"5 Tenets of Impact Management and Measurement" Release Event

Currently one of the most challenging things for investors and entrepreneurs alike is to determine transparent, measurable, and useful impact metrics that paint the full picture of social and environmental dimensions of an investment alongside financial returns. Measurable and efficient impact measurement is essential to the evolution of the impact sector.

Align Impact plays a unique role as an allocator with an exclusive focus on impact investing and a primary focus on private markets. Over the past 5 years, we have reviewed 1,500+ private funds that are intending to incorporate impact-related goals into their investment thesis through various Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) practices. In addition to observing industry norms, we have also collaborated with countless fund managers by sharing our feedback on what we believe are best practices in this area.

Over the past year, we crystalized our learnings into five IMM tenets that, we believe, can be used by other impact investors and fund managers to help improve key areas of impact measurement and management. We strongly believe that the impact investing industry is ready and able to actualize this suite of perspectives, and we encourage exploration to collectively extend this series to an exhaustive set of best practices grounded in further research.

On February 1st, we hosted a virtual event where Hummayun Javed and Ishita Shah (coauthors of the white paper) shared the process of developing this list of five tenets — which includes: Champion Change Early; Management Before Measurement; Avoid Metrics Myopia; Innovate Through Incentive Structures; and Burst the LP Bubble.

After the overview, Ishita and Align’s Ali Motroni moderated a panel discussion alongside other experts who are actively shaping IMM, including Ben Morley, of Boston Consulting Group, Maya Hardigan, of Mae, and Kristi Kuechler, of The ImPact.