OXFAM DISCUSSION PAPERS APRIL 2017

IMPACT INVESTING:
WHO ARE WE
SERVING?
A case of mismatch between supply and demand

Dadeldhura farmers show their produce, Nepal. Photo: Jisu Mok/Oxfam

This report from Oxfam and Sumerian Partners questions some of the
assumptions around impact investment and highlights the experience of
enterprises contributing to poverty reduction so that they might be better
served by the field. It argues that the sector risks being discredited due to
rising, unrealistic expectations about financial returns.

Discussion Papers
This discussion paper has been written to contribute to public debate and to invite
feedback on development and humanitarian policy issues. It is a work in progress
document based on research and does not necessarily reflect Oxfam and Sumerian
Partners policy positions. The views and recommendations expressed are those of the
author and not necessarily those of Oxfam and Sumerian Partners.
For more information, or to comment on this paper, email [email protected] or
[email protected]

www.oxfam.org
Abstract

Most articles written about impact investing reflect the experience of investors (or,
1
supply of capital side) allocating capital to achieve blended social and financial returns.
The views, experiences, and needs of the downstream enterprises (demand for capital
side) working with or otherwise benefiting people living in poverty are not broadly
represented in the literature. As such, the field is evolving with a one-sided view of what
is possible, resting heavily on investor needs, not enterprise realities. The
mainstreaming narrative seeks to promote and validate the prospect of competitive
financial returns with full impact. The enterprises we have worked with have great
potential to contribute to poverty reduction but are unlikely to deliver returns of this
magnitude. There are multiple perils connected to this trend but most important, from
our perspective, is the effect of compromising impact investings contribution to poverty
alleviation. Our objective in writing this report is to question some of the assumptions
embedded in the prevailing literature and to elevate the experience of enterprises
contributing to poverty reduction so that they might be better served by the field. We do
so with a concern that the sector risks being discredited due to rising, unrealistic
expectations about financial returns.

Oxfam has for many decades been interested in enterprise development and fostering
an ecosystem that supports enterprises. As a co-founder of now commercially thriving
social enterprises such as Caf Direct and market-based models such as Fairtrade,
Oxfam has tried to leverage the potential of entrepreneurs and markets to bring
economic opportunities to communities around the world. Oxfam continues to challenge
itself and others to adopt the most effective market-based approaches while retaining a
focus on the people that those interested in social enterprise and impact investing hope
to benefit. Today, Oxfam has several programs that focus on poverty-reducing
enterprises that engage traditionally marginalized populations through investment and
investment-like approaches. These programs include a focus on access to finance but
recognize the need to structure finance differently so that it realizes the full potential of
those enterprises to make a sustainable contribution to poverty reduction. This paper
challenges everyone involved in impact investing, including Oxfam itself, to ensure that
impact investing remains primarily focused on achieving impact.

The founders of Sumerian Partners all have long histories of supporting start-up and
growing businesses in both developed countries and emerging economies. This
includes experience as entrepreneurs, as well as acting as asset managers and
deploying philanthropic capital. Chris West was the former director of Shell Foundation,
a charity that has a long track record of catalyzing and scaling-up social enterprises in
ways that are both impactful and financially viable. Sumerian Partners advises and
manages philanthropic capital on behalf of families, foundations, and asset managers to
maximize their impact.

2 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
CONTENTS

Summary .................................................................................................. 4

1Impact investing has both promise and power ...................................... 7

2 Financial return targets do not reflect enterprise performance .............. 9

3 Fund structures are not designed to meet the needs of most

enterprises.............................................................................................. 11

4 The need for user-centered products supported by smart subsidy and

patient capital ......................................................................................... 12

5 Lack of robust data is compounded by sales hype .............................. 14

6 Intentionality to Achieve Impact is getting sidelined ............................ 16

7 Conclusion........................................................................................... 20

Notes................................................................................................... 21

Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
3
SUMMARY
For decades, there was one financial tool for use in combating poverty: a 100 percent
2
loss-making grant made typically to non-profit organizations. Starting with innovations
such as microfinance and, in the US, program-related investments, the field has evolved
to encompass new capital vehicles and innovative business models. The non-profit and
for-profit binary condition has also evolved to reveal a much more heterogeneous
universe of actors and instruments actively engaged in combating poverty. The financial
instruments supporting this movement away from a grants-based approach broadly fall
under the term of impact investing. However, in the quest to attract capital, we feel that
the field has lost its focus on the primacy of the mission. The predominant focus in the
literature is on financial return expectations, in particular the quest to prove that market
3
rate returns are achievable in impact investing. However, most enterprises making
meaningful contributions to poverty alleviation lack the ability to deliver commercial
rates of return. The field has evolved to meet the needs of the investors, and insufficient
attention has been paid to the realities and needs of the enterprises themselves. There
is a real risk of mission drift as fundspressured by the lack of deals that can deliver
high returns and full impact in a limited time framesacrifice intentionality, which is
essential to impact investment.

It is time to flip the narrative. Lets not ask, How does this enterprise fit into my
portfolio? and instead ask, What kind of skills, support and funding does this enterprise
need to be successful, and am I in a position to provide it? (Andrea Armeni, Transform
Finance). More robust data and increased transparency could help create a more
4

realistic understanding of the limitations and capabilities of the field.

Financial return targets do not reflect enterprise performance

From our experience, most enterprises in the Global South that have a real impact on
people living in poverty can generate average net income in the low single digits. These
enterprises carry not only the risks faced by all emerging market companies of
economic and political instability, infrastructure challenges and commodity price shocks,
but must also face the added challenge of adapting and refining business models to
engage people living in poverty, who typically have previously either lacked access to
the product or service being offered or have had it provided for free. By contrast, most
impact investors target double-digit net returns. The Global Impact Investing Network
(GIIN) reported that 84 percent of respondents were targeting risk-adjusted market rate
5
returns or close to market rate returns. For a fund manager to generate a net 10
percent to 15 percent US$ portfolio return, then assuming typical costs and losses, they
must seek individual transaction returns of 20 percent to 25 percent or more. We know
few impactful enterprises capable of achieving this.

Fund structures are not designed to meet the needs of most

enterprises

Most enterprises making a meaningful difference for people living in poverty take 7 to 10
years to come close to financial break-even, as they constantly need to adapt their
6
products, services and business processes to meet their impact and revenue goals.
Even once these enterprises mature, they remain fragile and susceptible to internal
changes (e.g., loss of key staff), as well as external shocks (e.g., weather-related for
those in climate-sensitive zones). These enterprises, therefore, want and need patient
(i.e., greater than 10-year) capital with return expectations reflective of the costs and
7
risks they face in achieving positive social change. By contrast, most impact investors
8
have adopted 10-year closed-end funds modelled on private equity. Irrespective of the

4 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
financial return targets, these fund structures do not match the low and slow financial
growth characteristics of most impactful enterprises. The scarcity of reported positive
cash exits realized to date by impact investors reinforces our view that there is a
mismatch between financial structure and market performance.

The need for user-centered products supported by smart subsidy

and patient capital

Enterprises that contribute to poverty alleviation are often making a slow ascent from
grant funding to more sustainable forms of capital. For these enterprises, smart
9
subsidy and patient capital approaches are often more financially efficient options to
traditional grants, at a minimum, and can create bridges across the valley of death
(illustrated in Figure 1) to other forms of investment. Impact investors report this same
problem as a lack of investment-ready pipeline. Notable examples of enterprises that
have achieved significant impact and scale (such as d.light and MKopa) have typically
benefitted from millions of dollars of such support over many years prior to securing
and often alongsideinvestment capital. This mirrors the development of microfinance
and mobile money. At the moment, most enterprises are offered a binary choice
between grant funding that seeks impact with no financial return, or commercial
investments that seek a net return on capital. We urgently need to progress to more
patient capital models that seek to maximize impact while accepting varying levels of
return of capital. Without such support we suspect most promising social enterprises will
fail to meet their impact potential or become financially viable.

Lack of robust data is compounded by sales hype

Given the blended return objectives of impact investing, we are disappointed by the
disproportionate focus on proving the case around financial returns. In contrast, there is
limited reporting of impact achieved. Transparent reporting of impact provides the basis
for learning about how enterprise-led solutions can help combat poverty, and to ensure
that successful approaches can be replicated. Most publications have instead focused
on assessing financial returns associated with impact investing. Arguably the most
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comprehensive of these is the report by Cambridge Associates and the GIIN which
states that market rate returns are attainable in impact investing. However, this same
report included no commentary on the associated impacts achieved, relied significantly
on the performance of funds focused on the theme of financial inclusion (which, at least
for microfinance, has depended on decades of subsidies), and draws its conclusion
from a small pool of funds that were targeting market rate returns. Yet, reports such as
this play an important role in influencing the views of investors and serves to reinforce a
common narrative that is amplified and echoed in the press and in secondary research.
It is critical that reports are more balanced and representative of the breadth of
experience and the existence of tensions between impact and returns. Failing to do so
will result in cheerleading that raises unrealistic expectations and harms the field more
broadly.

Intentionality to achieve impact is getting sidelined

Key to impact investing is the intention to generate a measurable, socially or

environmentally beneficial impact that contributes to poverty reduction while generating
a financial return. While many businesses generate positive social impacts, these are
typically a consequence of decisions taken primarily on financial grounds, and do not
therefore fulfil the intentionality requirements that would classify them as impact
investment. In the struggle to find investment-ready impactful enterprises, funds are re-
branding investments as impact investing, when previously they would have been
considered mainstream investmentsalbeit ones with strong environmental, social and
Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
5
governance (ESG) performance. Instead, the field should get better at identifying
mechanisms at enterprise level that can lock in the prioritization of social impact and
funds should demonstrate clear intentionality and employ business processes, (e.g.,
defining impact strategies, setting impact targets akin to financial hurdle rates,
measuring and analyzing the data) that put impact at the center of their work.

Impact investment arose out of a desire by investors to preserve capital while making
positive impact. In doing so, it was able to reach enterprises and have impacts that
financial markets were not able to serve. Newer entrants are instead chasing higher
returns while hoping to preserve impact. This paper argues that this risks discrediting
the sector through generating unrealistic expectations about financial returns from
impact investments. This may lead both to capital being drawn away from (or not
attracted to) vital investments that deliver low or zero returns, and also to the wider
perception of failure of the sector if expectations of high returns and high impact are not
met.

Recommendations

Oxfam and Sumerian Partners propose six recommendations to resolve the challenges
highlighted in this paper:
1. A shift of approach in the market is needed; from one wherein we tailor funds around
the needs of investors to instead developing products that serve the needs of
enterprises seeking to combat poverty. Specifically, a wider adoption of alternative
fund structures is neededsuch as permanent capital vehicles and evergreen
fundsand new financial tools that reflect the predominantly low and slow-returns
of most enterprises prioritizing social impact;
2. Greater transparency is needed around reporting both the impact and financial
returns (gross and net) achieved by impact investors;
3. Donors and philanthropists need to deploy smart subsidy and patient capital (return
of capital) to support enterprises capable of making a meaningful contribution to
poverty reduction, and to support hybrid financing models alongside impact investors
seeking a net return on capital;
4. More independent research is needed to understand the enterprise-level experience
and analyze which structures, approaches, and incentives best assist enterprises to
maintain an intentionality to optimize impact;
5. We call on impact investors to agree to a voluntary code of practice that enshrines
the intentionality to behave and take decisions in ways that have a primary focus on
achieving impact;
6. Impact investors should adopt incentives for optimizing, measuring, and reporting
impact as well as achieving financial return targets.

6 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
1 IMPACT INVESTING HAS BOTH PROMISE
AND POWER
Alongside investment that seeks a return on capital, we need more smart subsidy and
patient capital that seeks to maximize impact, but will accept a return of capital. This is
precisely where donors and philanthropists are ideally and uniquely positioned to deliver
the power of impact investing as they can support promising early stage, impact-driven
enterprises with a diversity of impact-first financial instruments (such as program-
related investments, repayable/convertible grants, guarantees, soft loans), either
alongside or as a bridge to finance first investors.

A well-documented barrier for most small enterprises in developing countries is what

has been deemed the valley of death or the missing middle (illustrated in Figure 1).
Small enterprises are often too big for microfinance and informal sources of finance, but
11
too small or risky for commercial banks and private equity investors. Impact investors
have a critical role to play in the expansion stage before the enterprise can reasonably
take on commercial finance.

Figure1: Growth stages of enterprises, from start-up to sustainable growth

One might ask why grant funds are necessary in impact investing if, as various
12
publications argue, impact and profit are inherently aligned. The extent to which profit
and impact are complementary or in tension is fundamentally different for different
individual enterprises and markets. It is our view that they are more often in tension than
not. Furthermore, the realities of the investment market and the extent to which capital
allocation, prestige, and attention are skewed to the largest and most profitable
segments of the impact investment market, leaving behind many promising enterprises.

There have been some attempts at providing a sophisticated segmentation of the

impact investment spectrum. Omidyar Network, in particular, takes up this challenge in
Across the Returns Continuum, providing a more subtle and holistic understanding of
13
the space. However, to understand the spectrum fully, more research is needed to

Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
7
fully explore the relationship between financial return and impact, and far more
transparency and detail are needed when it comes to financial data.

Figure 2: The Returns Continuum Framework

Source: Omidyar Network (2017).

Impact investing is in danger of failing to play the role that is needed from it. The
following five sections of this paper set out concerns that pose major threats to its
ongoing effectiveness.

Impact investing and public aid

Oxfam is engaged in an active debate about how to minimize social risks and
14
maximize social impact associated with private development finance. This debate
is linked to the impact investing space, as bilateral and multilateral aid donors
engage directly in impact investing as donors and as investors. Bringing impact
investors together with aid practitioners in conversation about the risks and
opportunities around private funding of development goals would benefit both
communities. The following areas are ripe for consideration, and Oxfam will be
publishing a paper on public aid and private sector in 2017:
Linking impact investment to sustainable development objectives (including the
SDGs);
Application of aid effectiveness principles (e.g., transparency, local ownership);
Application of human rights due diligence and remedy mechanisms as
articulated by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; and
Demonstrating additionality of impact investment (both financial and
developmental, ex ante and ex post).

