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This thesis investigates how social purpose organisations collect and communicate information on their social impact through 'social impact accounting'. It seeks to understand how different logics shape the current practice of social impact accounting, and how this practice may be shaped by social investment and standardisation. Adopting a methodological approach based on Dewey's classical pragmatism, social impact accounting is studied through four sequential research stages using a qualitative, thematic approach. Empirically, this thesis draws from multiple data sources, including a systematic review of practice guides for social impact accounting, and interviews with professionals working as preparers and users of social impact accounting from social purpose organisations, philanthropic funding institutions, social investment firms, government, and specialist intermediaries. The data are used to map how different logics of accountability, accounting and evaluation manifest in the practice of social impact accounting. Perspectives from users and preparers are shown to be shaped predominantly by logics associated with resource acquisition and accountability to funders. However, this thesis also highlights a powerful stream of alternative logics that emphasise the role of social impact accounting in sharing knowledge and improving performance within organisations, as well as across the social purpose sector. These are shown to have different implications for the desired content and qualities of social impact accounts. A Social Impact Accounting Framework is developed from these findings and used to further analyse the emerging areas of social investment and standardisation. Social investors are found to have similar expectations of social impact accounting to preparers and users, and their use of social impact information is characterised as diverse and pragmatic. Further, in the context of a proposed standard, this thesis investigates the public interest of standardised social impact accounting and shows that the proposed standard (ED270) focuses on a limited part of the complex practice of social impact accounting, and raises questions about the appropriateness of government as a standard-setter in this context. Finally, this thesis concludes by showing that a failure of standards to account for the complexity of the social purpose sector risks unintended consequences and simply increases the already onerous and bureaucratic reporting requirements faced by social purpose organisations.

SIA developed alongside EIA in the early 1970s as a mechanism to consider the social impacts of planned interventions. The early understanding tended to limit the practical application of SIA to the project level, usually within the context of regulatory frameworks, and primarily considered only the direct negative impacts. However, like other types of impact assessment, SIA has evolved over time and has diverged considerably from EIA. Nowadays, SIA has widened its scope to become a "philosophy about development and democracy". Ideally SIA considers the pathologies, goals, and processes of development. In this broad understanding, it now focusses on the management of all social issues, intending to bring about a more sustainable and equitable biophysical and human environment. The SIA field conceives of "social" very broadly, basically meaning "anything that affects people and their communities". Thus, for example, all environmental impacts are also social impacts because people depend on the environment for their livelihoods as well as their physical and spiritual well-being. Social impact concepts include people's way of life, their culture, community, political systems, environment, health and well-being, personal and property rights, and their fears and aspirations. Formerly seen as a regulatory tool required by regulatory agencies but resented by proponents, SIA, for a variety of reasons, is now increasingly being embraced by corporations and used as an internal process for managing social issues. Such a shift towards corporate acceptance, of course, does not guarantee that SIA will always be done properly, or is able to adequately influence company operations. Several other shifts have been observed: greater consideration of benefits; moving towards developing and implementing Social Impact Management Plans; communities themselves actively commissioning, or doing, their own SIA studies; SIA playing an important part in ensuring "free, prior and informed consent" and gaining a "social licence to operate". Health issues have a central place in SIA. Many of the social impacts of projects could also be described as health impacts, and all health impacts would be regarded as social impacts in SIA. In SIA, health impacts are considered amongst a wide range of impacts on people and communities. SIA practitioners are supposed to look from an integrated perspective. Arguably, this means that the determinants of health should be addressed when SIA is carried out properly. Nevertheless, SIA guidelines do not typically require a detailed analysis of the origins of, or pathways to, specific health conditions. There is, however, a strong awareness of indirect effects and cumulative effects. In actual SIA practice, the approach used highly depends on the type of policy, plan or project being considered, as well as on the legal and cultural context, on client requirements, and on the commitment of the individual practitioner or consultancy. The SIA case studies considered in this chapter usually discussed the broader determinants of health but did not necessarily recognize them as such. The pathways from social impacts to health, and the linkages between health and social impacts, were not explicitly part of the analysis. Overall, the input of health expertise into SIAs seemed to be lacking. However, given the close connections between the HIA and SIA approaches, more cooperation and cross-fertilization between these two types of impact assessment can be expected in the future.

