Event Recap
For impact investing to succeed, Canadian Forum for Impact Investment and Development (CAFIID) Members must comprehend the value, credibility and benefits of data, key indicators, and the role of power in undermining efforts to achieve results.
Some questions include:
Who decides what to measure, investor or development partner?
What do we monitor and how does that drive change?
What standards should members follow?
How can we insure power dynamics don’t get in the way?
What’s the best path to proceed as impact investment becomes more and more prevalent?
The CAFIID Impact Measurement and Management Community of Practice (IMMCOP) recently tackled these and other burning questions with a fireside chat on February 29 featuring Kate Ruff, Executive Director and Head of Research of Common Approach to Impact Measurement, and Jason Sukhram, a practitioner who leads Quinn+Partners’ impact practice.
The pair delved into how to counsel investors and social purpose organizations in developing flexible and useful frameworks and standards for sound impact measurement, evaluation and performance.
This community of practice deepens CAFIID members' measurement expertise by providing a platform like this chat for knowledge exchange, resource sharing, and peer support.
During the conversation, Kate delivers a compelling analysis of the history of standards and the challenges contemporary organizations face, while striving for power balance and ensuring development goals get met. Her assessment of key technology tools, the importance of resourcing for them, and her advice on strategies to deliver more transparent and relevant data and conclusions is prescient and practical.
Kate offers meaningful commentary on the importance of flexibility, empowering SPOs to reveal measurable impact, offering investors valuable direction on tools, and key pitfalls to avoid once partners agree and adopt technology and begin delivering results for investors.
Invitation
Understanding how to effectively measure and manage impact is a core characteristic of impact investing. Social purpose organizations and other investees require effective frameworks and tools to collect the data that matters most to them while packaging it in a useful way for impact investors. The Common Approach to Impact Measurement initiative is building on great work already done by the social enterprise ecosystem, connecting it to cutting-edge globally recognized research.
Join CAFIID’s Impact Measurement and Managements’ (IMM) Community of Practice (COP) in a fireside chat with Kate Ruff, the Executive Director and Head of Research of Common Approach to Impact Measurement to learn more about how the Common Approach has supported social purpose organizations by developing a flexible and useful framework and standards. She will be interviewed by Jason Sukhram, IMMCOP member who leads Quinn+Partners’ impact practice.
We hope you can join us during this inspiring conversation!
Guest speaker
Kate Ruff is Executive Director of Common Approach and Associate Professor of Accounting at the Sprott School of Business. Her research on Impact Measurement has appeared in outlets such as Stanford Social Innovation Review and Critical Perspectives on Accounting and has one international awards. She has an MSc Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Business and a PhD in Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business, York University.
Moderator
Jason Sukhram leads Quinn+Partners’ impact services, advising investors and corporates across sectors on leveraging capital to drive positive, measurable outcomes for people and the planet. Jason currently advises some of Canada’s largest asset owners on how to adopt impact investing strategies and impact measurement and management best practices. Jason previously worked with the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, and in international development with the Clinton Foundation. He has a degree in engineering and an MBA from the University of Toronto.
About the CAFIID IMM Community of Practice:
The goal of CAFIID’s IMM CoP is to support CAFIID members in deepening their knowledge of and expertise in IMM. CAFIID is a member driven organization aiming to act as a catalyst to mobilize more impact investment capital toward emerging and frontier markets and to provide its members with opportunities to learn, share and collaborate.
The IMM CoP will provide a dedicated forum for sharing tools, approaches, and case studies of IMM in Canada and beyond. The IMM CoP will provide opportunities for CAFIID members to:
exchange knowledge on best practices and trending IMM topics.
share related learnings and resources.
provide peer support and advice on specific IMM cases and questions faced by members.
demonstrate leadership in the impact investment ecosystem by contributing to national and global IMM standardization and practice.
The IMM CoP will be practical, inclusive, and participatory in nature. Activities will take place monthly, alternating between informative sessions and peer support sessions to be confirmed via a survey of CAFIID members. The activities will include:
Informative and knowledge-sharing sessions and the development of a resource repository which will address IMM topics of interest, allowing members to share their IMM approaches, tools and best practices. This will also include webinars with non-members.
Peer support sessions provide a space for members to bring forward case studies or challenges they may be facing for an exchange of practical advice and considerations. The CoP will also be a space to brainstorm ideas about innovative IMM structures and foster new avenues for collaboration between CAFIID members.
This event is presented by CAFIID’s Impact Measurement and Management Community of Practice
