The First Impact Frontiers, 2018-2020
Impact Frontiers had its origins at Root Capital, and in particular that organization’s publication of the article “Toward the Efficient Impact Frontier” in Stanford Social Innovation Review.
In 2018, with the support of the MacArthur Foundation, Root Capital launched a two-year program with other investors seeking to systematically measure and manage their own impacts. The collaboration migrated to the Impact Management Project in 2019.
The 13 funds in the first Impact Frontiers collaboration (2018 – 2020) translated and implemented the approach in diverse portfolios totaling $15 billion US. From these funds’ experiences, lessons and learnings, a replicable curriculum of generalizable steps was created, relevant to a wide range of investors.
“We found a lot of value in the cohort model. The sequence of workshops consistently challenged me to think ahead to the next step as we built our new impact management approach. And I gained an amazing set of peers to go to on anything from technical questions on impact ratings to how to build consensus with our internal team and Board”
Impact Frontiers is a global initiative. The first Impact Frontiers ran from 2018-2020 in the US. This initiative in Canada (2021-2022), co-convened with Rally Assets, built on that important work.
