Volume 63: Reset the Orientation of Impact Measurement
Volume 63: Reset the Orientation of Impact Measurement

For impact measurement to serve its highest purpose, the starting intention should be gathering data that serves to improve impact rather than to prove impact. In the end, the right metrics can do both, but the problem with orienting towards impact metrics that look good on a website, impact report, or update to funders is that it puts the emphasis on proving or supporting the impact thesis. The confirmation bias in that approach limits the ability to learn and improve as it causes triangulation that actually obscures clear impact of outputs to outcomes. The insight that is produced in listening helps develop learned methods instead of data on strengthening varying approaches for impact.

Read More
Dermot MurphyLindsay Smalling, 60 Decibels
Volume 62: ESG and Impact - Why We Need Both for Meaningful Change
Volume 62: ESG and Impact - Why We Need Both for Meaningful Change

At Proof of Impact, we’ve worked with both investors and companies that have a wide range of motivations. In this work, we’ve noticed a growing trend: the widespread use of either “ESG” or “impact” to describe data-driven measurement and operational improvement efforts. However, rarely have organizations used ESG and impact together. This is largely because ESG and impact seem to be two different worlds that exist side by side, with different cultures, languages, and approaches to using data to drive positive change. Only recently have the two worlds met – or rather collided.

Read More
Dermot MurphyEvan Vahouny, Proof of Impact
Volume 60: For Us, By Us: Democratizing Investment and Building Community Power in Boston
Volume 60: For Us, By Us: Democratizing Investment and Building Community Power in Boston

In response to Boston’s notorious racial health and wealth divide, the Boston Ujima Project (“Ujima”) was founded in 2017 as a community-led business and finance ecosystem. We sought to underwrite our people’s strength by directly resourcing what we call our economy builders: our small businesses, artists, and grassroots organizations. People often ask why we chose an ecosystem model, and we always say: a systemic problem requires a systemic solution.

Read More
Dermot MurphyPaige Curtis, Boston Ujima Project
Volume 59: Impact is the Metric

Profitability metrics are simple in financial terms, often measured by the rate of return, cash flow, or risk-adjusted return. On the other hand, solving problems is more difficult to define metrics and measures for. This creates a headwind for the impact investment industry as participants cannot establish consensus for the wide array of definitions for impact investment success.

Read More
Dermot MurphyJason Ray, Zenith Wealth Partners
Volume 57: Investing in People, Then in Places
Volume 57: Investing in People, Then in Places

The Kensington Corridor Trust fosters the equitable economic revitalization of a commercial corridor and its surrounding neighborhood through local partnerships, strategic programming, and an innovative approach to moving real estate assets out of the speculative private market. This pioneering model of neighborhood ownership, governance, and local economic development has the potential to keep control within the neighborhood and ensure long-term affordability.

Read More
Dermot MurphyAdriana Abizadeh, Kensington Corridor Trust
Volume 56: Cultivating the Next Generation of Tech Leaders is a Long Game
Volume 56: Cultivating the Next Generation of Tech Leaders is a Long Game

To combat decades of disinvestment, we must refocus on a long-term systemic approach to increase equity in tech and venture capital. Often, people will quickly default to a pipeline problem, lack of social capital, or insufficient funding as sources of inequity in tech. In order to affect lasting change, we must address each of these issues simultaneously.

Read More
Dermot MurphySylvester Mobley, Plain Sight Capital, Coded by Kids
Volume 55: The Silent Disadvantage - How disparities in family wealth prevent Black & Brown entrepreneurs from succeeding to their fullest potential
Volume 55: The Silent Disadvantage - How disparities in family wealth prevent Black & Brown entrepreneurs from succeeding to their fullest potential

Minority businesses, especially those that are owned by African Americans or Indigenous people often lack the flexible capital that comes from family wealth. This money is crucial to the early stages of business growth and the lack of it can permanently stunt an entrepreneur’s ability to succeed. The problem that many entrepreneurs face is the absence of a market-driven replacement for personal wealth.

Read More
Dermot MurphyKenyatta James, Economy League of Greater Philadelphia
Volume 52: The Power of Catalytic Capital: First Step Staffing
Volume 52: The Power of Catalytic Capital: First Step Staffing

Charitable donations are vital to the social sector. Making money and giving it away so that nonprofits can accomplish critical work is an essential tool. However, many of us are learning that grants and donations are not the only tools for social change. We are finding that certain projects require different tools. And in many cases, we need both a hammer and a drill.

Read More
Dermot MurphyKristina Wahl, Barra Foundation
Volume 51: Philadelphia Green Capital Corp. – Bringing the Best of Green Banks to Philadelphia

The clean energy transition is underway already. And we must use this transition not just to decarbonize our grid but also to address longstanding economic and racial inequalities tied to energy. We need to think about who ultimately benefits from the projects we invest in. Where are we building wealth and stability? If we don’t ask these questions when designing our clean energy future, then historically marginalized communities will continue to be just that – marginalized.

Read More
Dermot MurphyMaryrose Myrtetus, Philadelphia Green Capital Corp.
Volume 49: A New Strategy for Investing Locally in the Environment

There has been exponential growth in ESG – Environmental, Social, and Governance – investing over the past few years, and global markets increasingly provide investors with opportunities to generate measurable, beneficial environmental impacts alongside a financial return. However, it can be difficult for place-based environmental investors to find opportunities with verifiable local impact. How would you invest in carbon sequestration if you wanted to maximize your investment’s benefit in the Philadelphia region?

Read More
Dermot MurphyChris Kieran, William Penn Foundation
Volume 48: Are Nonprofits Duty Bound to Invest Responsibly?
Volume 48: Are Nonprofits Duty Bound to Invest Responsibly?

Responsible investing has clearly come into its own this year, but some organizations still struggle to understand their obligation to promote responsibility in their investments. Many experts now believe that the failure to integrate ESG factors in investment decision-making represents a breach of duty. Faced with an intractable pandemic, an unprecedented recession, and heightened awareness of racial injustice, nonprofits have responded valiantly, deploying resources to help vulnerable communities meet their most basic needs.

Read More
Dermot MurphyChris Clarkson, Bernstien Private Wealth
Volume 47: Private Markets Due Diligence: Private vs. Public Markets
Volume 47: Private Markets Due Diligence: Private vs. Public Markets

This article will touch on some of the differences in investing in public vs. private markets. It will also endeavor to offer some practical questions to ask as you are researching private markets strategies, which are those that provide access to the asset class but have more liquidity than traditional private funds. We will discuss deal flow (and why it matters as much as it does), performance and outlook of public vs. private markets, and some of the challenges associated with traditional drawdown structure funds.

Read More
Dermot MurphyHamilton Lane, Patrick Morelli
Volume 44: Love Your Neighbor and Embrace the Stranger
Volume 44: Love Your Neighbor and Embrace the Stranger

Faith Driven Investors are stewards of their resources and those of the communities they support, serve, and lead. During this past year of great upheaval amidst global pandemic, climate crisis, and moral awakening, many Faith Driven Investors have asked these questions over and over again: Where can I invest my money so that my neighbors, my community, the stranger—so that those in need and in deep crisis, and those disenfranchised by entrenched systems of discrimination, systemic racism, and disempowerment, can also thrive and partake in an abundant future? The prospect of embracing diversity and equity in approaches to investing offers us profound opportunities for positive impact.

Read More
Dermot MurphyAmanda Joseph, Calvert Impact Capital