The Landscape of Social Investment: A Holistic Topology of Opportunities and Challenges

This report provides a holistic account of the current status in social investment. Social investment is defined as a flow of resources, either market-generated or non-market-generated, to fulfill the funding needs of organizations that create social or environmental value.

The report sets out key definitions, builds a series of analytic frameworks and applies them to the social investment landscape. It concludes that social investment is at crossroads; there is enormous potential for growth, but there are also formidable institutional barriers to overcome. Other findings include:

• Social investment institutions, though highly innovative, are bound by traditional boundaries which they find difficult to cross;
• Issues of risk are seen as main barriers to growth of the sector;
• Role and value of social return, and the extent to which social investment is non-profit or for-profit in nature is uncertain.

There is a need to reassess some of the assumptions built into current frameworks for analyzing the state of social investment, which are still heavily influenced by conventional capital market models. Finally, the report also outlines opportunities for addressing micro-market issues that could support further growth of social investment.