New York, United States, September 20, 2018
Investing for Impact: Approaches to Measurement, Evaluation and Learning
“Impact investing is a much more complex way to invest as we account for so many more components than financial. We must constantly monitor the progression and re-plan.”
– Larry Lunt, Armonia LLC
Over twenty GPC members, experts, and staff convened for the New York Investing for Impact: Approaches to Measurement, Evaluation and Learning Workshop on September 20th, 2018. This meeting brought together a diverse group of philanthropists, social investors, and experts from the impact investing field with the purpose of education and connection for impact.
Featuring internationally recognized experts as well as GPC member examples and approaches, the workshop provided ample opportunity to learn, share, and connect around the latest knowledge in the field.
Resources
Perspectives from the Field
Speakers: Maryanne Hancock, Rise Labs; Veronica Olazabal, Rockefeller Foundation
Maryanne Hancock, the CEO of Rise Labs, and Veronica Olazabal, Director of measurement, evaluation, and organizational performance at the Rockefeller Foundation, spoke to participants as experts in the impact investing field. Maryanne shared Rise’s commitment to try and underwrite the impact side with as much sophistication as they apply to the financial side. She also addressed the challenges of measurement through qualitative versus quantitative impact. Veronica Olazabal provided an overview of the Rockefeller Foundation’s relationship with M&E and impact investing, leading to a conversation about what to do once you have the data and the importance of adaptive management and investor investee alignment.
“In continuously pushing the envelope, we are testing how data and technology and artificial intelligence and big data can all come together to be able to inform the methodologies that we choose”
– Veronica Olazabal
Perspectives from Peers
Speakers: Larry Lunt, Armonia LLC; Gary Ford, MCE Social Capital
Larry Lunt, GPC Member, Synergos Board member, and founder of Armonia LLC, works to make long-term investments that promote regeneration with a mission to restore harmony. Throughout the session, Larry touched on the measurement and evaluation differences in impact investing work versus traditional investing, and how to navigate investor and investee alignment.
"We are at a transitional moment as we must shift from an industrial civilization (where nature is made to follow the rules of humans) to an ecological civilization (where humans are made to follow the rules of nature). We realize that we are part of nature and we must learn its rules"
– Larry Lunt, Armonia LLC
Gary Ford, GPC Member, Synergos Board member, and the CEO of MCE Social Capital, works to make loans to organizations helping the impoverished around the world and it uses both a guarantor and investor model. During this session, Gary spoke about the impact that he is trying to achieve with measurement and evaluation, and addresses questions regarding how to support citizens of poorer countries in the choices they make to better their lives, and how to go about evaluating whether the goal is being achieved.
“Take ‘I’ out of the equation and provide local people with the tools to solve their own problems.”
– Gary Ford, MCE Social Capital
Group Interactive Exercises
Monitoring and Evaluation World Café
Facilitated by Marieke Spence and Kathryn Uhl, Synergos
During this workshop participants generated ideas, tools, opportunities and challenges relating to measurement and evaluation.
The questions that participants addressed included:
- Imagine you are responsible for designing an impact management and learning strategy. What would be your approach?
- “Establish the impact variable in which you are interested, what are the goals of our investments, determine the qualifications, and track the impact”
- “Invest in people who are already tracking the information in which you want to see”
- “Pay for the tracking – it is worth it”
- How do you use the impact measurements and the data you collect today for decision making?
- “Utilize lean data”
- “Use data at both levels: qualitative and quantitative”
- “Use data that can be both meaningful and operationalized by investees”
- “Understand how data can be used at the investor level to inform decision making”
- How do you align with your existing and potential investees about what impacts matter that most in your portfolio?
- “Create connections and build trust”
- “Start with human connection, and know and trust your partners first”
Gallery Walk
Participants shared some of the biggest challenges currently faced in M&E for learning:
"Complexity. Any focus on a specific measure ignores the whole. We must focus on the whole. We can’t manage complexity, therefore, we must plan, act, monitor, adapt and re-plan as we learn of new realities."
– Larry Lunt, Armonia LLC
“Our greatest challenge in this space is getting others to understand how they can apply impact measurement methodologies to their work, and to see the value in doing so.”
– Howard W. Buffett, Columbia University
“The lack of data. There is a need for partnerships and collaboration to help NGOs and foundations to make better decisions.”
– Masiyiwa Family, Higherlife Foundation