Challenging Perspectives on Impact Investing

Thursday, December 1

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Cubberley Auditorium

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This event will also be available globally through live-stream and video archived on the Stanford PACS event webpage and on Vimeo, courtesy of Perpetual. Please return to this page at the time of the event to watch the feed live.

The 21st century has witnessed the emergence of a new field of practice—impact investing—that strives to achieve philanthropic goals through innovative forms of return-seeking investment. From the start, the field has given rise to lively debates over vital questions: Is it possible to achieve both market-rate financial returns and meaningful social impact? Can philanthropic funding coexist effectively with commercial investment? How can philanthropists and financial professionals select investment opportunities that will fulfill the promise of impact investing?

In recent years, impact investors have evolved from asking broad questions to seeking specific solutions. They are forging sophisticated tools that they hope will enable them to maximize both expected returns and expected impact.

Join leaders from two pioneering organizations—Matt Bannick of Omidyar Network and Michael McCreless of Root Capital—for a discussion of how they practice impact investing today. Following presentations by Bannick and McCreless, Paul Brest of Stanford University will engage these impact investors in a provocative conversation about whether their models succeed in reckoning with potential trade-offs between financial goals and impact goals.