In this episode we talk with Rob Zochowski from the Harvard Business School’s Impact-Weighted Accounts Project and why accounting for impact is important and how you can start accounting for your impact today. The project’s ambition is to create accounting statements that transparently captures external impacts in a way that drives investor and managerial decision making.

In this podcast interview with Terry Gray with Impact Bridges Group, we explore results based financing, private-public partnerships, impact bonds and impact investments. Terry’s work involves impact investments for social enterprises and preparing projects to be investment-ready, including social and development impact bonds. 

The UN and the World Economic Forum have identified blended capital as the means to fill the 2.5 trillion gap to meet the SDGs and yet it is still not well understood. Using capital from public and/or philanthropic sources in a way that increases the private sector investment into sustainable development. It allows organizations with different objectives to invest alongside each other while achieving their individual objectives, whether financial, social, or environmental. In this episode we will be discussing blended finance models, environmental and gender lens investing, and investments in Latin America and the Caribbean. There is a $2.5T capital gap to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals that cannot be addressed solely with development finance, or with just impact funding resources. We all agree it’s critical to mobilize more mainstream pools of capital.Alexa Blain co-Founder and Managing Partner of Deetken Impact You must analyze what the needs are within the different markets you want to deploy capital and design the blended finance structure to address them. Fernando Alvarado CEO of Deetken Impact Sustainable Energy

In this episode, we will be discussing with Stephanie Robertson the social value movement, specifically through the lens of the UK Social Value Act, and how a similar Act could positively impact the Canadian landscape. Stephanie is the CEO and Founder of SiMPACT Strategy Group, the Chair of Social Value Canada, board member for Social Value International, and previously the Chair for SROI Canada. We are not yet valuing social outcomes generally speaking. Let’s enable a person to become employed who has a barrier that needs to be overcome. Yes, the social outcome is employment, but the impact of that change in that person’s life will impact their overall wellbeing. That value (the change) can be expressed in monetary terms.Stephanie Robertson the CEO and Founder of SiMPACT Strategy Group

In this episode we speak with Tim Goodspeed, Social Value Consultant and Training Manager with More Than Outputs and Social Value UK about the use of social value (quantifying impact), and how it can be used for funders, investors, as well as how it must be used for organizations and companies to maximize their performance and impact to end benefactors or stakeholders alike. We will discuss how these objectives can at times be conflicting and how to deliver upon both. Connect with Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-goodspeed-social-value/ See Tim’s upcoming training dates here: https://www.socialvalueuk.org/online-accredited-social-value-and-sroi-practitioner-training/ As soon as you raise value, it begs the question, value to who. Different audiences have different value judgments. Why are they good and who says they are good and good to who? Is this about influencing an external audience to prove we are good, to prove we have done good or is this about good enough data for innovation and improvement and doing more good. You can prove to someone else that you are doing good without having any intention of making changes to your delivery to do more good. Tim Goodspeed of More Than Outputs and Social Value UK

The focus of this episode is on exploring a passion for dental hygiene and a profession turned giving back to the community at home and abroad while tackling the #1 child health issue. We are speaking with the Dental Wellness Trust out of the UK, understanding how it was set up, why it was set up and what big audacious impact goals Linda is aiming to achieve.  As a dentist, I looked at how I could make a bigger impact in the world, beyond my own dental practice for children to attend dental and oral health. It’s the #1 childhood disease. We looked at the bigger issues of poverty, social justice and social need to make a contribution. All journey’s start with one simple step.Linda Greenwall Founder of Dental Wellness Trust

In this episode, we will be exploring the role of private capital investors i.e. private equity and venture capital, in impact investing, and socially responsible investing. There continues to be growing demand by investors for impact options. There is an overwhelming amount of data and research that shows real interest, impact performance and financial returns. While at the same time, managers, advisors and institutions are trying to deploy new products and services to respond to the emerging interest. We will explore today, why it makes sense for private equity firms to take action on delivering ESG and impact investment options. Private capital markets have been largely under the radar (regarding ESG) because they are private. From an ESG perspective, this is very interesting because they represent $5T. Now that the business case for ESG has become more clear, private investors now want to engage in ESG because it’s good business, not because they are being forced.Majid Mirza CEO of ESG Tree

During this episode, David Lepage, Managing Director of Buy Social Canada discusses alternative capital such as social, community, and the happiness index for measuring community health. David outlines for us the shared value creation the procurement process can create when community and public good is at its centre. Every purchase has an economic, environmental and social impact, whether intended or not. Social procurement is about capturing those impacts and seeking to make intentional positive contributions to both the local economy and the overall vibrancy of the community.David lepage of Buy social canada

The Canada Forum for Impact Investment and Development, representing Canada’s impact investors in emerging and frontier markets, developed the first landscape report. In this episode we discuss the findings of that report, ESG investment performance during Covid-19, how impact investors are rebuilding and the need for Canadian impact investment in emerging frontier markets. Link to Report: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a622bddb1ffb68fcbe84dc7/t/5dc2cfe46ad765150b898498/1573048305662/CAFIID+Report+FINAL.pdf  The days where people thought you needed to trade in a financial, for an environmental or social for a return, those days are over.Lindsay Wallace The pandemic has created an urgent need in concessionary capital… also called blended finance. Canada is not playing in this space.. YET we know It encourages more investors to come in. We need to get more capital into impact investments for the federal government to move on blended finance, and to see the big financial institutions and pension funds to focus on impact investing. Canada must also tackle some of the regulatory barriers that prevent retail investors from tapping into impact investing funds too.Susanne Courtney

In Ep 14 we speak with Becca Smith, Senior Manager, Knowledge Management and Translation from Grand Challenges Canada. We talk about the different sectors and impact outcomes Grand Challenges Canada has achieved as an organization. From investments in technology to help newborns in South Africa to mental health support in Zimbabwe. Over 21,000 lives have been saved and over 1.9 million lives have been improved worldwide through GCC Funded Innovation. And based on our impact modelling by the year 2030, we expect that to increase to up to potentially 1.6 million lives saved and up to 35 million lives improved through innovations that we funded.Becca Smith, Senior Manager, Knowledge Management and Translation From Grand Challenges Canada