8 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
2 FINANCIAL RETURN TARGETS DO NOT
REFLECT ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE
Those of us actively allocating capital to fragile enterprises in developing markets
recognize that those people who promise comfortable market-rate returns while
solving global poverty are the equivalent of diet gurus promising that one can lose
weight while eating limitless amounts of chocolate cake. (Greg Neichin and
15
Diane Isenberg, in Next Billion

The GIIN has reported that impact assets under management grew to US$35.5bn in
2015 from $25.4bn in 2013 with more than 80 percent of this capital seeking market rate
16
or close to market rate returns. Oxfam and Sumerian reviewed evidence on whether
impact investments in both the UK and emerging economies were achieving these
goals, with a primary focus on emerging economies.

Evidence from the UK

17
Social investment, while arguably distinct from impact investing, is aligned with impact
investing in terms of its overall goals (e.g., catalyzing finance to enable positive social
change). The independent research and data analysis available in the social investment
field provides useful insights. The 2015 study by EngagedX is the first systematic
analysis of a robust data set on financial returns to a specific subset of the social
investment market in the UK: those investments prioritizing providing capital to social
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purpose organizations rather than optimizing financial returns. The study found
annualized total returns equating to -0.77 percent and some funds targeting untested
approaches incurred much greater losses. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) research on
the UKs Futurebuilder Funds, which provided loan financing and grants to third-sector
organizations in England, shows similar results. Futurebuilder invested 145m in loans
and grants into in 369 organizations. The 20 percent of loans either paid down or written
19
off resulted in a negative internal rate of return of -3 percent.

It would be a mistake to see these outcomes as disappointing. Instead, in terms of

financial sustainability, this is a huge improvement over the provision of grant capital.
Given the pioneering nature of the fund, the fact that it was targeting organizations that
were unused to accepting loan finance and that the period included a major financial
20
shock, this performance is unarguably more positive than might otherwise be expected.

Evidence from emerging economies

In analyzing financial performance of emerging market impact investing funds, data and
research gaps make it very difficult to tell a coherent story. We found that the field lacks
comparable, detailed, and accurate data on financial performance at the fund level or
indeed on the enterprise level. An analysis of a report detailing the return potential of
the space, prepared for the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, illustrates some of the
measurement challenges. Funds in the studys sample appear to have achieved an
acceptable level of financial performance. The evidence for this finding is provided
through a survey of existing investment vehicles, such as Regmifa, which reported
median return on equity of 8.4 percent, Grassroots Business Fund (GBF), which
recorded a current yield of 7.2 percent in 2014, and FMO government funds, which
were characterized as achieving generally good financial results. However, these
results deserve more examination.

Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
9
 Regmifa is a microfinance fund. The fact that a fund in this highly developed and
sector that has already achieved scale is able to deliver strong returns should not be
ignored, but it is also not strongly comparable to funds and enterprises profiled in
this paper.
GBFs reported 7.2 percent yield is a calculation of annual income (interest +
dividends + fees) over the net value of the investment portfolio. This metric is helpful,
but it does not include costs, nor does it recognize that 20 percent of GBF is funded
by grants. It is impossible to make strong statements about the availability risk-
adjusted returns unless the data enables comparison of net returns at the portfolio
level.
The statement on FMO government funds provides no data to back up the
performance assertions at all.

Meanwhile, reports of performance at the enterprise level reflect outcomes that could
not easily support commercial-rate returns. For example, the 2012 Monitor Group report
From Blueprint to Scale, states that Acumen Fund reported that its portfolio companies
had an average profit after-tax of minus 20 percent. Its eight most profitable investee
21
companies had an average profit of just 6 percent. The Lemelson Foundation report
Catalyzing Capital for Invention: Spotlight on India states that Indias impact-capital
providers commonly cite financial return targets of around 20 percent, which fall within
the range of commercial rate returns. Businesses developing products for poor
populations are likely to follow more modest growth and profitability trajectories because
the products and services are targeted at low- and very low-income consumers, and the
22
objective is to build scalable business models on low-margin financial parameters.

Take the example of cooperative Kawa Maber, located in northeastern Democratic

Republic of Congo, where infrastructure, whether in the form of Internet or functioning
23
roads, ranges from poor to nonexistent. Extortion is a constant challenge, and the
threat of ethnic and political violence or a catastrophic weather event is ever-present.
The business does not even have a formal address. Despite these challenges, Root
Capital underwrote a loan to Kawa Maber. Where formerly these farmers were forced to
sell their coffee at cut-rate prices to middlemen in the region, as a cooperative with ties
to European buyers farmers now benefit from bargaining power that comes with selling
at scale. An investment in Kawa Maber could not be supported by a fund targeting
market-rate returns. Yet, Kawa Maber is revenue generating and creates abundant
impact. Without the creativity of Root Capital and the investors and donors that support
it, Kawa Maber would likely fall into the valley of death.

There is a major disconnect. As one emerging market impact investment fund manager,
who is achieving 6 percent net IRR told us: A lot of people are coming in saying, I want
full impact and full return, and want it in 7 years! In that case, I tell them to go and show
me anyone who is doing that, as it doesnt exist. But that is their expectation. Recent
24
high-profile announcements feed this perception, such as TPGs Rise Fund. The
limited information available suggests that the fund will follow a well-worn path into such
sectors as healthcare and clean energy in the US and financial services, housing, or
telecoms in emerging economiestapping into already proven, profitable, and scalable
sectors that benefit from the rising spending power of the expanding middle classes.
This is rather different than attempting to provide capital in hard-to-reach markets to
serve the poorest people and support pioneering new products, services, or business
models. There is a risk that overly ambitious return expectations will distort the
enterprises themselves as investors pressure enterprises to increase financial returns at
the expense of people living in poverty.

