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Real Impact: The New Economics of Social Change Hardcover – October 3, 2017

by Morgan Simon (Author)

4.5 109 ratings

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A leading investment professional explains the world of impact investing -- investing in businesses and projects with a social and financial return--and shows what it takes to make sustainable, transformative change.

Impact investment -- the support of social and environmental projects with a financial return -- has become a hot topic on the global stage; poised to eclipse traditional aid by ten times in the next decade. But the field is at a tipping point: Will impact investment empower millions of people worldwide, or will it replicate the same mistakes that have plagued both aid and finance?

Morgan Simon is an investment professional who works at the nexus of social finance and social justice. In Real Impact, she teaches us how to get it right, leveraging the world's resources to truly transform the economy. Over the past seventeen years, Simon has influenced over $150 billion from endowments, families, and foundations. In Real Impact, Simon shares her experience as both investor and activist to offer clear strategies for investors, community leaders, and entrepreneurs alike. Real Impact is essential reading for anyone seeking real change in the world.

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Editorial Reviews

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"Morgan Simon has made a significant contribution with the very big idea that we can change the world by changing how we all relate to money. And lucky for us, Simon is as entertaining in her writing as she is brilliant in her concepts."―Van Jones, CNN

"Impact investing is a subject that deserves in-depth, powerful scrutiny. Real Impact offers much of that, and will give readers an introduction into understanding where this kind of work can bring hopeful change and where it can't. Timely!"―Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy

"Where we invest speaks to our values as a country that prioritizes our collective social welfare. Morgan Simon's innovative investment approach ensures money can serve as a force for good, for everyone."―Congressman Keith Ellison, member of the House Financial Services Committee and co-Chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus

"Real Impact is a unique and valuable teaching tool. Morgan Simon's expertise in the field is unparalleled, and brilliantly shared through this book."―Vikram Gandhi, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School; former Vice-Chairman of Investment Banking, Credit Suisse

"Real Impact is a gift to the academic community. I know of no other resource available with such a balance of thought-provoking investment philosophy and practical advice--reflecting the depth of Morgan Simon's expertise and experience in impact investment."―Heidi Krauel Patel, Lecturer in Management, Graduate School of Businessat Stanford University

"A critical cautionary tale--how do we scale social impact investment without leaving anyone behind? Morgan Simon is a master practitioner at inclusive investment; read Real Impact to learn from her compelling example."―Ben Jealous, Partner,Kapor Capital and former President, NAACP

"To drive significant social and environmental progress around the world, investors need to understand how to structure and deliver capital in a way that works for high-impact enterprises. Real Impact highlights the complicated trade-offs they will face along the risk-return spectrum and offers a blueprint for market growth. It helps fill the knowledge gap between optimism and execution."―Debra D. Schwartz, Managing Director of Impact Investments, MacArthur Foundation

"Over 1,700 asset owners around the world, from pension funds to insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds, have become signatories to the UNPRI, as its becomes increasingly clear that social and environmental trends can create financial opportunities. Investors now have the capacity to help solve the world's problems and deliver strong returns for their beneficiaries and clients. Morgan Simon is a global leader in impact investing, and this book offers critical lessons for those interested in being on the cutting edge of this exciting new field."―Dr. James Gifford, Founder and former Executive Director, United Nations Principles on Responsible Investment; Senior Impact Investment Strategist, UBS

"Clear-eyed, explicit, and tinged with just the right amount of outrage, this is a clarion call that the world...needs to hear."- Publishers Weekly

"A clear-eyed case for socially conscious investment, of much interest to those who want their dollars to do good." - Kirkus Reviews

"Readers interested in social and economic justice, climate change, housing, gender equality, and other pertinent topics will be compelled by Simon's exploration of impact investment as a creative way to challenge social problems in global and local contexts." - Booklist

About the Author

Morgan Simon has close to two decades of experience making finance a tool for social justice. In that time she has influenced over $150B and is a regularly sought out expert on impact investing. Her book, Real Impact: The New Economics of Social Change has been featured everywhere from Harvard Business School to the United Nations. She is a regular voice in media and active investor as Founding Partner of Candide Group, a Registered Investment Advisor.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bold Type Books (October 3, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1568589808
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1568589800
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.9 x 1.35 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #812,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #307 in Philanthropy & Charity (Books)
- #455 in Development & Growth Economics (Books)
- #698 in Business Ethics (Books)

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4.5 109 ratings

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Morgan Simon has close to two decades of experience making finance a tool for social justice. In that time she has influenced over $150B and is a regularly sought out expert on impact investing. Her book, Real Impact: The New Economics of Social Change has been featured everywhere from Harvard Business School to the United Nations. She is a regular voice in media and active investor as Founding Partner of Candide Group, a Registered Investment Advisor.

