"This research note asserts that impact investment, which is intended to create positive social or environmental impact beyond financial return, constitutes a new asset class. The report also includes the first large-scale data analysis of return expectations from more than 1,000 impact investments and compares them to established benchmarks for emerging and developed market debt and equity returns. We hope this report helps to advance a broader understanding of impact investing as an appropriate and economically effective way to complement government and philanthropy in solving the world's greatest problems at scale."

"Unitus Seed Fund has published a guide that has combined the methodology and approach the organization applied to designing to an impact measurement framework and consists of templates by sector for multiple types of businesses that can be downloaded for use."

"The following document presents five case studies to demonstrate how a diverse group of organizations have developed sound impact measurement practices, including how the seven guidelines are being applied in the organization, as well as the organization’s impact measurement practices, the contextual factors that shaped their impact measurement approach, how they involved key stakeholders along the way, and key “impact measurement lessons.” These case studies – which are highly diverse in nature – aim to help investors and investees translate the seven guidelines for impact measurement into an impact measurement approach that is right for them."

"This handbook provides investors, businesses and private sector development practitioners with an overview of tools and methods for effective and appropriately tailored data collection for impact measurement and management. It builds on the recognition that the methods of larger, independent impact evaluations of, for example, government-funded programmes rarely lend themselves well to a private sector context. In reviewing select private sector-relevant tools and methods, it draws out how such tools can deliver impact insights while often feeding valuable business intelligence back into companies."

"This guide aims to educate social enterprises, incubators, accelerators, capacity developers, and investors on impact investing. It includes relevant laws and potential structures to access impact investing funds and can be used as a resource when entering investment negotiations. This guide unpacks the underlying causes behind less-than-efficient impact investment markets and was written with two goals. First, by setting out basic guidelines, we wish to help those already in the investing space and interested in getting involved in impact investing determine the right approach from the investors' and the social entrepreneurs' perspectives. Secondly, we wish to offer practical advice based on our experience, where we have witnessed critical impact investment discussions. In this paper, we will attempt to bridge the gap between theory and real-world implications, particularly in the Indian context."

"Impact Investing: A Framework for Policy Design and Analysis represents a framework for thinking about the role government policy can play in creating an enabling environment for impact investing. The report answers the question, "How can policymakers, investors, and civil society better develop and analyze impact investing policies?"

This report presents three tools in order to lay the groundwork for future research: a model for locating the role of government in impact investing markets; a set of criteria that offer a practical starting point for the design and evaluation of policy; and sixteen case studies that provide detailed insight into a range of policies around the world."

"Impact assessment is a key component of managing an impact investment portfolio, and many investors today are building methodologies that bring value
beyond simply reporting outcomes.

For many investors, the impact goal is the common thread across a portfolio of various sector, geography and instrument types and this diversification can make choosing an impact assessment methodology challenging. As such, the process for developing a methodology is often an iterative one, refined with experience and data over time.

To help inform that iterative process, this research presents sixty-eight case studies from twenty-one leading impact investors that share best practice and
debated viewpoints on impact assessment along the investment process."

"Impact due diligence creates value for a broad range of stakeholders across the impact investing ecosystem, including impact investors, investees and the field at large. Key benefits include fostering internal alignment around intended impacts and priorities, deepening understanding of investees’ activities, supporting the construction of more positively impactful portfolios, improving investor and investees’ ability to communicate impact, strengthening relationships between investees and investors, and increasing firms’ ability to attract additional capital. In combination, the benefits of widespread adoption of impact due diligence should attract additional capital to the field and thereby foster the formation of more inclusive and sustainable financial markets."Impact Due Diligence: Emerging Best Practices" is the first of two reports intended to elevate the practice of impact due diligence."

"The following case study offers a micro-level analysis of a social impact company in East Africa and their approach to measuring social impact. In this policy paper, Public Policy Fellow Jamie Van Leeuwen and Michael Feinberg analyze the case study of Staffable, a social impact company in Kampala, Uganda and their approach to measuring the efficacy of social impact. They provide policy recommendations on how philanthropists, investors, and non-governmental organizations can standardize performance metrics to measure social impact investing, as well as recommend investments in workforce development in order to reduce dependency."

"This report aims to capture characteristics of the impact investing sector in Latin America over the past two years based on a sample of impact investors active in the region. Through institution-level and deal-level data shared by these investors, this report gives a snapshot of where and how capital is being allocated and identifies challenges that the ecosystem faces. The report focuses on the region widely while taking a deeper dive into three of the region's largest markets: Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico."