A growing group of investors around the world is seeking to make investments that generate social and environmental value as well as financial return. This emerging industry of impact investing has the potential to become a potent force for addressing global challenges. But how might it succeed or fail? Will it take the next five to 10 years? 25 years? Or will it not happen at all?

This report, by Monitor Institute's Jessica Freireich and Katherine Fulton, examines impact investing and how leaders could accelerate the industry's evolution and increase its ultimate impact in the world. It explores how impact investing has emerged and how it might evolve, including profiles of a wide range of impact investors. The report also provides a blueprint of initiatives to catalyze the industry.

The strategy was completed in January 2009 with lead funding and support from the Rockefeller Foundation. Funding was also provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

Monitor Institute, a part of Monitor Group, is a social enterprise that is part consulting firm, part think tank, and part incubator of new approaches. Our mission is helping innovative leaders develop and achieve sustainable solutions to significant social and environmental problems. We believe that achieving these solutions requires bold leaders to integrate pioneering ideas, effective action, and efficient capital. And we believe that today’s complex challenges call for leadership from all three sectors—business, government, and nonprofit.