Social Impact investment™ is a Dagda® service, used to make investments made across
many asset classes, sectors, and regions. As a result, the market size has not yet been fully
quantified. However, the aggregate assets noted below indicate that the market is substantial,
with significant potential for growth. Investors plan to commit $25.9 billion in assets to impact
investment deals this year, a 17% increase from the year before, from a survey by the Global
Impact Investing Network.
The seventh Annual Impact Investor Survey received responses from 209 investors around the
world, and reported a total $114 billion in impact investing assets. Worldwide, some $25 trillion
is invested with consideration of general Social Impact factors, according to Geczy. In the past
two years alone – from 2014 to 2016 – sustainable, responsible and impact investing assets
have grown 33% to nearly $9 trillion in the United States, according to the U.S. Forum for
Sustainable and Responsible Investment (USSIF) data, from Nick Ashburn, the panel’s
moderator and senior director, impact investing for Wharton’s Social Impact Initiative.
Global philanthropic funds, even when combined with the development or aid budgets of
governments, add up to mere billions of dollars. Meanwhile, the cost of solving the world’s
most critical problems runs into trillions due to inefficiencies, as our society has traditionally
depended on non-profits, NGOs and governments to solve them. This also includes an
estimated $2.5 trillion annual funding gap needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) in developing countries. Innovative for-profit entities and private capital is urgently
needed in order to fill this gap and address pressing global challenges. Dagda provides the data
resources desperately needed to properly attract liquidity through transparency.