10 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
Root Capital is one of very few fund managers to state loudly and in public that financial
returns and social impact are sometimes in tension:

What we can categorically say, based on 15 years of experience, data from our
loan portfolio and the approaches weve developed for measuring impact, is that
there is a tradeoff between financial return and some types of impact in our
25
work. (Willy Foote, CEO of Root Capital)

3 FUND STRUCTURES ARE NOT DESIGNED

TO MEET THE NEEDS OF MOST
ENTERPRISES
[F]or those with the flexibility and fiduciary responsibility to pursue direct impact
in truly marginalized and underserved regions and communities, its necessary to
grapple with the reality that these contexts often require concessionary rates of
return, an appetite for a range of risks (geopolitical, currency, security, etc.), as
well as a need for creative structures and patient timelines.
26
(Greg Neichin and Diane Isenberg, in Next Billion )

Our experience leads us to conclude that most impactful enterprises want and need
patient (greater than 10-year) capital with return expectations reflective of the additional
costs and risks they face in their quest to generate meaningful positive social returns.
For example, in 2007 Shell Foundation launched a long-term partnership that led to the
formation of Envirofit, a global clean cook stoves business. Shell Foundations multi-
year investment allowed Envirofit the time to mature, going through a complete
restructuring from a business-to-consumer, to a business-to-business model, and
growing to the point that Envirofit has sold over a million stoves across 40 countries.
Envirofit attracted external capital in 2013 after six years of Shell Foundation grant
funding. The quote from the Mulago Foundations Kevin Starr writing in the Stanford
27
Social Innovation Review (SSIR) puts our experience into context perfectly: A
businessman in Africa told me that Coca-Cola lost money there for 12 years. In
other words, it required over a decade for one of the most competent companies It is important to
on Earth to break even on the sale of a mildly addictive sugary drink that is respond to demand
absurdly cheap to make. Imagine what it takes when youre focused on impact.
from large investors
for socially
And yet, most impact investments are based on a 10-year, closed-end fund
responsible and
model. One solution to this problem is for the development of more creative
impactful
longer-term structures (e.g., over 15 years), like evergreen funds and permanent
investment
capital vehicles. Bridges Ventures, a UK-based impact investment fund, in
products and funds.
announcing its new evergreen fund, illustrated the importance of new fund
But one of the key
structures. In most funds announced for social ventures to date, fund
functions of impact
managers need to exit their investment to get their money back (plus any
investors is to find
additional proceeds). Bridges says it chose this new structure because mission-
impactful
led ventures often have long-term social goals, so they need access to long-
28 enterprises that are
term capital and support .
not ready or suited
Of course, funds can only provide financing that is aligned to enterprise needs if to commercial
asset owners and other capital providers are willing to provide the money. The investment and to
most damaging impact of excessive focus on market-rate returns for impact match them with
investments may be the setting of unrealistic expectations among large asset both philanthropic
owners. Market forces dictate that the sector (in the absence of countervailing and/or investment
measures) will tailor its offerings to meet the needs of the largest providers of capital so they can
capital. This is already in evidence. It is important to respond to demand from still reach their
large investors for socially responsible and impactful investment products and potential.

Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
11
funds. But one of the key functions of impact investors is to find impactful enterprises
that are not ready or suited to commercial investment and to match them with both
philanthropic and investment capital so they can still reach their potential.

4 THE NEED FOR USER-CENTERED

PRODUCTS SUPPORTED BY SMART
SUBSIDY AND PATIENT CAPITAL
If a company is building a water distribution system in Kenya or local food hub in
North Carolina, why would they be funded using the same investment terms that
were used to fund Snapchat, Instagram or Uber? When was the last time you
saw an artisan sourcing project IPO or get acquired by Google? (Aner Ben-Ami,
29
Transform Finance Blog)

Enterprises prioritizing social impact operate differently from conventional businesses Enterprises
and, as such, they need financial partners that will behave differently from conventional prioritizing
financial service providers. Adapting financing to the user experience of the enterprise social impact
operate
will be critical if this new cadre of businesses is to thrive. This was the perspective
differently from
taken by Oxfam in its Enterprise Development Programme (EDP). EDP offers conventional
enterprises a flexible mix of tools, including loans, repayable grants, subsidy and businesses and
training support to strengthen early-stage rural agricultural enterprises that fall in the as such they
missing middle gap between microfinance and commercial lending. For development need financial
projects focusing on small and medium sized business development, EDP signifies an partners that
important break from the traditional grants-only model. By participating in EDP, will behave
enterprises have the opportunity to improve their skills in financial management and differently from
conventional
administration and, when ready, pivot towards more sustainable funding. EDP loans
financial service
are usually conferred through local financial institutions with a partial guarantee from providers.
Oxfam, which enables the supported enterprises to develop a credit history with the
bank so that eventually they can seek a loan independent of Oxfams support.

Similarly, Root Capital adapts its product offerings to the needs and capabilities of its
client base. Rural agricultural enterprises often lack physical collateral required by most
commercial banks in the emerging markets. As such, Root Capital practices cash flow-
based lending against purchase orders and orients repayments around harvest or
production cycles. Oxfams Women in Small Enterprise Fund in Guatemala provides a
50 percent guarantee on loans issued by its cooperative bank partner to women-run
small businesses. The guarantee increases the eligibility of women borrowers, who
have access to significantly fewer assets for collateral than their male counterparts.
These product innovations demonstrate a user-centric approach wherein the financing
solution is tailored around the clients needs.

These three models start with a diagnosis of the challenge faced by rural agricultural
and women-run enterprises and adapt their product offerings accordingly. All three are
funded through a mix of investment or repayable grants and subsidies. Although they
represent a departure from traditional aid, initiatives such as these are often dismissed
as falling outside the scope of real impact investing. If you believe the goal of impact
investing is to achieve market rate returns, these initiatives are outside the scope.
However, if the goal of impact investing is to create more sustainable finance that is fit-
for-purpose for traditionally marginalized enterpriseswhile providing those enterprises
with much needed support to grow and recouping some or all of your coststhese
initiatives are arguably outperforming standard benchmarks.

The growth of impact investing will depend on subsidies and patient capital that focuses
on fostering impact-driven enterprises. Root Capitals loan officer in DRC and Uganda,
Richard Tugume, describes its cross-subsidy model in a recent article in SSIR. Each

12 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
year, I try to make five or six big loans to large, well-established businesses. These
loans provide revenue to Root Capital, and the businesses meet our social and
environmental criteria: They purchase crops from local farmers and often provide
services like agronomic training and farm inputs. Then, in the rest of my portfolio, I
make much smaller loans to earlier-stage businesses that have a harder time getting
30
loans but show potential for growth. Root Capitals loans will generate a positive but
below-market return, largely so that they can also fund more marginalized cooperatives
that dont have access to funding and may well produce negative financial return and
require a subsidy. Despite the added cost of underwriting and supporting cooperatives
in high-risk locations, Root Capital justifies the support from an impact perspective,
given the clear societal benefits of a cooperatives that only provided safe and reliable
market access for its farmer members but provide many ancillary benefits as well (e.g.,
clean water and electricity). Root Capitals own revenue is further supported by
philanthropic capital, which ensures a capital structure that is at once sustainable and
protected from the inevitable risks implicit in lending in markets subject to considerable
uncertainty.

