EXPERT INSIGHT: An ‘elegantly simple’ grants scheme that incentivises trading income growth is enabling leaders to test innovations, enter new markets as well as transforming their mindsets, finds research from LSE’s Marshall Institute.
EXPERT INSIGHT: Decades of philanthropy have failed to significantly improve educational outcomes in developing countries. The British Asian Trust’s LiftEd initiative provides valuable lessons in switching to a systems approach.
EXPERT INSIGHT: Being a 'future-fit' social enterprise is not about scale. It's about resilience, says award-winning social enterprise CEO Dr June O'Sullivan OBE.
EXPERT INSIGHT: From homelessness to elderly care, 75% of local authority spending is on people-focused services. But the way these services are commissioned is based on law designed for products, stifling new solutions and deterring investors.
EXPERT INSIGHT: In trying to support smallholder farmers, we’ve too often overlooked the agribusinesses that serve them. Research from 60 Decibels shows that catalytic capital for these enterprises can transform farming communities.
EXPERT INSIGHT: How and where public money is spent is too often regarded as a back-office procedure, rather than the frontline instrument of social change that it should be, says Mark Swift.
Dr Chih Hoong Sin welcomes the UK government’s rediscovered enthusiasm for outcomes funds with the launch of the world’s biggest fund of this type. But we should look beyond its impressive size to focus upon how it can best optimise impact.
There’s an $8tn global finance gap to support SMEs, and development finance institutions alone can’t make up the shortfall in emerging economies. Research launched at the FFD4 conference spotlights how DFIs can catalyse much more capital.
B Lab’s revised standards for B Corps currently omit ‘Impact Business Models’, one of the certification’s most promising tools for recognising the businesses that make the most meaningful impact, says Anton Simanowitz.
