The Aggregate Confusion Project at MIT has done a great job of analysing why there is a tremendous divergence between different sources of impact data (sustainability data). They conclude that the biggest contributing fa…
Three long-term economic trends all point towards zero: 1- official interest rates (5,000 years); 2- dividends from stock markets as a proportion of total returns (70 years); and 3- economic growth rates (2,000 years). W…
Dear friends and colleagues, We have launched our new website for 2016 ...
A landmark study released today via the Government's open data portal reveals for the first time historic performance of UK social investment activity. The total financial performance (comparing all capital draw down…
Money, finance and capital markets are social constructs that have ostensibly evolved for societal purpose. Yet paradoxically finance and enterprises that intentionally target social returns need to be prefixed with the …
Below are the slides of the keynote address that I gave at the 9th Annual Social Responsibility Forum , IE Business School (Madrid, Spain). If the presentation does not load, you can find the original here .
Impact investment is blossoming. What started as a fad for idealists is gradually becoming a mainstream concept often discussed by fund management hotshots and company executives. The concept itself is certainly appealin…
Great article by my co-founder Rupert Evenett explaining why we're passionate about creating EngagedX. Normative Capital - On Social Investment, Finance for Social Purpose and the Role of the City Data unlocks capita…
Because one always wants to remember the first time - below is a transcript of my first live TV interview. I was asked to explain social enterprise, social investment and EngagedX in 2 minutes...
I don’t mean the type of adulterous scooter socialism enjoyed by French President Francois Hollande – I mean an agile and nimble State that is deftly able to do more with less. Kinky like an inflection point in a trend l…
Discussing the opportunities and challenges of bringing together finance and social investment. Social investment is still a small market segment but has tremendous potential. There are more investors who are looking for…
The extent of debate (and often disagreement) about the definition of social impact investment is fascinating - exploring in great depth the nuances and prerequisite principles for investing in a way that seeks both posi…
The Commission on Banking Standards is appointed by both Houses of Parliament to consider and report on: professional standards and culture of the UK banking sector, taking account of regulatory and competition investiga…
Press release: 11 December 2012, London (reblogged here 12 Dec) Engaged Investment has launched a pilot to test the creation of the world’s first investment index for the growing emerging market of social investment (‘im…
Tomorrow (5 Dec) in Brussels I will be presenting my views on the impact measurement discourse at a conference on "Measuring the Social Impact of Social Enterprises". My approach will be to explore how to frame…
Capitalism – in its current form – has let us down. We have seen this truism manifest itself globally, from the disruptive protests of the “Occupy” movements to mainstream debates such as Capitalism in Crisis , the in-de…
I recently went to Washington to learn about the new global impact economy being advocated by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and specifically to find out whether it is aligned with social business and social inve…
Is the social usefulness of financial instruments misunderstood in a similar way to how, in the darkness, **the aspiring animal musicians _ in the folktale **_ Town Musicians of Bremen are mistaken for being a witch? Fin…
Call it a new kind of capitalism. You make goods to sell to a mass market but your aim isn’t profit. Enterprises are run by workers and customers and surpluses are ploughed back to achieve social goals. Capitalism? Not a…
Commissioned by E!Sharp as part of the series "How to spend the EU budget" and published 9 January 2012, orginal article here . Photo: Spiegel online. Lauri Wylie’s 1963 comedy sketch “Dinner for One” has becom…
Published 1 December 2011, www.alliancemagazine.org , orginal article here . Fiscal consolidation within the European Union means that a stronger social economy is required to deliver where the state can no longer. More …
Commissioned by E!Sharp, Brussels based Journal - 23 Oct 2011 Fiscal consolidation within the European Union means that a stronger social economy is required to underpin the creation of socio-economic prosperity where th…
This part of the Manifesto describes how the ideas presented in Part 1 and Part 2 can be implemented through undertaking integrated development projects for the creation of self-sufficient communities - the approach has …
The world is not ending but the world of finance is changing. Nouriel Roubini, the economist who earned his moniker “Dr Doom” for predicting the financial crisis of 2008, asks “Is capitalism doomed?” in an article by the…
Article for the ResPublica Fringe Magazine 2011 "Essays and Articles from selected political party conference partners" (download magazine here , article on pg 17). 2011, Jointly written for ResPublica by: Fili…
Thursday 6th October 2011 UK at watershed moment for social impact investing with potential to be global leader Social impact investment has the potential to evolve from being an emerging market to a very large, mature i…
The underlying reasons for this apparent feral behaviour are complex and individual motivations will vary, but there are some underlying psychological themes which may help us understand why the rioting was so contagious…
The Taskforce for a European social investment bank/ fund/ facility will be launched in Krakow, September 2011 (organised in cooperation with the Euclid Network (of European civil society professionals))
Social investing (equivalent to impact investing) encompasses such an increasingly broad range of financial activities and products, that some of it may be considered investment banking for the social sector. Examples in…
Published 21 April 2011, www.alliancemagazine.org , orginal article here . J P Morgan’s seminal report Impact Investments: An emerging asset class , published in November 2010, is the watershed proclamation that impact i…
Featuring Charles Darwin, Ayrton Senna, Strawberry Fields, Steven Hawking, Shaka (King of the Zulus), Steve Wozniak and Karl Marx. There is a healthy dose of blue-sky thinking in this article. I have included some provoc…
Originally prepared for Euclid Network, see here . This short paper is intended as an introduction to the broad spectrum of Social Investment Funds, with the purpose of stimulating debate about the characteristics and va…
The publication of JP Morgan’s seminal report “ Impact Investments: An emerging asset class ” (29 Nov 2010) is the watershed proclamation that Impact Investment is going mainstream. In the wake of the 2007/8 financial cr…
"If the state has to rescue the financial system – the heart and soul of the capitalist economy – the game has to change", pronounced Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, on the fina…
If Cameron's “Big Society” is a call to arms and modern capitalism the front-line in rebalancing social and financial agendas; then we are still mobilising ourselves no better than eager freedom fighters. Quixotic ve…
Goal: To reduce social deprivation, inequality and the risk of conflict through the creation of self-sufficient communities. Mission: To undertake renewal of the physical, social and economic fabric of deprived neighbour…