Social investment and impact investing

'Cuddly capitalism' needs a clear way of assessing if it's doing good. At NPC we have long argued that to attract more capital towards solving the world's most pressing social and environmental issues, investors need more transparency around returns; both financial and impact.

More than a quarter of the assets run by US fund managers are deemed as ‘sustainable’. How is 'sustainable' defined and who is keeping an eye on the credentials and the impact practice of these funds?

Plum Lomax, NPC's Principal for Impact Investing introduces our work with the Connect Fund and their efforts to build the social investment market in England.

U2's Bono and a private equity firm seem like an unlikely pair to solve the question of impact measurement. Nevertheless, they are having a go. What pitfalls do they need to avoid?

A few weeks ago there was a lot of champagne popping about the world’s first Social Impact Bond as the results of its evaluation were released. But we should be cautious about leaping to conclusions, Dan Corry warns.

There is much to be excited about with the progress of the impact investment market. But there are still challenges to surmount. Tris Lumley talks through the who the what and the how of overcoming these barriers.

The recent report by the Commission on the Donor Experience has been received by both applause, and a thread of concern. In many ways, the report is a valuable resource for the sector, but it fails to adequately address the fundamental principle of fundraising.

Children in care and care leavers are some of the most vulnerable young people in society, with their outcomes still incredibly bleak in comparison to their peers. In recent research we outlined the type of work funders can support in order to help improve looked-after childrens' life chances. Here Rosanna Thomasoo gives an overview of what we found.

The House of Lord’s Select Committee on Charities' Stronger charities for a stronger society report recently proclaimed: 'the government’s focus on [Social Impact Bonds] has been disproportionate to their potential impact.' Here Steve Goldberg explains why he disagrees.

Terms like 'start-up' and 'social enterprise' sound like brand new approaches to pervasive social issues. But, as he explains below, James Noble has found that the model is not quite as new as we might think. And like the social enterprises of old, modern ventures need a solid approach to understanding and improving the success of their work. Read about an 'olde worlde' approach to social impact, and our guide for today's start-ups.

Last week, in the first of two blogs, Dan Corry looked at the way SIBs have emerged as a popular new idea in social policy. Here he goes into a bit more detail about the pros and cons of using them.