Everyone’s first question about impact investment is ‘so what is impact investing?’ This module defines impact investing, tells you how impact investing has developed, how it fits in with the rest of the investment world, what some of the challenges it faces are and what the key terms mean. Start here.

This is about the ‘why’ of impact investing. How do impact investors see the world and what are the frameworks that they work with to identify the impact of their investments? This module provides the answers, lists some of the challenges that impact investment sets out to address (as well as some of the constraints) and provides an important reminder to maintain a keen focus on the people benefiting from impact investing.

Impact investing is developing and growing fast. Here you will learn about the current research on the size and shape of the market, who the investors and investees are and gain insight into some of the strategies that leading investors use.

It is possible to invest with impact across all asset classes in some form. The traditional preference for venture capital and private equity is starting to break down as investors seek scale in public markets.

Managing impact is one of the core characteristics of impact investment – and you cannot manage what you cannot measure. This module takes you into the nuts and bolts of impact investment and leads you gently and logically through the steps you need to take to get it right. Standards, logic frameworks, theories of change? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Individual investors, family offices, endowments and other institutions are moving beyond Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) integration and seeking measurable impact as well as a financial return. Those that serve them are having to build new skills.

The surging interest in impact investment is leading to a rush of new products coming to the market. It has always been important to ensure that impact investment products have a clear purpose and are managed well. Now, it is more important than ever.

Institutional investors have long made investments that have impact, for example in assets such as infrastructure and social housing, just perhaps without the intentionality that characterises impact investment. Increasingly, investors are adopting and helping to develop impact investment practices.

Private capital, including pension money, can address place-based inequalities across the UK and secure financial returns at the same time. This module explores how.