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The best primer on impact investing

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2017

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The best primer on impact investing I've read. IMPACT with capitals I through T, explaining through examples how it is possible to do good through investing, earning as much or little return as you think reasonable. Example after example, across organization after organization, as Morgan has done more in this field than any one person should be able to have accomplished.

All that and she's an excellent writer too. Complicated topics made easy to understand, written like she's sitting across the table having a coffee-shop conversation. The type of book you'll buy, read, and hand to a friend to share, to start your own conversation.

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Sara Olsen

Required reading for every investor

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2018

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Dozens of books cross my desk in the field, including many by friends, but I must admit this is one of the very few I read cover to cover. I've recommended it more than any other book in the field. Simon has an incredibly rare combination of top-notch investment experience combined with rigorous attention to authentic benefits to those whom the investments purport to help, and she has found a way to combine the financial interests of both shareholders and other stakeholders that is all too rare. She details real, practical examples that show the difference between investments that genuinely help and those that may at some point aspire to help but ultimately do not, and that even cause harm due to sloppy inattention to issues of equity in their design, implementation and monitoring. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

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Ian Mann

herself heavily involved in this combination of investment and doing good. With trillions of dollars migrating toward positive social ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2017

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It is fair to assert that the “free-market-plus-charity” model – (make lots of money and donate some) is failing to produce global prosperity and well-being.
Here is where “impact investment” comes in. This is the practice of investing not just for profit, but also for social benefit. It is a trillion-dollar trend most people have never heard of. Impact investing is the opportunity to make sustainable social improvements, explains the author, Morgan Simon, herself heavily involved in this combination of investment and doing good.
With trillions of dollars migrating toward positive social and environmental purposes, we have the possibility of mitigating the debilitating, inter-generational effect of poverty, inequality and powerlessness. And all through changing only the role of capital in society.
“Real Impact” is inspirational and a guide to fostering world-changing impact for the many still not benefiting from a free market. It is a way to use money to build a new economy, leveraging the traditional practices of commerce, trade, and investment to replace the poverty, inequality and powerlessness of communities across the globe.
Many would assume that impact investment, is very much like a ‘houseboat’. Not a great house and not a great boat. This book argues cogently that it doesn’t have to be that way.
‘Real Impact’ focuses on investment with integrity and accountability, in a way that genuinely solves problems for the long term. There are, after all, no end of accounts of failed investment in social upliftment that amounted to nothing at best, and greater harm at worst.
Bridging social justice and impact investment, always begins with the best of intentions, but these intentions need to be channelled so that both social justice and investors’ interests are served.
In South Africa we have mature activists who share a deep understanding of the costs of having no interventions to solve our social problems, coupled with a vision of what social and environmental harmony might look like. We also have an experienced and sophisticated investment community, who know how to bring together large amounts of capital and effectively leverage it towards a goal. This is an incredibly powerful and underutilized combination for creating a more generative and just world.
It provides an opportunity for the private sector to convert the economy into a tool that works for all of us, and is an effective mechanism of change for the people and communities left behind for far too long.
Simon offers the example of the world’s most generous nation, the US, where foundations give away approximately $46 billion each year! But when one considers that $196 trillion circulates in the global economy every single day, “it’s as if there were an oil spill covering 4,268 square miles of ocean, and you have been provided 1 square mile’s worth of paper towels to try and mop it up. Good luck with that,” she notes.
Impact investment is an attempt to align money with values. It is the practice of selecting for-profit investments, with a keen awareness of the social and environmental outcomes of such investments. This way, using the US example, rather than hoping the $46 billion spending of philanthropy will permanently solve social injustice, we can leverage the $196 trillion that circulates in the global economy every day for social justice causes.
The origins of impact investment can be traced back to the investment policies of the Quaker community, who refused to invest in the slave trade in 1758.
“From a micro perspective, even if you excluded externalities, and just focused on financial track records, study after study has shown that impact investments have been able to outperform the market with lower levels of volatility,” claims the author. In 2010 J. P Morgan published a report titled ‘Impact Investments: An Emerging Asset Class’, projecting that the impact investment industry was primed to produce up to $667 billion in profits over the next decade.
This, in effect, means that one can do well by doing good.
Thinking that the free market can solve social problems is an anathema to many on the left. However, to consider impact investing fairly, we need to accept the fact that commerce generally, is a neutral tool, designed to take resources and turn them into more resources.
Consider two simple cases that serve as examples. In one a local non-profit organization gives free tractors to an agricultural community in rural Ghana. To receive money to maintain the tractors and purchase seeds, the organization must petition someone in the donor’s office in New York. Not an atypical situation.
In the second, an investor and the community in Ghana work together to figure out the appropriate business model for farmers. How much will tractors increase their productivity, and thus how profitable can they be? They conclude that the purchase of tractors makes economic sense, and then purchased them through a loan.
The repayment of the loan requires having an accounting system, which also helps the farmers to better manage their cash flow. In five years, the loan is paid off, and the farmers are earning enough to buy their own inputs. The investor goes off to fund another community.
In case one, there is no positive impact at all in the short term. In case two there is a long-term, systemic outcome: the transition of decision-making, skills, and assets from the hands of a few to the many, and a new dynamic is set up for the community, producing a much more balanced society.
Will impact investment produce a return at market rate, or only below? Perhaps the question should be: what would actually be a reasonable return that would create long-term benefit for all?
It is the largest pools of capital - endowments, long-term investment funds and the like, that are best able to think in this manner. Through their heft they can have the biggest positive impact. Little wonder that they are becoming the focus of impact investors.
Impact investing begins by defining the impact for the beneficiaries of the investments, equally with the investors and entrepreneurs. To avoid ‘impact investment’ replicating the errors of top-down charity, the author has formulated three principles for an investment to have real impact.
These are: Engage communities in design, governance, and ownership. Add more value than you extract. Fairly balance risk and return between investors, entrepreneurs, and communities.
This book is a great start to a powerful way to address seemingly intractable problems that affect all in a society, not only the poor.
Readability Light ---+- Serious
Insights High -+--- Low
Practical High -+--- Low

