Redefining Impact through Community Lens

Funders and investors consider community investing a powerful tool to engage with neighborhoods and geographies that are often shut out from the mainstream financial system. Community investors seek to learn from the communities in which they invest to improve on-the-ground tools and resources for the ultimate benefit of the local communities. As a result, many community-based lending organizations define and measure broad outcomes and community-wide impact not in the language of the funders, but from the perspective of the impacted grantees.

Solutions to challenges faced by the communities can only be found in the communities themselves. Community investors find effective impact measurement by flipping the script and framing impact results from the perspective of the community itself. By learning with community, investors and funders can multiply their on-the-ground results in terms of both dollars as well as transformative impacts.

Speakers

Andrea Longton
SVP, Financial Services
OFN

Thelma Adams Johnson
President & CEO
Albany Community Together (ACT!)

Stephanie Gripne, Dr.
Founder & CEO
Impact Finance Center

Jordan Sanchez
Senior Partnerships Lead
IDEO.ORG