Root Capital employs a rigorous analysis to justify this allocation of subsidy. Root The need for patient
Capital uses an impact/return hurdle rate to evaluate, for prospective loans that are capital is well
not expected to be profitable, whether the loans expected impact justifies its documented. Shell
expected cost. At the portfolio level, Root Capital has created a new approach to Foundation stated it
calculate the efficient impact frontier for impact investmentsthat is, the set of takes 6 to 10 years
optimal loan portfolios that offer the greatest total impact for any given level of and between $5m to
aggregate risk-adjusted financial return. This supports decisions to construct a $20m for pioneering
portfolio of investments that are all efficient across different areas of the spectrum of social enterprises to
31
social impact and financial return (or subsidy) and allows its donors and investors achieve impact and
to distinguish between merely poor financial performance from intentional lower net positive
financial performance when combined with the intentional creation of social cashflow. To put this
32
impact. into perspective for
two social
The need for patient capital is well documented. Shell Foundation stated it takes six enterprises that are
to 10 years and between $5 million to $20 million for pioneering social enterprises to frequently referred to
33,
achieve impact and net positive cash flow. To put this into perspective for two as success stories,
social enterprises that are frequently referred to as success stories, both d.light and both d.light and
MKopa each received more than $8 million in smart subsidy from Shell Foundation MKopa each
prior to, and in parallel with, these impactful enterprises securing debt and equity received over $8m in
34,
investment. Similarly, patient capital can allow smaller enterprises to thrive over smart subsidy from
the longer term. The ability to stay committed to the enterprise over the long term, Shell Foundation
through the tough times, is the key to patient capital. Alongside investment that prior to and in
seeks a return on capital, we need more smart subsidy and patient capital that parallel with these
seeks to maximize impact but will accept a return of capital. This is precisely where impactful enterprises
donors and philanthropists have a key role to play as they can support promising, securing debt and
impact-driven enterprises with a diversity of user-centric, impact-first financial equity investment
products.

Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
13
5 LACK OF ROBUST DATA IS COMPOUNDED
BY SALES HYPE
Impact Investing inches from niche to mainstream, reads the headline of an
upbeat Economist article to mark the start of 2017. The Economist joins a long list
of publications and institutions announcing that impact investing has arrived. And,
of course, if impact investing is going mainstream its because there are more
and more proof points showing that you can do well by doing good. The waters
fine and anyone can join in without fear of giving up financial returns. (Aner Ben-
Ami, Candide Group Blog)
35

There is a mismatch in expectations between what investors want and what most
impact-led enterprises can deliver, caused in part by lack of robust data and objective
analysis. Most research on the field to date has focused on assessing the level of
financial return associated with impact investing with little exploration of the impact side
of the equation. Arguably the most comprehensive of these reports is Introducing the
36
Impact Investment Benchmark by Cambridge Associates and GIIN. This report states
that, In aggregate, impact investment funds launched between 1998 and 2004those
that are largely realizedhave outperformed funds in a comparative universe of
conventional private investment funds and draws the conclusion that market rate
returns are attainable in impact investing. This conclusion is drawn despite the fact that
the report included no data or commentary on the associated impacts achieved.
Instead, the report uses a self-reported intention to generate social impact as the only
impact-related inclusion criteria for inclusion in the benchmark. Impact measurement is
challenging and aggregating data across a variety of strategies and geographies would
be complex, however, [t]he message coming from the benchmark as it is currently
37
stands is that good intentions are enough, while good returns are great.

The assertion about return potential in the Cambridge Associates and GIIN report was
drawn from an analysis of only 51 funds, all of which targeted net 15 percent or greater
financial returns. The study samples weighting towards the financial inclusion sector
was said to reflect the historically strong appetite for microfinance funds among impact
investors. Microfinance is an established asset class that benefitted from an estimated Reports such
38
US$20 billion in subsidy and patient capital from multiple donors over 20 years. This as this play an
long history of subsidization underpins much of the positive financial returns now being important role in
achieved. Furthermore, almost 70 percent of the fund data included in the benchmark influencing the
are based on unrealized returns (36 funds out of 51 are from Vintage year 2005 to views of
2010). An unrealized gain is a profit that exists on paper, resulting from an investment. investors and
It is a profitable position that has yet to be sold in return for cash. Based on experience serve to
in the venture capital market, valuations of unrealized investments very often are reinforce a
39
inflated. In essence, the reports findings, drawn from a small pool of funds that common
targeted market-rate returnsmost of which are based on unrealized gains and none narrative that is
of which demonstrated proof of impacthas now established a benchmark that market amplified and
rate returns are possible in impact investing. Reports such as this play an important echoed in the
role in influencing the views of investors and serve to reinforce a common narrative press and in
that is amplified and echoed in the press and in secondary research. They shift the secondary
goal posts for the field as a whole. The previously cited report commissioned by the research. They
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs report surveying impact investing and innovative shift the goal
finance for sustainable development includes a dedicated section on financial returns posts for the
that cites the Cambridge Associates and GIIN Report as follows.
40 field as a whole.

14 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
 [A] study on the financial performance of impact investment funds by GIIN and
Cambridge Associates established that impact investment funds have
outperformed funds in a comparative universe of conventional, private investment
funds. The results also show that emerging market impact investment funds have
returned 9.1 percent to investors (9.7 percent for those focused on Africa) versus
41
4.8 percent for developed market impact investment funds.

It would be unfair to say definitively that these interpretations of the GIIIN and
Cambridge Associates report are incorrect. Yet, in summarizing the research findings,
this study by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs omits vital caveats, such as the fact
that the only funds examined were market-rate return seeking or that the report carried
no analysis of impact performance. Reports such as theses amplify the GIIN and
Cambridge Associates reports headline conclusion that market-rate returns are
attainable in impact investing when, in reality, it would be more realistic to say that the
data do not rule out the possibility of market-rate returns among a particular sub-set of
impact investments (which are most attractive to market return-seeking investors).

The GIIN 2016 Annual Investor Survey reported that the one of the biggest challenges The issue is less
to the growth of the field was a lack of high-quality investment opportunities (fund or about a lack of
direct) with track record. In our view, the issue is less about a lack of deal flow and deal flow and
more likely a function of unrealistic expectations encouraged by the lure of full impact more likely a
and full return. As noted by respondents in the DFID Impact Programmes Survey of function of
the Impact Investing Market 2014 report, if pressure on financial returns were to be unrealistic
reduced, a wider selection of potential businessesincluding early stage firmsshould expectations
42
be available for investment. encouraged by
the lure of full
There are clear opportunities for new research that could better inform expectations of impact and full
both financial performance and impact. For example, our review of available research return
finds that the following information is not commonly accessible:
Net returns at fund portfolio level. This is vital to understand performance once all
costs have been factored in, if possible, including grant funding for technical
assistance or cross-subsidizing from donors or investors who forgo their share of
profits.
Research focusing on impact funds and enterprises targeting below-market
returns. Research and analytics organizations are focused quite narrowly on the
segment targeting market returns. This research would help support and grow the
investor base seeking blended returns and capital preservation. DFIDs Impact
43
Programmes Survey of the impact investment markets 2014 makes a strong start
in surfacing the merits of lower return strategies, which tend to disproportionately
support businesses that are innovative, early stage, and reach people living in
44
poverty. Omidyars Returns Continuum Framework provides a tool for
understanding different return strategies and highlights the strength of those lower
financial return opportunities that deliver high levels of market impact.
Comparable financial and impact data. Very few organizations have datasets that
include detailed information on both financial performance and impact performance,
sufficient, for example, to compare financial performance against impact approach,
enterprise type, etc. This is partly due to the difficulty of standardizing impact metrics
and the cost of collecting data. However, organizations such as Root Capital have
45
demonstrated that it can be done.
Research exploring the tension between financial performance and impact
performance. In a related point, research examining the relationship between
financial and impact performance in an aggregate sense has the potential to help
clarify the areas where investors with different approaches and objectives might
want to focus their capital and effort. The only systematic examination of the
relationship between financial performance and social performance found in our
Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
15
 review of the research comes from a team of academics in Brazil (Lazzarini, et al,
46
2014). They construct an analytical framework of different types of impact
investments according to whether financial and social goals are naturally aligned as
complements, or when seeking greater profits might undermine social performance
and so they are substitutes. The authors go on to distinguish finance-first, balanced,
and impact-first investorsnot only on the tension or complementarity of financial
and social returns, but also on the time horizon for profits, and the need to use
47
innovative financing approaches.
User experience. There is little research exploring the demand side of the financing
equation; more understanding of enterprise financial needs would improve outcomes
for the field.

