Frequently Asked Questions

Impact investing is investments made into companies, organizations and funds with the intention to generate positive social and environmental outcomes alongside a financial return. – The Global Impact Investing Network (Source: GIIN)

The precise elements of each organization’s definition can differ. At the Case Foundation, we believe Impact Investing requires three necessary conditions, in addition to our belief in double bottom line returns:

• Intentionality: Clearly articulated objectives at the outset, pertaining to both social and financial objectives

• Measurement: A tangible commitment to track performance across social and financial metrics

• Transparency: A belief in information-sharing and insight into decision making, particularly as it relates to reporting out against expectations

To learn more, check out A Short Guide to Impact Investing at ShortGuide.org.

A social enterprise is an organization or initiative that marries the social mission of a non-profit or government program with the market-driven approach of a business. (Source: Social Enterprise Alliance)

The Impact Investing Network Map displays the companies, investors and funds that appear in the databases from ImpactSpace and Crunchbase. ImpactSpace is committed to collecting and making publicly available the most up to date and accurate information on impact investments across all industries, geographies and impact objectives. For more on ImpactSpace’s philosophy on open data, please visit their website.

Our ability to provide a freely accessible database and visual representation of impact deals hinges on a collective commitment to transparency. If you are social entrepreneur, work for a socially minded corporation, have carved out a portion of your portfolio to impact investing or operate an impact focused fund, incubator or accelerator we encourage you to verify, update and/or share your data to the ImpactSpace website, to make sure your presence and connections are properly represented.

The Impact Investing Network Map displays the companies, investors and funds that appear in ImpactSpace’s and Crunchbase’s databases. For more on ImpactSpace’s philosophy on open data, please visit their website.

Visit the Insights page to learn more about this preliminary dataset. For complete information on our Data Policy, please visit the About page.

We’re excited that you’d like to join us in this important work by sharing data to fill the gaps and help build this ecosystem.

Depending on the volume and characteristics of the data you will be sharing, we encourage you to use the following methods:

• Click “Submit Data” on any page of the Network Map to be redirected to ImpactSpace’s website to add a new investor or company. Try it out here!

• If you have an entire portfolio of investments to share, you may consider joining the ImpactSpace Venture Network (ISVN), which facilitates easy contribution of large amounts of data with support from the ImpactSpace team. Learn more about ISVN here.

• To edit the data please visit the specific profile page on the ImpactSpace website. Once the edit has been accepted by ImpactSpace, you can expect to see the update on the Network Map within one week.

We welcome interest in partnering with us on the Network Map. Please use the feedback form to send your request. 

If you’re interested in being a bigger part of the Network Map, we’re always looking for additional data partners! Please use the feedback form to send us more information.

A reminder that the Case Foundation does not select, enter or manipulate any data through the Network Map platform. This is done through our data partners. Consideration of new data partners does not make any guarantees regarding inclusion or exclusion of any and all impact investing data.

Thank you for your commitment to accuracy in publicly available data. We welcome your input on the data presented in the Network Map. You can recommend updates to company, investor, fund and investment details at ImpactSpace.

To adjust your information please visit ImpactSpace to access your profile and click edit. We also invite you to share your feedback on the Impact Investing Network Map to help us build a better tool.

While it is great to know that you are excited by the activity of our peers in impact investing, the Impact Investing Network Map displays the connections that exist in the ecosystem and the publicly available contact information displayed on their individual ImpactSpace profiles.

The Network Map does not provide a tool to directly facilitate introductions.

The inclusion of any information within the Impact Investing Network Map or accompanying articles and documentation is not an indication of an endorsement, recommendation or advisement with regard to any investment decisions.

Please use the feedback form to send us your questions or other feedback. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

The Impact Investing Network Map is being created by the Case Foundation, in partnership with ImpactSpace and Crunchbase. ImpactSpace currently serves as the lead data partner for the Network Map and Crunchbase serves as a secondary data partner.

In designing this platform, we’ve benefited from the guidance and advice of the University of Chicago’s Center for Data Science and Public Policy and Cathy Clark at Duke University. The University of Chicago team provided strategic and tactical advisement regarding the use of data within the Network Map. Cathy Clark provided strategic guidance regarding impact investing and the Network Map project scope. We also thank the Data Working Group as well as the Advisory Group, made up of industry experts and peers, for their guidance and feedback throughout the development process.