The recent financial crisis has significantly damaged the global financial industry's image, particularly affecting the image of interest-bearing assets as well as the regulatory framework of central banks. As a result, new ways of doing finance have developed, creating alternatives to the regular financial system. These alternatives include ethical banking, which prohibits certain practices, such as, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, money laundering, and fraud; non-banking solutions, a method of intermediating money as an alternative to interest-based loans; and Islamic finance, an alternative method to interest-based loans which prohibits interest-based loans, something that is considered central to the conventional financial system. This book explores each of these non-conventional banking and financing mechanisms in detail, with case studies from distinguished experts in higher education institutions, asset management firms, non-profit, multilateral and international organizations, and includes examples from Egypt, Spain, the United States, Sweden, and Indonesia, in which these alternative methods have succeeded. Social Impact Finance is the third book in the IE Business Publishing series for the Saudi Spanish Center of Islamic Economics and Finance and will be of particular interest to micro, small & medium sized businesses as well as young entrepreneurs.

The purpose of this Guidance Note is to provide advice to various stakeholders about what is expected in good practice social impact assessment (SIA) and social impact management processes, especially in relation to project development. Project development refers to dams, mines, oil and gas drilling, factories, ports, airports, pipelines, electricity transmission corridors, roads, railway lines and other infrastructure including large-scale agriculture, forestry and aquaculture projects. This Guidance Note builds on IAIA's (2003) International Principles for Social Impact Assessment. While the International Principles outline the overarching understandings of the SIA field, including the expected values of the profession, this document seeks to provide advice on good practice in the undertaking and appraisal of SIAs and the adaptive management of projects to address the social issues. As a statement of good and sometimes leading practice, not all the information in this document will necessarily be applicable in every situation – people utilising this information will need to establish for themselves what is appropriate in each particular context. The intended users of this document include: • SIA Practitioners/Consultants who want to know how their practice compares with international best practice; • Project Developers/Proponents (private sector or government) to assist them in evaluating SIA consultants and in knowing what to expect from consultants; • Regulatory agencies in terms of judging the quality and acceptability of SIA reports and in determining what procedures and expectations will be; • Social specialists in the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), such as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Bank (AfDB), European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); • Social staff in other financial institutions, especially Equator Principles banks; • Development cooperation agencies; • Government planning agencies; • Communities and local peoples; • Civil society organizations; • People responsible for SIA regulatory frameworks.

Foreword-- Abdullah Turkistani Introduction-- Michael Looft PART I: TRENDS Ethical Finance: Introduction-- Miguel Ganzo 1. How Finance Could be Embedded in Ethics-- Elias Erragraguy, Kader Merbouh, and Bernard Paranque 2. Social Responsible Investments-- Inigo Serrats Islamic Banking: Introduction-- Raja Almarzoqi 3. The Role of Islamic Finance in Economic Development-- Raja Almarzoqi 4. Integrating Philanthropy with Microfinance-- Mohammed Obaidullah and Nasim Shirazi Non-Banking Solutions: Introduction-- Jonathan Axtell 5. Non-Banking Solutions-- Faisal Atbani PART II: PRACTICAL EXAMPLES: GLOBAL PROBLEMS, LOCAL SOLUTIONS 6. Crowdfunding and Islamic Finance-- Tamer Taha and Inmaculada Macias 7. The Solidarity Fund Project-- Juan Antonio Romera 8. The Garut Waste Bank Project-- Anton Abdul Fatah 9. The Swedish JAK-- Miguel Ganzo Conclusion-- Celia de Anca

Abstract AbstractDas Praxisbuch zum Social-Impact-Modell stellt theoriegestützte Tools, Methoden und Instrumente zur Entwicklung, Planung, Steuerung und Kontrolle sozialer Hilfen bereit. Es schließt somit die Lücke zwischen Theorie und Praxis und widmet sich der Fragestellung: "Wie funktioniert das Social-Impact-Modell in der praktischen Anwendung?"

'Networks for Social Impact' is a broad review of how nonprofits, businesses, and governments work together to tackle social problems. The book argues that network design and management is not a one-size-fits-all formula. Instead, the type of social issue, the mechanism for social impact, environment, and resources available each determine appropriate choices