Social Impact Investing

SOCIAL IMPACT INVESTMENT: BUILDING THE EVIDENCE BASE
as a series of commissioned surveys and research papers. The list contains information gathered through
desk research and further information received from participants in the Social Impact Investment Expert
meetings. The data sources are organised in accordance to the SII framework. Three main data categories
are identified and correspond to information on the demand (SII investees), supply (SI investors) and
transactions (SII intermediaries). For each category, examples and some of the specific data challenges are
described below.
6.3.1. Demand- side data
6.13 Demand-side data for SII includes information — both demographics and financial information
— about a number of different market players that deliver social services or goods and are potential (or
effective) investees. Table 6.1 below summarises the key demand-side players, data-related challenges as
well as some examples of data sources. Demand side data can be obtained from different types of data
sources.
Table 6.1. Summary of type of demand-side players, challenges and data sources
Organisation Type Definition & Data
Challenges
Social entrepreneurs (SE)
Charities
Non-profits institutions (NPIs)
Social purpose organisations (SPOs)
Cooperatives
Development trusts
Mutuals
No consensus on the type of
organisation to be considered
within the scope of SII
Taxonomy is country-specific
“Solidarity” companies, FRA
Notes: Some examples are provided in italic below each point.
Source: OECD, based on desk research.
Legal form of companies varies by
country
No match between legal form and
the SI investee
Types of Data Sources
Business Registers \ Statistical
Offices (legal structure)
Community interest Companies
(CIC), UK
Surveys
SESS, CAN; ICSI2007, ITA
Certification Organisations
B-Corporation; IRIS; GIIRS
Associations
Cooperative Association, GER
Directories
Groupe SOS, FRA; Non-Profit
Finance Fund, US;
6.14 Some SII demand-side organisations have a specific legal structure or a generally accepted
classification (e.g. community interest companies in the U.K, "entreprise solidaire" in France). It is
possible to collect SII demand data, based on aggregation of data from organisations with specific legal
form(s). The underlying information can be obtained from National Statistical Offices (NSOs) or other
agencies that compile business register data. However, social enterprises and other social providers are
defined by their objective of providing social outcomes, thus organized in many different legal forms
(GHK, 2013). By providing incentives for social enterprises to report information (e.g. certification,
visibility and investor networks), some organisations have been able to collect information on SII demand
(e.g. B-Corporation, GIIRS).
6.15 Legal structures and certification do not always allow a precise mapping of SII demand-side
organisations, nor do they necessarily provide financial data (important to understand financing needs).
Creating a common and well defined legal type category for social businesses can help in identifying social
companies and sizing the market as well as targeting policy. While in some countries, legal mechanisms
82 © OECD 2015