Researchers, analysts, and funds are producing innovative and interesting work based
on the data that is available. But a pattern has emerged in industry-oriented publications
of presenting findings and conclusions with a level of certainty and generalization that is
not justified by the data. This enthusiasm risks harming both the reputation of impact
investment and the effective development of a sector that is still very much in its
infancy. It is especially marked in reports covering the broad landscape of impact
investing and those aimed at reaching mainstream audiences.

Jess Daggers and Alex Nicholls at SBS (Oxford) published in 2016 an analysis of trend
48
and opportunities in social impact investment research. They found a nascent field of
research in which there was considerable interest and potential, but currently no
substantial core of ideas, theory, or data. The limited number of academic contributions
until now is described as scattered and disparate, and these are clearly not sufficient to
balance the assessments from organizations with a direct interest in the investment
sector.

6 INTENTIONALITY TO ACHIEVE IMPACT IS

GETTING SIDELINED
Not all businesses that have an impact should be classified as impact investments.
The mobile phone, for example, has had a positive impact on the lives of billions of
people. But investments in Nokia and Samsung products are not impact
investments. The clean tech and biotech products (such as Tesla and biotech
companies fighting tuberculosis) arent either. Otherwise, theoretically any
49
legitimate business could claim it was an impact company. (Kim Tan, SSIR)

Every enterprise has the potential to create a positive impact, yet those funded by
impact investing should be uniquely impact-driven. The GIINs definition of impact
investing refers to investments made into companies, organizations and funds with the
intention to generate a measurable, socially or environmentally beneficial
50
impact alongside a financial return. Intentionality is the critical point, and for Oxfam
and Sumerian, this is predominantly about tackling poverty. While socially responsible
investing is to be encouraged, we would not categorize efforts to do no harm or to
apply an impact filter to existing investments as equivalent to impact investments that
prioritize positive impact. Impact investing fills a unique role in the market, channelling
investors and targeting enterprises that carry the intention to generate positive impact.
This impact is not merely incidental for the investor and the entrepreneur, but is the
primary driver.

There appears to be a growing tendency to re-brand a broad range of emerging market

investing as impact investing, which dilutes and obscures the intentionality to achieve
impact as well as financial returns. This tendency is likely tied to the drive to attract
51
mainstream investors, particularly institutional investors. We believe, as others have

16 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
observed, that this can lead to mission drift as those investors require strong There appears to
52
financial returns and larger deal sizes. be a growing
tendency to re-
Kim Tan and Brian Griffiths take up the re-branding issue in their 2016 book, Social brand a broad
Impact Investing: New Agenda in Fighting Poverty. They argue that not every range of emerging
business that has an impact is an impact investment, as the intention to do good market investing as
does not drive the business. They give such examples as mobile phone companies impact investing,
or infrastructure companies whose products have benefitted the lives of billions of which dilutes and
people but are not impact investments. They do not produce products primarily obscures the
intended for the use or benefit of poor communities, even if they do eventually reach intentionality to
some people living in poverty. Nor are their operations primarily located close to, or achieve impact as
within, poor communities to serve or employ those people. well as financial
returns. This
Another example is TPGs investment in Apollo Tower, a cell phone tower company tendency is likely
in Myanmar that, according to supporters, developed impact because cellphone tied to the drive to
access was significantly increased and helped to increase transparency in a country attract mainstream
known for tight control of its information, helping the nation take steps toward investors,
53
democracy. It should not be assumed that an investment in a cell tower, or a wind particularly
farm, or any other enterprise in the Global South is inherently socially positive. institutional
Rather, it should be incumbent upon the fund to demonstrate how these enterprises investors . We
are intentionally structured to optimize impact and benefit poor and marginalized believe, as others
groups, rather than only providing implied, incidental or indirect benefits. They have observed, that
should be able to show what difference the funds provision of capital and support this can lead to
and engagement has made. Any self-identifying impact investor should be able to mission drift as
demonstrate a clear intentionality to achieve impact. those investors
require strong
As illustrated in the figure below from Bridges Ventures and Skopos Impact Fund
financial returns
publication, More than Measurement: A Practitioners Journey to Impact
54 and larger deal
Management, an impact investment process should include: establishing goals for
sizes.
the positive change the fund seeks to enable; identifying indicators to measure that
the changing is taking place; identifying impact strategies; setting impact targets (akin to
financial hurdle rates);; measuring and analyzing the data; and making sure that the
findings are integrated into the investment process going forward.

Figure 3: The Impact Management Approach

Source: Bridges Ventures and Skopos Impact Fund (2016)

Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
17
Impact investors should also commit to business process adaptations. These include:
ensuring that an assessment of potential impact is core to all investment decision-
making; supporting investee partners efforts to maximize impact, ideally co-developing
impact indicators; enabling an open dialogue with investee partners, especially in
managing situations where impact and profit may be at odds; and ensuring that any
exits are managed in ways that avoid unintended or adverse impact. As noted by Kevin
55
Starr in SSIR, impact investors distinguish themselves through three steps:
1. Commit to impact. You make a commitment to put impact first in your funding
calculus and hold yourself accountable to it.
2. Learn what that means. You do what it takes to get a working understanding of what
impact is and how to measure it.
3. Fund for impact. You actually put in place mechanisms and a methodology to ensure
that impact drives your decisions.

We are not nave in assuming that this is easy. Gathering good impact information and
managing against it can be a challenge for both funds as well as downstream
enterprises. The Oxfams Small Enterprise Impact Investing Fund (SEIIF), launched in
2012 to finance small enterprises seeking to reduce poverty in developing and emerging
economies, originally selected an extensive set of indicators that investees would be
required to collect and report as a condition of investment. In SEIIFs case, investees
are financial intermediaries who themselves need to collect this data from enterprises to
which they lend money. As SEIIFs 2012-2014 impact report notes, Since inception,
there has been tension between SEIIFs desire to collect data that demonstrates impact,
and the delays this causes with respect to investment deal negotiations and closings, as
well as the diversion of the SEIFFs scarce resources to set up systems for measuring
impact. Most investee companies saw impact reporting as a cost rather than a strategic
enabler. Investee companies didnt have technical or human resources to meet their
measurement requirements and the data sometimes suffered. This tension caused
SEIFF to redesign its impact measurement process. This involved conversations with
investees to identify the most meaningful, easy-to-collect and internally relevant
indicators for investees. SEIIFs experience shows the importance of committing to
impact measurement despite challenges and highlights the need to strike a balance
between a robust impact methodology and an achievable standard for investees.

