We lead with an encouraging NYT story acknowledging how the social sector must acknowledge and accept failure as well as paying for success – core precepts of the SIB/DIB movement which is, on the other side of the Atlantic, actively engaging with the regulators to push the agenda…
In The Long War On Poverty, Small Victories That Matter
New York Times
It was 50 years ago that President Lyndon B. Johnson started the “war on poverty,” railing against the “lack of jobs, bad housing [and] poor schools” that perpetuated an array of social crises, struggle and suffering amid a sea of plenty.
Given the state of poverty today, it’s tempting to believe that the effort was a failure, and that perhaps we may never prevail against these ills.
But in many ways, we have become far more thoughtful and systematic in our efforts to address social problems. It’s often hard to see these improvements. I spent time over the holidays checking up on organizations we’ve covered in Fixes over the past three years (far more relaxing than watching episodes of “Homeland”). I was struck by the steady progress most of them had made. And a few patterns jumped out.
Here are three ways we may be getting smarter.
Social Impact Investing Set To Be ‘More Prominent’
FT Adviser
The CEO of Big Society Capital said the FCA has been engaging with the financial services industry to help bring social impact investing to the UK.
Mr O’Donohoe said: “We have had many conversations with the FCA and together with Gavin Francis at Worthstone, we have done a lot of work on ‘suitability’, which seems to be the regulator’s watchword.”
He admitted that financial advisers may still be hesitant to get involved with the nascent social impact market, stating there was “no shortcut to a five-year track record” and the entry level of investment was still quite high.
However, Mr O’Donohoe said there was no difference between the due diligence advisers do on standard bonds and the due diligence needed on social impact investments, so understanding the products would not be difficult.
With the launch of diversified retail bond funds, such as the Threadneedle Investments’ Social Bond Fund last year, he said more advisers would be brought on board.
Mr O’Donohoe added: “There is client appetite for this and, post RDR, advisers are looking to differentiate their offerings for clients. This is a whole new way of investing to address a certain issue and it will become more prominent in 2014.”