Impact Measurement and Management

Sara Olsen, CEO, SVT Group

Methodology Subcommittee Co-chair, Social Value International

All impact investing is a combination of two things: intention and measurement. So, how can impact be measured? What is “impact management”? What is the role of the impact professional in ensuring that quality information about impact is used to inform design, management and resource allocation decisions to improve social and environmental value? What is the right impact information to obtain, and what are the relevant reporting standards to use? How can the necessary information be acquired given that existing market and cultural dynamics do not provide sufficient financial incentive to investors to devote resources to measuring impact? And, if at the highest level impact investing as a movement is intended to rapidly put the global economy on a trajectory that will avert climate catastrophe and defuse geopolitical instability driven by economic inequality, what must impact professionals do now to shift the culture of investing so that it supports appropriate impact management?