By Rolfe Larson on March 11, 2014
The Obama Administration’s Social Innovation Fund (SIF) has now been in operation for several years. SIF was created to fund an annual competition to identify innovative nonprofit programs that provide measurable, scalable solutions to community problems.
By Rolfe Larson on November 1, 2013
Social Impact Bonds are finally moving from idea to reality, in a few states. These “pay for results” government contracts are a new form of financing where payment only occurs if the agreed-upon social results are achieved. No results, no money. Financing comes from a private sector financing intermediary, which secures funds from private investors and […]
By Rolfe Larson on August 31, 2013
Jed Emerson is a leader in social capital, with good ideas and clear thinking on this important topic for many social ventures. Here are some highlights from a recent interview:
By Rolfe Larson on July 10, 2013
Impact Investing continues to garner a lot of attention, at Davos, at the Clinton Global Initiative, at the G8 Summit, and at social enterprises big and small. But it’s still having little financial impact. For now, big institutional investors are not participating. Until they do, impact investing will remain small.
By Rolfe Larson on February 23, 2013
While the term “impact investing” (or social capital) has garnered substantial attention in recent years, the more traditional field of microfinance, still by far the largest share of impact investments, gets less attention yet has decades of experience doing social capital. Here are a few of lessons from the micro finance sector worth reviewing as […]
By Rolfe Larson on January 31, 2013
I don’t know about that, but it’s definitely making waves in the social change world. Social capital — and by that we mean investors and lenders who are focused on providing funds not for (or at least not only for) their own profit, but also for the greater social or environmental good — is on […]
By Rolfe Larson on March 7, 2012
When you’re looking for financing, it may seem that anything will do. However, depending on the life cycle stage of your venture, some forms of financing are better than others. You want the right kind of capital for the needs of your business at that point in time.