Fall Issue: Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal

Posted by on November 19, 2012

Happy fall from the PSIJ! We are pleased to bring you the fall 2012 edition of the PSIJ, “Philanthropy, Social Enterprise and Impact Investing: New Approaches to Investing Capital.” On October 25, we welcomed 250 people to the University City Science Center for an exciting program, headlined by Ashoka founder Bill Drayton, marking the launch of this edition of the Journal.

At the heart of this edition is a debate: a debate about the experiences of early adopters in the space of impact investing versus traditional philanthropy. Impact investing is about investing money in an organization—either for-profit or nonprofit—with the expectation that it will generate both social and financial return. This edition is not meant to pin one side against the other, rather it is meant to show that it takes all three—philanthropy, social entrepreneurship and impact investing—to address problems in an efficient and impactful way.

This edition of the PSIJ, guest edited by Teresa Araco Rodgers, features more than 30 contributions from leaders in philanthropy, business and government, and other critical perspectives. Going through the process of working with the many contributors, three themes clearly emerged.

There is a need to educate those with capital to move beyond just thinking about the required payout or a philanthropic grant, to also think about their investments as a way for them to increase their impact and complement their grantmaking.
There is a need to provide support to individuals—those social entrepreneurs—with good ideas. Support means incubating ideas and turning the good ideas into businesses focused on impact. There is also a need to support executive directors at traditional nonprofit organizations as they rethink their business models to ease the constant burden of raising philanthropic capital.
There is a need to make continued investments in the infrastructure to better link those with capital to those organizations, whether nonprofit or for-profit, focused on impact.

Regardless of where you stand, the common thread seems to be the pursuit of mission.

http://www.philasocialinnovations.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=456&Itemid=104