What we do
Constructing successful impact investments is a complex task which of necessity involves many parties. For example, launching a Social Impact Bond will typically involve the participation of a bank, government Treasury Department, government Human Services Department, a financial intermediary capable of issuing the bond, one or more NGOs skilled in service provision and private investors. In addition, many of these parties employ advisers and consultants to assist with the decision making.
Launching a bond calls for a great deal of background work and due diligence to be done by, for example, a sponsoring government. For a bond issue to succeed, the service or program must be directed at a social problem which the government wishes to solve or ameliorate. The program provided by the selected NGO must be proven, documented and replicable, and the outcomes of intervention must be quantifiable and success over time must result in actual savings to government.
The NGO concerned must be credible and must have sound financial management practices and the capacity to undertake outcome measurement. They must have proven or promising service models that have capacity to operate at scale if adequately resourced and there must be investors prepared to support the bond issue.
The role of Impact Associates is to bring these parties together and to ensure that all due diligence is undertaken at the required levels. We are not a financial services organisation – we manage and broker relationships, partnerships and collaboration. We assist governments in identifying social issues which may be amenable to an impact investment approach and we hep identify NGOs which may be up to the task.