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Het toepassen van bedrijfs- en investeringsinstrumenten voor op duurzaamheid gerichte projecten wordt steeds populairder. Dit leidt tot belangrijke veranderingen in de filantropiesector. Impact investing is een van instrumenten waarvoor wordt gekozen. Maar wanneer wordt er gekozen voor impact investing en wanneer voor het doen van een gift? Natalia Chershembeeva onderzocht het voor haar scriptie Factors that influence individual’s choice between impact investment and charitable giving. Dit onderzoek is waardevol voor zowel goede doelen en non-profits, impact beleggingsfondsen en intermediairs, alsook voor overheden. De Dikke Blauwe sprak met Chershembeeva.
Natalia, you are at a party and have to explain your paper in three sentences. What would you say?
‘There is a debate on whether market mechanisms are effective in addressing social problems. Impact investment is a financial contribution method that becomes more popular among both donors and traditional investors. However, this tendency leads to a threat of donations cannibalization and resource leakage from the philanthropic sector. This research aims to find factors that influence individual choice between charitable giving and impact investing as a method of financial contribution to social projects in order to explain why individuals choose one method over the other.’
What is the most important conclusion after your research?
‘It was found that people prefer different methods of financial contribution in different economic sectors. For instance, in the sectors Food and Agriculture, Health, Microfinance, Water and Sanitation, people are considerably more willing to donate than to invest. On the other side, in the sectors Energy, Financial services and Information & Communication Technologies, people prefer impact investment. This finding helps to understand which way of financial contribution individuals see as the most suitable for the solution of a particular type of social problem.’
Who will find this paper interesting to read?
‘The findings can provide insights for researchers and practitioners focusing on drivers of charitable giving and mechanisms of impact investing behaviour.’
What recommendations can you give that people can put into practice?
‘This research aims to be valuable for three main groups of stakeholders. Firstly, results of this research might help charities and other philanthropic institutions navigate in the changing philanthropic sector. In particular, charities might better understand in what kind of projects or sectors people expect or do not expect financial returns as well as what individual drivers correlate to giving behaviour.
Secondly, Impact investment asset managers such as impact investment funds, intermediaries, banks and development finance institution can better understand the personal drivers and sector preferences of potential impact investors and develop appropriate instruments and products.
Finally, Governments and other standards-setting bodies can use the findings to improve regulations for the emerging industry of impact investing through identifying the sectors or impact themes that could be recipients of philanthropic donations and grants from the government. The role of institutions is to make sure that sectors with a clear impact investment preference (Energy, Financial services and Information & Communication technologies) still receive charitable grants for vital projects and initiatives. Among these initiatives might be grant capital for starting social business in these sectors.’
Natalia Chershembeeva 479945
Coach: Lucas Meijs
Co-reader: Guido Barens
MSc Global Business and Sustainability
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
June 25th, 2018
Scripties en dissertaties
