​Even as impact investing has expanded from a niche strategy into a $500 billion global industry in recent years, it is still relatively young. The industry’s continued growth will rely in part on ensuring a consistent and effective method of impact measurement, especially as investors start demanding information about exactly how their dollars are moving the needle on the issues they target. 

But standardizing this piece of the impact investing process is far from simple. From the unique complexity of each initiative to the variety of players proposing solutions, industry alignment has been difficult to achieve—and the high stakes mean development cannot be rushed.

Data has become an integral component of investment decisions, and impact investing is no exception. It’s impossible to know whether an investment is effectively delivering impact without measuring and recording its progress.

This is why investors need reliable, standardized data.

Sophisticated investors use this information to make decisions about specific investments as well as to inform their overall strategy, with the goal of feeling confident that they’re realizing the greatest possible impact with their capital. From a bigger-picture perspective, impact measurement paired with thoughtful reporting builds industry knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. In turn, well-designed reporting illustrates the progress made toward tangible outcomes and helps raise the industry’s profile.

Despite the growing consensus around the need for uniform data, efforts to standardize remain fragmented.

With the Project Output - Impact Measurement Guidelines - our aim is to provide a concise and comprehensive guide for investors and mentors on the various alternatives and frameworks for measuring the impact of their investment and activities.

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Author
Partners @i2 SustainIT

On 19 October 2020 all partners in the Impact Incubator for Nurturing Sustainability - i2 SustainIT project gathered online for the 2nd project meeting which due to Covid-19 had to be organised virtually, hosted by the project partner from Bulgaria: CEED Bulgaria and supported by Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC). The rest of the project partners: EPN Consulting, IDEC, Worldview Impact Foundation and Creative District participated virtually from UK, Greece and Belgium. The project has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for its 2-years' implementation.

Each partner had the chance to talk about the impact investment and sustainability ecosystem in their country whereas many case studies encouraged interesting discussions comparing the ecosystems in a variety of European regions. Furthermore, the main topic discussed was related to the current situation in each country and the risk management and mitigation plan which is of paramount importance to have the flexibility of adapting quickly to any possible challenges arising due to the pandemic.

​The meeting was also focused on discussions about the project management activities led by EPN Consulting; dissemination strategy, financial and administration details. All partners agreed on next steps and the evaluation and quality assurance framework for the project. Another aspect touched during the meeting was about the 3rd meeting supposed to take place in Greece along with the 1st training under the project.

Moreover, CEED Bulgaria which is leading the 1st Intellectual Output of the project - Impact Measurement Guide (IMGuide), presented its structure, tools and each partner's role for supporting its development. Additionally, the project partners had a discussion on the output framework and suggestions for the content of the model and the main concepts, as well as previous and ongoing Erasmus+ projects related to the main topic of i2 SustainIT.

KISMC also opened the floor for discussion on the 2nd Intellectual Output - Design Thinking for Impact Incubation Toolkit (DTi2 Toolkit) and relevant updates to share with the partners. IDEC updated the consortium with progress on the 4th Intellectual Output - Digital Impact Incubator Platform (Di2 Platform).

During each meeting all partners aim to have a proactive catch up on the dissemination activities led by Creative District.

To learn more about the project, check our first blog article for the kick off of i2 SustainIT project: Impact Incubator for Nurturing Sustainability' Virtual Project Kick Off from London [i2 SustainIT].

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Author
Partners @i2 SustainIT

The Impact Incubator for Nurturing Sustainability [i2 SustainIT] project inspires more connectivity in the social and environmental ecosystem through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The project's duration is 2 years, to be completed in the end of September 2021 with an Impact Investment & Sustainability Conference. 

​Although the project has a set end date for its implementation under the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, we are firmly willing to continue contributing to this topic by using i2 SustainIT as an already established network and community to create social value and assist finding solutions to the world’s problem our society faces.

The i2 SustainIT is a continuation of another project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme. The project is BASET – Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training with the overall objective to foster social entrepreneurship in Europe through elaborating, testing and providing a set of learning and training instruments to a large group of social entrepreneurship trainers/educators.

​The rationale behind continuing BASET is the realisation that such a project focused on social entrepreneurship aiming to provide a higher-scale of impact, will need a more sustainable approach and additional set of instruments to assist educators and investors; in the i2 SustainIT project – mentors and investors. i2 SustainIT focuses on the fact that all target groups need to better communicate with each other and express their needs accordingly, and also that impact investment and sustainability are under-explored topics with significant added value to tackling social and environmental challenges.

In the next section you can read more information about the project's objectives, methodology, results, impact and learn more about the partners involved in this exciting project which will contribute to the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Europe and beyond.
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The overall goal of the project is to maximise the understanding and transfer of knowledge on impact, impact investment and sustainability to tackle societal and environmental challenges.

Project objectives:

1. Create a set of innovative educational tools for mentors and investors to enhance theirs skills and know-how to better support social entrepreneurs in their impact journeys in the incubation phase;
2. Establish an immersive digital incubator platform, with an open access of the knowledge base of the developed tools for impact investors and mentors, while connecting them with the social entrepreneurs and their early stage projects.

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Overall, the outcome of the project is a set of tools and resources embracing the impact investment and sustainability ecosystems supporting mentors by training them in the design thinking approach to integrate in their assistance and investors to responsibly invest in social entrepreneurs for maximising social impact.

Moreover, the project will provide the basis of mentors, investors and social entrepreneurs to have a virtual space – incubator, connecting all three groups and providing a platform for support as well as for investors to search for a pipeline of projects creating social impact.

The project will produce 4 outputs:

• O1 – Impact Measurement Guidelines (IMGuide);
• O2 – Design Thinking for Impact Incubation Toolkit (DTi2 Toolkit);
• O3 – Impact Investment & Sustainability Handbook (i2 Sustain Handbook);
• O4 – Digital Impact Incubator Platform (Di2 Platform).

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he project consortium comprises of 6 partners from 4 countries:

• EPN Consulting - UK
  SME dedicated to Sustainable Transport, Smart Mobility in Smart Cities and European Projects.
• Worldview Impact Foundation - UK
  Non-profit international organisation with a mission to making an impact at the grassroots to create positive changes.
  
• Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) – Bulgaria
  NGO focusing on developing competences for adults in innovation management, creativity and entrepreneurship.
• CEED – Bulgaria
  Experienced business support organisation in the entrepreneurship development in Bulgaria.
• IDEC – Greece
  Consultancy with an accredited lifelong learning center in Greece and organizing in-service training courses for teachers and trainers, informal learning and vocational training.
• Creative District – Belgium
  ​Brussels-based organisation supporting initiatives in the creative and cultural industries for societal impact through providing innovation spaces for guidance and support to entrepreneurs.

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Since the project is strongly focused on impact and sustainability, it provides direct positive impact in those dimensions through the primary target groups of mentors and investors nurturing the secondary target group - social entrepreneurs and increasing the investments in social impact, which in the long-term will tackle the challenges we face in the 3 dimensions.

Therefore, all the resources created during the project duration will eventually contribute to economic growth, reducing the negative impact on the environment and will foster the development of people, communities and cultures to achieve reasonable quality of life, healthcare and education across the globe. The digital platform that will be created will allow the development of such projects contributing not only to the life of the project after its end but will ensure durability of the project beyond by resolving important for the world issues.​