At the enterprise level, intentionality is also critical. There has been an insufficient
examination of the underlying business models and firm characteristics that best drive
impact. For all firms, commercial decisionssuch as prices charged to consumers,
wages paid to workers, prices paid to farmers and making investments that create
jobsmust all be weighed against diverse commercial and social objectives. Such
decisions to increase impact can be constrained by pressures to pay interest or
dividends to investors.

Financing enterprises that prioritize positive social impacts at key moments (while
retaining commercial viability) is at the heart of the intentionality of impact investing.
Take Furaha, the Root Capital funded coffee cooperative in eastern DRC, which not
only provides farmers with a route to a safe and reliable market but also access to clean
56
water and electricity. If Furaha was a profit maximizing firm, it could choose to forfeit
these investments in its farmer members to instead distribute returns to its investors.
Enterprises such as Furaha that give greater power to stakeholders such as workers,
farmers, consumers, and communities are intentional about prioritizing positive social
impact.

One focus for intentional impact would be an enterprises commitment to the

empowerment of women. Research shows the clear outsized impact of investing in
57
women, often called the gender dividend, resulting in positive increases in per capita
GNP as measures of gender equality increase. Research shows that women reinvest

18 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
 58
90 percent of their income into their families, compared to only 30 percent to 40
percent for men. Enterprises that commit to womens empowerment goals as part of
their business strategy should be prioritized by impact investors, as they will accelerate
their poverty alleviation. As put by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Gender
equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of
59
reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.
This is why organizations such as Oxfam and Root Capital have made such a dedicated
effort to supporting enterprises that include women in a meaningful way.

There is a range of enterprise structures available for impact investors to support (both
60
ownership and governance models, as well as legal forms). Yet, further research is
required as to which structures, approaches, and incentives are most effective in
ensuring enterprises maintain an intentionality to optimize impact.

Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
19
7 CONCLUSION
This paper does not make a pejorative value judgment. It tries to reflect an abiding
sense that the reality of investing in hard-to-reach enterprises primarily for the purposes
of fostering local poverty reduction and development seems to have very little to do with
the appearance of the sector we see represented in the majority of industry reports
assessing the impact investment sector as a whole. Many of the people who originally
established the ideas underpinning impact investment and venture philanthropy
expected a space where capital could be preserved while making impact, rather than
one in which returns are made while preserving impact. Many of these stakeholders
believe that there are substantial sectors where getting back 95 percent of capital while
generating a clear positive impact represents excellent performance.

It is this feeling which drives a concern in some quarters that there is a real risk of the
sector becoming discredited. The risk is not driven by poor management or
performance, as such. It is driven by a trend of rising and in many eyes unrealistic
expectations about financial returns from impact investments. This may lead both to
capital being drawn away from (or not attracted to) vital investments that deliver low or
zero returns, and also to the wider perception of failure of the sector if the availability of
more data (as funds and enterprises mature) shows success rates and financial returns
far below those that are being promised and now expected.

As discussed above, there is a strong case for differentiating far more clearly and
carefully between the objectives and characteristics both of investee enterprises
(demand side), and investors (supply side). We must look in the mirror and ask
ourselves honestly, Who are we serving? This should involve an honest assessment of
the degree to which each player is looking to prioritize the generation of social returns
and is willing and even expecting to make lower risk-adjusted returns in order to do so.
This concession may not always be necessary, but it will certainly be necessary at
some times. This should systematically be addressed.

Michael Etzel, a manager at Bridgespan Group, echoes this sentiment in a recent article
for the SSIR:
The time is right for philanthropists to become more active impact investors.
Whereas, private investors may focus on finding businesses that can provide
market-rate returns, philanthropy would do well to build its capacity to invest in
the many sustainable enterprises that may never achieve outsized financial
61
results but are capable of achieving some returns and significant social impact.
The way forward for impact investing can be bright. It has the potential to adapt to meet
the needs of impact-driven enterprises around the world. As articulated in the summary,
weve identified six ways this can be achieved: (1) place an increased focus on the
enterprise, versus the investor; (2) exhibit greater transparency around financial return
as well as impact; (3) deploy smart subsidy and patient capital (particularly from public
bodies and development finance institutions); (4) research best structures and
approaches to maintain enterprise intentionality; (5) establish a voluntary code of
practice to embrace good practices that make impact central to operations; and (6)
implement incentives to maximize, measure, and report impact. We encourage a focus
on all six from across the impact investment sector. The purpose of our report is not to
undermine the objectives of impact investing. But unless we start to understand the
nature and capabilities of enterprises targeted by impact investors, and become more
transparent about assessing actual performance to date, we are concerned that a
mismatch will emerge between the hype and the actual results. It would be a tragedy if
impact investors missed the opportunity to have a meaningful impact on people living in
poverty simply because they were only focused on one side of the story.

20 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
NOTES
1 A recent review by the Said Business School, The Landscape of Social Impact Investment
Research, revealed that 80 percent of the existing literature on social investment was
published by practitioners in the space, with 88 percent of reports aimed at investors
specifically and with much of it with a stated objective of growing the market.
2 This statement leaves aside the tax benefits that accrue to donors to non-profit organizations
in some jurisdictions.
3 See such articles as New Study: Impact Investors Don't Have To Sacrifice Financial Returns,
Forbes, June 26, 2015.
4 Andrea Armeni, personal communication, February 13, 2017
5 GIIN and Cambridge Associates, Introducing the Benchmark, June 2015
6 Enterprise Solutions to Scale, Shell Foundation, 2010
7 Patient capital has been defined as equity or debt whose providers aim to capture benefits
specific to long-term investments and who maintain their investment even in the face of
adverse short-term conditions for the firm. See Richard Deeg, Iain Hardie; What is patient
capital and who supplies it? Socioecon Rev 2016; 14 (4): 627-645. doi: 10.1093/ser/mww025.
8 According to the ImpactBase database, 65 percent of funds are listed as Private equity/
Venture Capital, and experience leads us to expect they follow the 10 year + 1 + 1 time
horizon.
9 For examples of effective use of smart subsidy, see Michael McCrelass, Towards an Efficient
Impact Frontier, SSIR, Winter 2017
10 Introducing the Impact Investing Benchmark, Cambridge Associates & GIIN, 2015
11 https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/programs/entrepreneurial-finance-lab-research-
initiative/the-missing-middle
12 See, for example, Impact Investing The Performance Realities, by Anna Snider, Merrill
Lynch, 2015.
13 Matt Bannick, Paula Goldman, Michael Kubzansky and Yasemin Saltuk, Across the Returns
Continuum, SSIR, Winter 2017
14 See https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/delivering-sustainable-development-principled-
approach-public-private-finance
15 Greg Neichin and Diane Isenberg, Sorry, Feel Good Investors: Deep Impact Requires
Concessions, NextBillion, January 19, 2017, http://nextbillion.net/sorry-feel-good-investors-
deep-impact-requires-concessions/
16 The 2016 GIIN survey
17 According to Big Society Capital, social investment is defined as Social impact investment is
the provision of finance to organizations addressing social needs with the explicit expectation
of a measurable social, as well as financial, return.
18 The Social Investment Market through a Data Lens, EngagedX, 2015.
19
http://www.sibgroup.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/Management%20and%20Performance%20o
f%20the%20Futurebuilders-England%20Fund.pdf
20 Ibid.
21 From Blueprint to Scale: the Case for Philanthropy in Impact Investing, Monitor Group, 2012
22 http://www.lemelson.org/sites/default/files/documents/CatalyzingCapitalforInvention.pdf
23 Drawn from https://blog.rootcapital.org/back-roads-to-boardrooms/northeast-congo-underdog-
steps-into-the-ring
24 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/business/dealbook/tpg-social-impact-fund.html?_r=0
25 Maximising Impact At a Cost, by Willy Foote, http://blog.rootcapital.org/back-roads-to-
boardrooms/maximizing-impact-at-a-cost .
26 http://nextbillion.net/sorry-feel-good-investors-deep-impact-requires-concessions/
27 K. Starr (2012) The Trouble with Impact Investing, SSIR.
28 Pioneers Post, Evergreen investment now available from Bridges Ventures, Dec 6, 2016
29 http://transformfinance.org/blog/2015/7/26/square-peg-round-hole-innovating-finance-for-
social-enterprises
30 https://ssir.org/articles/entry/toward_the_efficient_impact_frontier
31 Nilima Achwal, May 2016, The Dangerous Promise of Impact Investing,conversation with
Felix Oldenburg, published online in NextBillion.
32 Social Investment Research Council and EngagedX,
_The_Social_Investment_Market_Through_a_Data_Lens, June 2015

Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
21
33 Shell Foundation, Reg Charity No. 1080999, Accelerating Access to Energy, 2014
34 Ibid.
35 http://www.pi-investments.com/blog/2017/1/24/winning-the-battles-losing-the-war
36 Introducing the Impact Investing Benchmark, Cambridge Associates & GIIN, 2015
37 B. Struewer and R. Tews Counterpoint: Market-Rate Funds Should be Benchmarked to
Impact, Too
Impact Alpha, October 26, 2015
38 From Blueprint to Scale: the Case for Philanthropy in Impact Investing, Monitor Group, 2012
39 See EW Kaufman Foundations 2012 report, We have met the enemy and he is us, Lessons
from Twenty Years of the Kauffman Foundations Investments in Venture Capital Funds and
The Triumph of Hope over Experience
40 Denmark MOFA (E.T. Jackson & Associates and Social Impact Markets) (January 2016),
Better Knowledge, Stronger Impact: Lessons from Impact Investing and Innovative Finance
for Sustainable Development.
41 Denmark MOFA, 2016, page 40.
42 The Impact Program, Survey of the Impact Investment Market 2014
43 https://thegiin.org/knowledge/publication/survey-of-the-impact-investment-markets-2014
44 https://ssir.org/articles/entry/across_the_returns_continuum
45 A notable exception can be found in Root Capitals Toward the Efficient Impact Frontier
published in SSIRs Winter 2017 edition
46 The Best of Both Worlds? Impact Investors and Their Role in the Financial versus Social
Performance Debate, University of St. Gallen, Law & Economics Working Paper No. 2015-06,
38 Pages, last revised: 18 Aug 2015, by Sergio Lazzarini, Sandro Cabral, Luciana Carvalho
de Mesquita Ferreira, Leandro Simoes Pongeluppe, and Angelica Rotondaro, August 2014.
47 Ibid.
48 Jess Daggers and Alex Nicholls (March 2016), The Landscape of Social Impact Investment
Research: Trends and Opportunities, SBS, Oxford.
49 Kim Tan, Impact Investing: Time for New Terminology? SSIR, Oct 1, 2014
50 https://thegiin.org/impact-investing
51 Financial Times, Impact investing goes mainstream, May 28, 2014
52 Survey of the Impact Investment Markets 2014
53 D. Bank (2016) Billionaires Ball: Deconstructing TPGs $2 billion RISE Fund, Impact Alpha,
December 21, 2016
54 http://bridgesventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Bridges-Skopos-More-than-
Measurement-screen-view.pdf
55 https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_pink_hats_were_awesome._now_lets_deliver
56 M. McCreless (2016) Toward the Efficient Impact Frontier, SSIR, December 2016
57 World Economic Forum reports that across 134 countries, greater gender equality correlates
positively with per capita gross national product; cited in The Gender Dividend: A Business
Case for Gender Equality. See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-
library/publications/2011/12/the-gender-dividend-a-business-case-for-gender-
equality#sthash.wIvYgUd4.dpuf
58 Nike Foundation (2009) , The Girl Effect: Not Just about Girls: Engaging Men and Boys is Key
to Girls Ability to Achieve their Full Potential
59 IMF, Catalyst for Change: Empowering women and Tackling Income Inequality October 2015
60 http://www.enterprise-development.org/wp-content/uploads/Does-business-structure-
influence-social-impact-OxfamDCED-Briefing-Note.pdf
61 https://ssir.org/articles/entry/philanthropys_new_frontierimpact_investing

22 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand
23
 Oxfam International April 2017

About the authors

This discussion paper was written by Mara Bolis (Oxfam), Chris West (Sumerian Partners),
Erinch Sahan (Oxfam), Robert Nash (consultant), and Isabelle Irani (Sumerian Partners) and is
a joint initiative of Oxfam and Sumerian Partners.

Chris West was the former Director of Shell Foundation (www.shellfoundation.org), an independent
charity that has a track record of catalyzing and scaling up social enterprises and sharing lessons learned
(Reference: SF reports Enterprise Solutions to Scale, 2010 and Accelerating Access to Energy, 2014)

This publication is copyright but the text may be used free of charge for the purposes of advocacy,
campaigning, education, and research, provided that the source is acknowledged in full. The copyright
holder requests that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in
any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, permission
must be secured and a fee may be charged. Email [email protected].

The information in this publication is correct at the time of going to press.

Published by Oxfam GB for Oxfam International and Sumerian Partners under ISBN 978-0-85598-945-3
in April 2017.
Oxfam GB, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK.

Citation: M. Bolis, C. West, E. Sahan, R. Nash and I. Irani (2017). Impact Investing: Who are we serving?
A case of mismatch between supply and demand. Oxfam and Sumerian Partners. DOI:
10.21201/2017.9453

OXFAM
Oxfam is an international confederation of 20 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries,
as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. Please write to
any of the agencies for further information, or visit www.oxfam.org.

Sumerian Partners
Sumerian Partners advises and manages philanthropic capital on behalf of families, foundations,
corporates and asset managers. www.sumerianpartners.com

24 Impact Investing: Who are we serving? A case of mismatch between supply and demand