Social Impact Investing

SOCIAL IMPACT INVESTMENT: BUILDING THE EVIDENCE BASE
3. THE SOCIAL IMPACT INVESTMENT FRAMEWORK
This chapter provides a framework for looking at the social impact investment
market, starting with social needs and then looking at the demand and supply sides of
the market as well as the role of intermediaries. Examples of key types of players in
the market are given to provide further context. The role of the enabling environment
is also discussed as a key part of the framework.
3.1. The Social Impact Investment Framework
3.1 A growing range of actors are emerging in the social impact investment market to form an
ecosystem consisting of investors, social ventures and intermediaries and a comprehensive picture of the
SII market requires assessing the different components of the market (Figure 3.1). The main components of
the ecosystem are driven by SII demand (including social needs and social service providers), SII supply
(i.e. pools of capital and investors) and the role of SII intermediation and intermediaries (including
transactions and financing instruments). The enabling environment, including framework conditions (e.g.
social systems, tax and regulation), also can play a critical role in the social impact investment market and
must be taken into consideration when looking at the SII ecosystem.
Figure 3.1. Social Impact Investment Market Framework
Source: OECD.
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