The Impact World this Week: 13 March 2025

US: ImpactAssets has unveiled this year’s IA50 list of leading impact fund managers that deliver “demonstrable social and environmental impact, setting the standard for uncovering opportunities across private markets”. The 15th edition of the IA50 numbers 193 firms across three lists: the core list of fund managers, an Emerging Impact Managers list and the list of Emeritus Managers which includes firms that have been on the list for more than five years. The data, intended to be a resource for investors and advisors, shows more than half of managers on the list target social issues, while a third focus on the environment. Combined, they manage US$202bn in assets, up from US$8.9bn 15 years ago.

Global: The new B Lab standards, first announced last year, are now live for all businesses – after being unlocked for existing B Corps last month. The new standards are the biggest overhaul in the B Corp accreditation process since the start of the project nearly 20 years ago: the certification shifted from a points-based system where companies scored points cumulatively to one where they have to meet standards across several “impact topics”, meaning high scoring in one area can no longer make up for poor performance in another. The new model includes third-party verification, meaning the B Corp accreditation is now compliant with new EU legislation on the use of sustainability labels.

• Read more: B Corp launches new standards as ‘complete reimagining’ of certification of businesses for good

UK: There’s a fundamental tension at the heart of contemporary capitalism: employees are increasingly asked to deliver purpose-led outcomes within systems designed primarily to optimise financial returns. A report published this week finds that despite the widespread adoption of purpose statements, they frequently fail to endure in practice. What’s more, the “political mood music” from the US is increasing pressures against purpose and ESG, especially as 60% of UK equity is now foreign-owned. Purpose by Design: Ownership, governance and the future of business is based on more than 50 interviews with business leaders in the UK including John Lewis Partnership, Anglian Water and Jupiter Asset Management, and it explores options for legal reform such as the proposed Better Business Act and purpose-led legal forms. The report was produced by business management consultancy Clarasys in collaboration with charity A Blueprint for Better Business.

• Read more: Better Business Act campaigners urge UK parliament to halt relentless pursuit of shareholder profits

Global: Impact investors will now be able to better consider the impact of their investments on children, following UNICEF and the Global Impact Investing Network’s partnership to embed a child lens into the GIIN’s impact measurement and management tool. UNICEF’s existing child lens investment approach will be integrated within IRIS+, the GIIN’s set of tools and guidance for impact investors to measure and manage their impact. The child lens will be applied to all impact themes in the IRIS+ framework, meaning all impact investors will be able to apply it to their investment decisions.

Global: Nature consultancy Biodiversify has published a new Guide on Making the Business Case for Nature – just what you need if you are working in a large company and desperately trying to convince your executives that nature should matter in business decisions. The guide is based on discussions with big corporations to understand the challenges in applying a nature strategy in large businesses, and best practice examples. Advice includes avoiding using terms like “nature positive” and instead speaking a language familiar to corporates, for example framing nature risk as “supply chain continuity” or “asset protection” risk.

• Read more: Building a market for nature: the finance innovators racing to save our ecosystems

Sub-Saharan Africa: A new US$15m investment is to bring better telecom connectivity to underserved communities in Liberia and Zambia. The investment in solar telecom company iSAT, from sustainable and impact investor Mirova, will help create solar-powered, off grid telecom towers to provide high-speed internet access to remote communities otherwise reliant on diesel-powered towers or unable to connect.

Figure of the week: US$25m is the target size of the new Lagos Education Access Fund (LEAF), launched by the Lagos State Government (Nigeria) in partnership with the Education Outcomes Fund. Supported by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the UBS Optimus Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the programme aims to reach up to 200,000 children aged between six and 14, focusing on enrolling out-of-school children and improving the quality of education. LEAF is an outcomes fund, meaning that it pays organisations only when measurable results are achieved. Impact investors provide repayable finance to fund the work upfront.

• Read more: What are social outcomes partnerships?

What we’ve seen and heard

Joe Seddon, who was our SE100 leadership award winner in 2023 as the founder of social enterprise Zero Gravity, featured on Amol Rajan’s ‘Radical’ podcast on the BBC a couple of weeks ago. Seddon talked to Rajan about how he is tackling the UK’s stalled social mobility problem through his online platform which connects young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with top universities and employers. Dismissing Rajan’s suggestion that he might be heading for a career in politics in the future, Seddon said: “I honestly believe taking an entrepreneurial approach to solving these problems is better than taking a sort of political, policy approach… The biggest impact I can have over the next 30 years is actually building tech to solve this problem.”

Augustin Morel, data analyst at the Walloon Social Economy Observatory in Belgium, reflects on the difficulties of defining and measuring the social economy in an interview with the International Labour Organization, based on his work producing an annual ‘Social Economy Barometer’ for the French-speaking region of Belgium. He warns that before the ‘social and solidarity economy’ (as it’s defined in much of Europe) is measured, the question must be asked about why it should be measured. “At times, the demand for social economy statistics primarily reflects a desire to demonstrate credibility through figures, in a context where economic legitimacy is often expressed in quantitative terms,” he says. He also warns that over-simplification after statistics are released can overlook their limitations.

• Read more: NPC’s ‘impact economy’ definition: a ‘missed opportunity’ or chance to collaborate better?

Movers and Shakers

• Chris Jamieson has been appointed to the new position of head of investment partnerships at Social Investment Scotland, after a decade at the organisation. Louisa Shanks joins the social investor as investment manager.

In case you missed it

UK: The Labour government has launched a Community Development Finance Roadmap to unlock £1bn of lending to support small businesses to grow. It will do so by boosting investment in Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), which provide affordable loans to small businesses in underserved communities which wouldn’t otherwise be able to access finance. The government has appointed a Community Development Finance Taskforce to advise the strategy, which will bring together major banks as well as CDFIs and field-building organisations like Responsible Finance. Writing in CityAM, Blair McDougall, minister for small business and economic transformation, and Bob Annibale, chair of the UK Community Finance Partnership Taskforce, said: “This is about harnessing the deep local knowledge and relationships which Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) bring to small business finance.” 

UK: Greater Cambridge Impact has announced its first close at £6.25m. The 10-year social investment vehicle, which targets a £10m final size, will provide repayable investment ranging from £250,000 to £1,750,000 to charities and social enterprises helping disadvantaged young people, families in hardship, care-experienced young people, and people experiencing homelessness in the Greater Cambridge area. Investors in the company include Better Society Capital, The Church of England, Cambridge City Council and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, among others.