The mission-driven venture : business solutions to the world's most vexing social problems

Preface xi Acknowledgments xv About the Author xvii About the Website xix 1 Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job 1 “Father G” and Homeboy 5 Vanessa Bartram and WorkSquare, LLC 6 The Origin of Mission-Driven Ventures 7 Businesses Drive Social Change 9 Profits and Purpose 13 Our Agenda 17 2 Where to Begin? Constructing the Mission-Driven Venture 19 Maximizing the Prospects of Financial Success and Meaningful Social Impact 22 Tracking Input, Output, and Outcome Indicators 27 Entity Design Choices 28 Moving from Ideation to Realization 30 Preparing for Launch 35 Zeroing in on Size and Scale 38 3 Communities of Interest: Benefit Corporations and Certified B Corps 40 Delaware Rejects Stakeholderism 43 The Benefit Corporation’s Impact 46 Delaware, the Outlier 49 Patagonia’s Values and Vision 50 Public Good Software Supports Civil Society 52 Ensuring Accountability to Stakeholders 53 4 PRIs and L3Cs 55 The Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C) 59 The “Sustainability Mayor” Leverages His Impact 62 Counseling Data, L3C: A Case Study in Collective Impact 64 5 The Poor and Their Banker Lead the Way 67 Professor Yunus’ Journey 68 The Visit to Jobra 70 The Banking System’s Failure 71 Yunus’ Ingenious Solution 72 The Advent of the “Social Business” 74 Grameen Bank and Its Strategy 75 6 Leveraging Grameen 79 The Power of Cause-Related Marketing 81 The Grameen Family Expands 84 Social Venture Franchising 86 Grameen Empowers Entrepreneurs 88 7 The Mondragón Miracle: Scaling the Peaks Beyond the Pyrenees 91 Italy’s “Social Co-Operatives” 97 France’s “SCOPs” 99 Why Worker-Owned Co-Ops Succeed 99 The Evergreen Cooperatives Build on Mondragón’s Success 100 8 Social Impact Bonds: Aligning Financial and Social Returns 105 Funding Targeted Intervention Strategies 106 “Pay for Success” 112 The Massachusetts Initiative 113 New York City Leads the Way 115 Pay for Success Gains Traction 117 Where Social Impact Bonds Work 118 The Social Impact Bond’s Progeny 119 Empowering the Social Sector 120 9 Building and Rebuilding Communities 121 Donor-Advised Funds 126 The Role Foundations Play 126 Lessons Learned 130 10 Investing for Impact 132 The Origin of Impact Investing 137 Impact Investing Takes Root 142 11 How Impact Investing Works—and Why 147 The Form of the Investment 150 Managing Risk 152 Judging Investment Performance 156 Quantifying Social Returns 157 Cashing Out 159 The Challenges of an Impact Investing Market 161 12 Impact Investing: Pursuing Its Destiny 163 The Importance of Public Policy 165 The Institutional Investors Weigh In 170 The Growth Trajectory Is Clear 174 13 Keeping Score: What Success Looks Like 178 A Safe Haven’s Social Impact 179 Crediting the Causes of Positive Social Change 182 REDF and Social Return on Investment 186 Root Capital and Its “Social and Environmental Scorecard” 189 Acumen Fund and Its “Best Alternative Charitable Option” 190 14 Answering the Call: The Demand for Social Metrics 192 Scaling Success 194 Shared-Outcomes Networks 198 15 Toward a Universal Metrics Language 210 Creating More Social Good 214 The Industry Steps Up 215 Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) 216 The Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS) 218 B Analytics 219 Other “Universal” Standards 219 The World Takes Note 220 16 What the Future May Hold: The Triumph of the Mission-Driven Venture 222 The Poorest of the Poor Have Reason for Hope 222 The Growing Role of Business 223 Social Enterprise Gains Influence in the Developing World 224 Business Raises the Bar 225 Governments Reach Out to Mission-Driven Ventures 227 Measurement of Social Performance Becomes More Sophisticated 228 Stakeholders Look to Substance Over Form 228 Social Capital Takes Center Stage 230 The Stakes Go Higher 231 Collaboration Becomes the Watchword 233 Index 235