same time generating profits. Read More
The Right Price for Impact
In the world of impact investing, it is understandable that any one investor may be reluctant to pay for impact information, since so few of their peer investors are yet doing so. The playing field needs to be leveled.
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Many of you will recall that there was a time, not long ago, before Wall Street was interested in microfinance. One of the many reasons was that the only way institutional investors can incorporate a given investment into a portfolio is by understanding how risky it is compared with the financial return it offers.
A Big Bang is coming in Korea, but not the kind you might think
I hesitated to tell my parents that I was heading to Seoul on December 5, less than two weeks after North Korea shelled a South Korean island killing two soldiers and two civilians. Pretty much the only geopolitical scenarios any of us had thought or heard about for years when it came to the two Koreas were either increasingly brittle tensions, massive armed conflict, or all-out nuclear holocaust, and right about then the latter two possibilities seemed a little too real. Read More
World’s first PhD in SROI
Hugo Narrillos Roux this week was awarded his PhD in Economics, Universidad Complutense of Madrid, with the work entitled: “SROI: a good method to evaluate the social impact of Social Firms.”
He enclosed an article (in Spanish) about SROI he has just published in the magazine of the Spanish Association of Foundations. The article is on pages 4 & 5.
Congratulations, Hugo!
An Unreasonable Invitation- Please Reply by December 15!
Dear Entrepreneur,
This past year, I had the chance to serve as a mentor for a US-based acceleration program for young entrepreneurs tackling social and environmental problems called the Unreasonable Institute. Because it could be a useful opportunity for you, I’d like to invite you to apply!
The Government, Entrepreneurship and Impact Management, a Series: PART II Thailand
[Pattraporny Yamla-Or continues her reflection on the impacts of the recent political upheaval in Thailand and the surprising potential up-side for social entrepreneurship there.]
Former SVT Client Mobius Tech Recycles Foam into EPA-certified Powder that Can Absorb Oil Spill
I was just searching for photos from companies we’ve worked with that embody what a sustainable, equitable economy will look like, when I went to our old client, www.mobiustechnologies.com, and discovered that the polyurethane powder they made out of recycled foam can help clean up the oil spill!
SVT teams with with Golden Mean and partners in Ghana to pilot on-the-ground impact verification and management systems
We are driving toward radically affordable, high quality impact management systems. The issue is how to add more value to the business than distraction of entrepreneurs’ attention. As we continuously refine the formula for success in this endeavor, we are delighted to be heading to Ghana to pilot a system in collaboration with Golden Mean Capital LLC.
The Government, Entrepreneurship and Impact Management: a Series
How does the form of government in one’s country affect the prospects for social entrepreneurship, and the need for a system to articulate one’s social impact as a business? This question seemed particularly apropos at last week’s Thammasat University Global Social Venture Competition Symposium and Southeast Asia Regional Finals, where tens of thousands of demonstrators paraded on trucks and motorbikes through the streets challenging the Thai government to dissolve parliament. Read More