Giving Compass
  • Sign In
  • About Us
    About Giving Compass How We Choose Content and Organizations Annual Reflections Our Newsletter
  • Getting Started
  • Learn About Issues
    Topic Guides
    Animal Welfare COVID-19 Criminal Justice Democracy Disaster Relief Education Environment Health Homelessness Immigrants and Refugees Racial Equity Women and Girls
    Curated Articles
    Partner Collections Giving Compass Selections See All Articles
  • Give to Causes
    Issue Funds & Intermediaries Projects Nonprofits
  • Get Involved
    Philanthropy Resource Directory Events Volunteer Opportunities
  • Partner With Us
    Nonprofits Authors Use Our Content Services Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Sign Up
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Sign In

Investing in India: An Impact Investing Model for Education

Stanford Social Innovation Review Jun 2, 2019
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
Click here for more.
A New Impact Investing Model for Education -giving compass
  •  Share
  •  Save
Share

Giving Compass’ Take:

• Philanthropists are utilizing impact investing to improve education outcomes across the globe. Impact investing can help mobilize communities to deliver on valuable social change initiatives. 

• How can impact investing practices support community development programs that are strengthening education?

• Read about how some funders are working to increase educational equity through impact investing. 


As poor families in India increasingly turn to low-fee private schools, it’s critical that they deliver quality education and improve student learning outcomes. In a pilot initiative, we at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation gave two leading school finance companies in India a variable interest loan, structured with financial incentives that encourage school leaders to improve learning.  We think this highly replicable approach to social impact investing is significant enough for investors in any sector to start internal conversations about applying it in their own work.

Measuring Impact

The term “impact” is frequently used in impact investing circles. But it’s not always clear just how much positive social impact investors actually achieve because the most common investment mechanisms don’t explicitly or inherently reward it. Nor do they rigorously measure it.

We sought to come up with a tool for impact investing in which the desired social results were clearly defined, incentivized, measured, and paid for by the instrument itself, with minimal overhead. This efficient, sustainable approach brings the rigor of the commercial market to social impact and can easily be replicated beyond the education sector, by following these three criteria:

  1. Clearly defined, simple, objective, measurable impact metrics
  2. Measurement costs that don’t exceed the reward amount paid out
  3. An on-the-ground partner with a last-mile network and reach, who shares the investor’s objective
Promising Results

To date, many low-fee private school entrepreneurs in India have focused more on their schools’ finances than on student learning results. However, participating schools say the new lending mechanism has brought those learning outcomes into the mainstream conversation; it is a topic of discussion between school owners and teachers. More school owners understand that better quality in education can improve their bottom line, boosting enrollment and fueling expansion.

We don’t yet know if the school rewards will trigger widespread changes in educators’ behavior. But we do know that philanthropic capital can be structured through innovative financial instruments to motivate that behavior.

Read the full article about impact investing in education by Rahil Rangwala at Stanford Social Innovation Review.

  •  Share
  •  Save
Share

Learning and benchmarking are key steps towards becoming an impact giver. If you are interested in giving with impact on Impact Investing take a look at these selections from Giving Compass.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Now Is the Time for Foundations to Invest for Mission and Impact

    The Mission Possible series is a call to action for philanthropy to fully embrace impact investing as an essential tool to drive meaningful social and environmental change. The Ford Foundation—the pioneer in program-related investing nearly 50 years ago—announced its first foray into mission-related investing out of its endowment, with a commitment of up to $1 billion over 10 years. The Heron Foundation meanwhile announced it has met its commitment to invest 100 percent of its $300 million endowment to its antipoverty mission earlier than expected. These are major developments for the field and should be a call to action for all members of the philanthropic community. You don’t have to be one of the nation’s largest foundations or committed to 100 percent for mission to have a major impact... Read the source article at Stanford Social Innovation Review


Looking for a way to get involved?

If you are interested in Civil Society, please see these relevant events, training, conferences or volunteering opportunities the Giving Compass team recommends.

Loading...
Learn More

Are you ready to give?

In addition to learning and connecting with others, taking action is a key step towards becoming an impact giver. If you are interested in giving with impact for Civil Society take a look at these Giving Funds, Charitable Organizations or Projects.

Loading...
Learn More
Connect

Loading...

Loading...

Learn More
Take Action

Loading...

Loading...

Loading...

Learn More
More from
Giving Compass
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Exploring the Potential of Social Impact Bonds
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    How Can Financial Incentives Improve Student Learning Outcomes?
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Bad School Conundrum: Low Performance and High Satisfaction
Follow Us
Newsletter

Become a newsletter subscriber to stay up-to-date on the latest Giving Compass news.

About Us
  • About Giving Compass
  • In The News
  • Contact Us
  • Content at Giving Compass
  • Partner With Us
Trending Issues
  • Environment
  • Homelessness
  • STEM Education
  • Equal Pay Act
  • Gender Equality

Copyright © 2021, Giving Compass, LLC

•
  • Privacy Policy
  • User Agreement

Sign in

Your personal information is confidential at Giving Compass. For more information, please visit our privacy policy. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use.