Categories for Field Notes

Field Notes: Doing Well While Doing Good? A Good Strategy!

A Wharton study finds that lower returns for impact investments need no longer be the default assumption.

Field Notes: Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century

The United Nations Environment Programme's new study seeks to end the debate on whether fiduciary duty is a legitimate obstacle to greater ESG integration.

Field Notes: The Future of Accounting Standards

SEC Commissioner Kara Stein recently spoke on the importance of incorporating ESG factors in financial reporting. The Volkswagen debacle shows why.

Field Notes: ‘An Authentic Human Ecology’

Pope Francis' encyclical on climate change puts forth a vision of an economy that is familiar to the impact investing community.

Field Notes: Impact Funds and Financial Returns

Analysis by Cambridge Associates and Global Impact Investing Network shows that impact funds give returns similar to funds that only aim for profits.

Field Notes: The Good Jobs Score

MIT’s Zeynep Ton has followed up on her Good Jobs Strategy with a simple scoring methodology.

Field Notes: Selling Social Impact Data

Rick Jacobus of CoMetrics reports his findings on the problem of who should pay for social impact data.

Field Notes: A Focus on ‘Building Healthy Organizations’

The Ford Foundation’s Darren Walker discusses the evolution of the foundation and its new thinking on using operating support to bolster organizations.

Field Notes: GIIN Impact Base Snapshot

The Global Impact Investing Network offers up their first analysis of 310 impact funds, demonstrating a focus on finance, basic services and employment.

Field Notes: The Thorny Complexities of Impact Investing

Two articles in the Stanford Social Innovation Review delve into the difficulties of impact investing and why the traditional investment structure remains an obstacle.