Innovating Finance for Social Impact

Lauren Kaufmann, PhD Candidate, The Wharton School, and Maoz (Michael) Brown, Wharton Social Impact

Abstract: The need for impact measurement harmonization is a common refrain among impact investors. However, instituting standards and common frameworks requires an awareness of the constraints under which impact investors operate in their day-to-day work. Without a grounded understanding of how impact measurement happens in practice, standards and frameworks are unlikely to gain meaningful traction in the field. To this end, we propose to conduct the most comprehensive and detailed qualitative analysis of impact measurement in impact investing to date.