From Facebook’s newsfeed ranking algorithm to banks’ fraud detection systems, data science has revolutionized the industry and enabled companies to improve or automate decisions on a large scale. But could algorithms do more than driving clicks on online ads and be used to save or improve the …

Every minute, three new crowdfunding campaigns launch. Increasingly, many social entrepreneurs are turning to crowdfunding as a way to launch their startups. Crowdfunding is providing more than just capital, it is creating a new way to build a business with the crowd. This session will go beyond …

Social enterprises want to solve important social problems, but people and organizations who invest in these enterprises want to see the impact their dollar has on reaching a solution. Being transparent and tracking performance not only builds trust in your funder base, but also gives you inward …

Social benefit organizations often have great ideas for impact that fail in the adoption stage when end users or others critical to acquisition and implementation don’t buy in. This session will explore various experiences and propose a model and understanding customer and other key constituents decision making …

Want to know why so many of the B Corp Best For The World Businesses are employee-owned companies? Because employee ownership is a powerful business model that drives strong business metrics, and brings tremendous benefits to employees, families and communities. If you’ve wanted to integrate this business …

An interactive discussion with investment professionals who have been both allocators and investment managers. They will discuss their observations on the impact investing universe from the perspective as outsiders who have decided to move into the impact investing universe. The discussion will focus on their experience and …

How do you reach Millennials and cultivate them to be effective philanthropists? Despite some negative press, research shows Millennials to be a very giving, socially minded generation and they are just at the tipping point of becoming the most populous generation of all time. With current consumer …

Lurking at the very ends of the consumer supply chain, our municipal infrastructure and in the underbelly of the industrial agriculture sector is a giant, stinking mess of organic waste. Since the dawn of civilization society has sought little value from these wastes, preferring an out-of-sight, out-of-mind …

Can innovation happen inside large humanitarian organizations, and if so, what are effective-and ineffective-ways to foster that? NGOs which have already achieved massive scale provide a golden opportunity and ready market for actually attaining wide-spread impact. What is the role of start-ups, the synergies between the newbies …

Why is it that we are so prepared to embrace youth movements as a powerful threat in situations like ISIS and the Arab Spring and so slow to see them as a positive and replicable force for change? El Nino y la Bola Costa Rica have teamed …

Transparency and communication issues shroud current measurement practices between funders and impact evaluators due to lack of shared context and common language. Impact investors deal with many complicated measurement tools and frameworks. Most investors find it difficult to navigate through the complex ambiguity. Need for a tool …

A common topic amongst impact investors is how to mix impact with reasonable rates of return, especially when investing in markets that lack a history of exits. For three years, Fledge, the conscious company accelerator, has used a unique revenue-based equity investment structure, making impact-first investments with …

Year after year, a common question has arisen at SOCAP, asking how we can put a numeric measure on a portfolio of impactful investments or a collection of impactful projects. The Pinchot Impact Index answers this question, providing a novel way to measure, compare, and aggregate impact. …

We can’t call ourselves Impact Investors unless we measure impact. But measuring impact is not always clear-cut. The impact investing industry has seen notable developments over the past decade. Many investors have regularly integrated Environmental, Social and Governance “ESG” criteria into every stage of investment decisions, and …