Wealth Holders: 63%
Social Entrepreneurs: 14%
Financial Professionals: 13%
Foundation staff & various other:  7%

A sample of Impact Days Feedback, on a scale of 1 (poor) – 10 (excellent):

Panels scored for quality of content by attendees:

Thank you to the representative 70 attendees who responded to the survey.

We also asked the 18 pitch entrepreneurs for feedback on their experience:

Thank you to the 9 of 18 entrepreneurs who responded to the survey.

To qualify as a B Corp, a business must have an explicit social or environmental mission, and a legally binding fiduciary responsibility to take into account the interests of workers, the community and the environment as well as its shareholders. It must also publish independently verified reports on its social and environmental impact alongside its financial results. Other than that, it can go about business as usual.

Originated in the US in 2006, the B Corp now has over 730 businesses in 24 countries worldwide. Every 2 years the non-profit B Lab that administers B Corp certification will review Pymwymic’s performance to ensure continued observance of B Corp’s values. Find more at www.bcorporation.net.

As we pack away the conference materials, we are reflecting that we’ve been gathering individual investors for 19 years – but it was just two years ago that we hosted our first conference introducing Impact Investing as a movement with momentum.*  Then, the question was:  what is it?  Just two years on,  this year’s Impact Days in Amsterdam vibrated with the idea that Impact Investing is real, and the demand from capital is accelerating. Our conversations this year were about how best to scale growth with values; how private capital is pushing the banks to change, and how the banks are indeed responding; how Europe’s developing geographies can learn from the early impact investment in other continents.   This year, the questions were more tactical:  how do we enable more impact?  And how – with opportunists entering this growing field – do we keep the intention focused on a fundamental shift in the meaning of true value and in building a restorative and resilient economy?

The demand FROM capital.   This year 63% of Impact Days participants were investors: 43% representing private capital and 20% representing institutional or charitable investors.

The new developments on the capital side:   more Next-Gen family investors who are impact advocates;  more faith based foundations were present as investors;  the first few adopters in the Dutch pension funds world were also present, questioning how they maintain fiduciary duty while embracing demands for impact.  Another 23% of attendees were financial professionals – bankers, wealth managers, and philanthropic advisors – who can see the change beginning to push at old structures.

As Pymwymic began with and continues at its core as a community of investors who Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is, we tend to engage and advocate most with private capital. This year, we were significantly helped in that role by an international circle of Next-Gens who shared striking examples of how family offices can catalyze their advisors and institutions into impact by demanding new product that meets values.  From foundations, the conversation moved beyond arguing if philanthropic capital has a role to play – of course it does – but this year focused on how best it can do so:  strengthening capacity building or stepping in to provide first loss guarantees for important high-risk ventures.

Intermediaries as Enablers of the Impact Ecosystem:

• Intermediaries prove innovations can spread; regulations and capital need to support. We examined the role of intermediaries, and particularly why Omidyar Network has chosen to support strategic intermediaries in building awareness around impact:  Dasra catalyzing philanthropic money in India, and at UK innovations with Social Impact Bonds, and further on the application of Big Society Capital.    National and regional incubators are emerging:  we convened a special focus panel on Central Eastern Europe efforts, heard from NESTA in the UK, and from “Social Enterprise NL” who – thanks to a 2M contribution of the Postcodeloterij / Stichting DOEN – is becoming a active platform for capacity building in Nederlands.

• Measurement counts – Still the ever-present threshold question for those entering from traditional finance:  how do you measure impact?  It still has to be solved. From D-Capital’s work with Malaria Bonds, through the B-Corp rating system, to the three platforms of GIIRS, IRIS, and SROI – rating systems gain awareness and adoption.
• Will the crowd lead? – Mushrooming crowdfunding platforms may well prove to become the biggest enablers of social entrepreneurship. Not just do they disrupt the traditional (and often costly) fund raising model. But more importantly platforms like Kiva, Kickstarter or Dutch initiatives such as Seeds, OnePlanetCrowd and ImpactCrowd can hardly be matched when it comes to connecting entrepreneurs with investment and expertise.

The demand FOR capital.   The maturity coming into the impact market was represented by respected colleagues who helped with content:  EcoEnterprises with more than 15 years track record;  Triodos Bank launching the Organic Growth Fund One fund to meet the needs for European healthy/organic SMEs;  Social Venture keying up a social bond in Germany;  LGTs new UK Fund.  With early stage companies, so many entrepreneurs we crossed wanted to attend that we added a “Pitch Event” on Wednesday morning. Out of more than 100 startups, we shortlisted 18 to pitch to our investor community.  Already, the winners Porifarma and Servus have had many investor meetings, and Servus has received initial funding. Entrepreneurs rated the Pitch experience as a 8.4 out of 10.  The future was in focus with the unequivocal response of three startup founders, when asked if they self-identified as social entrepreneur: “Well, to be honest not really. But we do feel part of a new generation of entrepreneurs who want to succeed in a socially responsible manner”. If anything, this genuine response should be seen as good news:  a sign that the simplified view of either ‘impact first’ or ‘return first’ is changing indeed. The next generation already sees entrepreneurship as a spectrum between the two extremes, where multiple models of impact and return can and should coexist.

Next year, our Impact Days will also celebrate Pymwymic’s 20^th anniversary.  Dates will be announced very soon.

* In 2011, Pymwymic’s first conference was when we co-hosted SOCAP/Europe in Amsterdam.