*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy, and is the author of the recently released ‘Executive Update.

12 people found this helpful

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E R Baird

An important, timely call for moral leadership in finance

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book challenged and inspired me. It questions a lot of the basic assumptions of our economy: "how much do things cost? What is the ROI?" and re-frames them as moral questions: "What is the right thing to do? What are things actually worth?"

I have been familiar with Morgan's subject matter and Morgan's work for quite some time and the general premise of her argument challenges some conventional wisdom. Impact investing--the topic of the book--is too simply explained in the mainstream as "investing to do good (for society) and do well (financially)." Morgan's book is an entertaining and breezy read of the history of impact investing, but rather than be a blanket celebration of good businesses and good intentions, she points out what's missing--moral leadership and evaluation of the market.

The line that sums up the book to me is when another investor tells Morgan not to "let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Morgan responds, "I AM the enemy of the good!" Morgan points out gaps and structural problems in finance that we've let pass far too long, because change is hard, and outlines a way to have a better and more inclusive economy

2 people found this helpful

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Mich

Read this book to learn how to make money while making the world a better place!

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

The world is changing, not just the climate. And thank goodness many investors and portfolio managers, as well as foundation and endowment heads and religious community leaders, are finally discovering that you can "do well by doing good", earn a profit while helping others. Morgan Simon offers a great contribution to encouraging this trend, by both explaining the 'why' and the 'how' as well as the 'who' of this movement. With concise clarity, she offers a roadmap of the future of impact investing, or values-oriented investing, or 'program-related investment (PRI)'. Whatever you call it, the health and welfare of the world's poorest regions, the economic and political stability of areas of conflict, and the planet itself will all benefit from investment policies challenged and informed by Morgan's book. Recommended for anyone involved in the investment world - from an individual trader to the largest pension fund manager.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A book on what impact investing should be

Reviewed in Canada on January 28, 2018

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In this great book, Morgan Simon is methodically showing what impact investing has become today and what it should actually be. Based on concrete examples she implemented in the filed, Morgan shares with us how to get impact investing right with 3 key Transform Finance Principles. An inspiring book I will read and re-read once a year to make sure I get it right...

Triebswetter Marc

top zustand

Reviewed in Germany on September 18, 2019

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guter zustand interessanter content
schnelle lieferung

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Mahesh Yagnaraman

Well written broad theses at times too high level

Reviewed in India on May 5, 2019

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The book is laudable and great introduction to deepen work in areas of impact. Mix of advise and approach make the book at times difficult to access deeply if one is a practitioner in the area. Nevertheless, words written from path traversed and genuine accomplishment than just ideas makes the book invaluable.

NotLorca

Time to make a difference with Real Impact

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

Excellent abc eye opening...it should energise all of us.

Agus

Imprescindible para todos los interesados en la inversión de impacto

Reviewed in Spain on December 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

Este inspirador libro es una verdadera guía para entender el potencial de la inversión de impacto para transformar el mundo en que vivimos. En un momento en que la palabra "impacto" se está utilizando para describir cualquier clase de inversión responsable, los principios que Morgan Simon describe nos ofrecen una verdadera guía para aprender a reconocer cuando las inversiones se están utilizando realmente para el bien común, con un efecto verdaderamente transformador de las comunidades a las que se trata de servir.

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