Mission
Social Impact Research (SIR) focuses exclusively on the needs of social impact investors and those who advise them. SIR aggregates, analyzes, and disseminates information to help social impact investors identify and support the most effective, efficient, and sustainable organizations working to solve social problems.
Vision
One day, social impact investors will be able to easily compare public, private, and nonprofit organizations working to solve social problems according to consistent indicators of performance and outcome. Social impact investors will be able to make well-informed investment decisions to direct more funds to the most effective organizations, thereby accelerating the impact of solutions addressing the most pressing social problems.
Methodology
A sizeable body of performance data is produced by thousands of government agencies, grant-making organizations, consultancies, and think tanks every year. Often when this data is publicly available, it is highly fragmented, dense, and impracticable, and therefore rarely used. Furthermore, many studies and evaluations are conducted for internal purposes only. Social impact investors and their advisors do not have the time to read long, complex reports that have not been written for the specific purpose of supporting investment decisions.
Leveraging the existing research, SIR’s methodology aggregates the most credible and thorough analysis conducted on a subsector with input and verification from key academic and practitioner experts. Multiple approaches used to address a particular social issue will be analyzed to identify those most proven and effective. Comparison and in-depth analysis of innovative organizations using these approaches will provide the advisors to social impact investors with the transparency necessary to assist their clients in making actionable decisions about where to invest in a subsector and in which organizations to invest.