The European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) has been promoting the concept of impact investment for over a decade. Its value proposition is “impact as the objective and investment as the means”, the association emphasizes and prioritizes the following factors in their evaluation standards:
- Environmental and Social Impact: If you are talking about the objective, it is necessary to examine both the system and method of goal management.
- Financial Sustainability: You can only pursue your dream if survival is not an issue. Therefore, the focus is upon self-sustainability, instead of the measurement of profit.
- Organization Resilience: The organization needs to have sufficient capability and flexibility to weather the ups and downs of the real world.
In other words, the main emphasis of EVPA impact investment is on impact, while financial sustainability and organization resilience are the tools to achieving “sustainable impact.”