Should Impact Investing Require Social License to Operate?

credit: Itchmo

It's a pertinent question as to whether a Social License to Operate (SLO) is appropriate in the area of Impact Investing. Assessing the potential impact of SLO in philanthropic endeavors relative to how accountable it is to the community.

In philanthropy, the generosity offered by the philanthropist must be accepted by the target audience; legitimacy of the philanthropic entity must be maintained and strengthened in order to strengthen that relationship.

SLO provides a means of maintaining an entity's legitimacy in its scope of operation. In impact investing, as a subset of philanthropy, a Social License to Operate could maintain the legitimacy of the entity while also aligning the entity's goals with those of the target community.

SLO encourages the engagement of the investor group with the target community; this can range from simply seeking the community's feedback to offering partial ownership of the philanthropic end-product. A Social License to Operate could potentially have a profound positive impact on impact investing.

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