As part of SOCAP, the Federal Reserve of San Francisco hosted a series of sessions on building health-related impact investing products and partnerships. A great resource for those interested in this massive sector.

http://www.frbsf.org/community-development/events/2013/september/socap-social-capital-markets-health/videos/

Interesting New Impact Investing Report from the World Economic Forum.

http://reports.weforum.org/impact-investment/

Impact Investing 2.0 -- What $3 Billion Tells Us About the Next $300 Billion

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathy-clark/impact-investing_b_3850296.html

A Nice Summary of Events at SOCAP

Recognition of the Viability of Social Impact Investment and Business Models Shows Signs of Global Critical Mass as Social Enterprise Community Heads to SOCAP13 – Press Releases on CSRwire.com

Interesting Impact Investing Platform for Solar

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/business/energy-environment/a-firm-that-aims-to-match-environmental-values-with-financial-value.html?smid=pl-share

Is the Tragedy of the Commons Really a Tragedy?

The FT's Tim Harford highlights two sides of a very important academic debate on how we can address environmental issues.  He compares Garrett Hardin's 1958 "Tragedy of the Commons" approach to Lin Ostrom's focus on how communities solve the challenges of sharing resources by creating systems and rules.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/afc5377e-1026-11e3-a258-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2dk2XoC4A

Internalizing Externalities to Address Climate Change

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/business/a-carbon-tax-that-america-could-live-with.html?smid=pl-share

Is there a hierarchy of goodness in public policy?

Melissa Berman of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors makes clear the challenges of using philanthropy for large social change.

But specifically because philanthropy is personal and voluntary, it may supplement - but cannot replace - the rigorous, messy public debate we need in a democracy to decide how we as citizens want to choose between museums and fighting blindness.

Too often, private philanthropy is used to drive the allocation of public resources.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/opinion/in-charitable-giving-no-hierarchy-of-goodness.html?smid=pl-share

Peter Singer's Critique of Philanthropy

Peter Singer, who has shed light on a wide range of ethical issues, has now turned his sights on philanthropy.

Calling for a shift in resources from cultural funding to humanitarian projects, he applies cost-benefit analysis to explain why we should fund disease prevention instead of museum capital campaigns.

Philanthropy is voluntary and as such donor intent will continue to drive funding decisions rather than quantifiable cost-benefit analysis.  Whether I want to support my church, local museum or disease prevention for the world's poorest is a personal decision.

Perhaps he should also focus on public sector aid funding and how it can be made more effective or ask the question why we allow charitable contributions to be tax-deductible in the first place rather than trying to reform philanthropy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/opinion/sunday/good-charity-bad-charity.html?smid=pl-share

Peter Buffett and the Charitable Industrial Complex

While Mr. Buffett makes points which have been made elsewhere about the unintended consequences of philanthropy, charity as penance for the affluent, and the need for systems change rather than one-off projects, it is refreshing to see someone in his position step outside of the philanthropic echo chamber and ask some larger questions.   

As he states, philanthropic leaders, heads of state and corporate leaders are "all searching for answers with their right hand to problems that others in the room have created with their left."   We are all dealing with the contradictions and dissonance created by a networked global market that our existing systems such as government, corporations and philanthropy do not begin to solve. 

What he does not state is how we can begin to address these contradictions beyond a vague call for multi-stakeholder partners and listening. 

I applaud his piece but want to dig deeper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/opinion/the-charitable-industrial-complex.html?smid=pl-share

When is Peer-to-Peer Lending Not Peer-to-Peer?

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/not-banks-but-still-lending-and-drawing-investors/?smid=pl-share

Teaching Old Dogs New Retrofitting Tricks:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/realestate/commercial/making-energy-efficiency-attractive-for-owners-of-older-seattle-buildings.html?smid=pl-share

Announcement of G8 Social Impact Taskforce

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sir-ronald-cohen/g8-launch-social-impact-taskforce_b_3452877.html

Goldman closes 2nd Social Impact Bond with Much Lower Credit Enhancement

As details of the transaction emerge, it appears that J.B Pritzker has taken a first-loss subordinated position of 34% which is much lower than the 75% credit enhancement which Bloomberg Philanthropies provided in the NYC Rikers Island transaction.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/goldman-to-invest-in-utah-preschool-program/?smid=pl-share

How Can We Align Who We Are with What We Do?

David Brooks describes a phenomenon I see in my students and colleagues as we all try to reconcile the sometimes conflicting desire to make a living and make the world a better place.  Can we consume our way to a sustainable and just world?  Can we do well and good? This complexity only seems to increase as the world gets smaller.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/opinion/brooks-the-way-to-produce-a-person.html?smid=pl-share

Social Investment Comes to the G8 this Week

http://blogs.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/socialimpactbonds/2013/06/social-investment-comes-to-the-g8/

New SIB Tools Launched by UK Government

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/centre-for-social-impact-bonds-new-tools-launched

Leveraging the Power of Foundations-An Analysis of Program-Related Investing

This new report by the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy provides a fresh look at program-related investments and how they are being used by foundations but continue to remain a very small part of the philanthropic toolkit.

http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/research-by-category/PRIreport

Learning from Odysseus: Can stuffing our ears help us make better decisions?

"When Odysseus wanted to sail around the island of the Sirens, he stuffed his fellow sailors’ ears with wax and tied himself to the mast.  In doing so, he influenced his future decision by wise precaution – and became the first to listen to the enchanting song of the Sirens without steering his ship into the cliffs." The University of Heidelberg's Centre for Social Investment has a new report on how choice architectures may improve decision-making. 

https://www.csi.uni-heidelberg.de/report/pdf/CSI_report_14__2013-05_english.pdf

Unburnable Carbon

If governments are serious about climate change, a portion of oil and gas reserves of major energy companies would not be usable.  Carbon Tracker has done an interesting analysis of this issue.
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21577097-either-governments-are-not-serious-about-climate-change-or-fossil-fuel-firms-are