Two Decades of Impact
For twenty years now, Impact Europe (lest we forget – formerly EVPA) has been championing investing for impact as a viable, powerful way of engendering social and ecological change. Impact Leaders in Venice offered an opportunity to consider how far we have come as a network, before quickly resuming what we do best: looking towards the future.
Change is the fruit of patience and hard work, mixed in with boldness and a slight disrespect for the powers that be. Such was the message of Doug Miller, co-founder of EVPA twenty years ago. In a memory-packed speech, he likened the organization to an acorn that has grown into an oak. “A strong, versatile tree, that is prolific in its own production of new acorns.” In other words, a sustainable force of progress, as well as a continuous source of new agents of change.
Listening along to Doug Miller’s speech was a large group of participants who have seen the organization, as well as the field of impact investing, grow throughout the years. Just shy of half the auditorium joined Impact Europe prior to 2009 – early adopters who have been instrumental in the history of the network. Simultaneously, Miller joyfully acknowledged the presence of many new faces. “Money is of no worth without the intelligence apported by human capital”, he stated, as he took the audience on a trip down memory lane.
There were personal memories, such as the climb up Mount Kilimanjaro that served to finance the early years of EVPA. A steep ascent which would serve as a metaphor throughout the speech. “The mountain we face today is growing faster than we are climbing it,” said Miller, “so it is up to us to find ways to accelerate our climb, to continue being bold and taking strategic risks”.
From Then to Us, Now
It’s the perfect segway to a question that inevitably accompanies each anniversary or birthday – where am I now, in my journey? And how can the past inform the present and the future? Roberta Bosurgi (CEO of Impact Europe), Emma Ursich (The Human Safety Net), Leslie Johnston (Chair of Impact Europe) and Stephen Dawson (fellow EVPA-founder) took to the stage to offer some perspectives on this, with special attention to those moments where they bended the existing rules or made meaningful mistakes.
Stephen Dawson recalled the early days, when venture philanthropy was almost synonymous with breaking the rules, as it meant breaking down barriers between different financial sectors. Dawson likened the impact community to a choir, that is constantly looking for new, beautiful harmonies. Multiple panelists referred to the importance of boldness, about breaking existing value assumptions to replace them with more impact-minded ones. Impact Europe CEO Roberta Bosurgi added a moral message to this. “Rules cannot inhibit your belief in what is right,” she said. A clear reminder to not let external complexities cloud our line of vision.
The next 20
Another one of those birthday thoughts – what comes next? In a way, the goals are clear: mobilise more capital and stakeholders for impact, catalyse collective action, advocate for enabling policies and build new impact investing markets. Initiating a true Age of Impact, as we stated previously in our annual report.
We spent a good bit of time in Venice ruminating about what this might mean in practice, with special attention to the theme of the just transition. Our Impact Week in Bilbao will contribute to fine-tuning our message and alignment, helping to make the next two decades even more impactful than the last two. Bits and pieces of this vision are already floating around, in the form of our Impact Manifesto, or through the words of wisdom shared by all participants.
In any case, a great big thank you to all of those who have been a part of our mission for all that time – for all the meetings, exchanges, networking, the hard work behind the scenes. We hope you will continue to lead the way with us, to break the rules that need breaking, and crack the hard nuts that can grow into strong trees, over time.