Fund managers often invest significant time and effort into crafting “impact reports.”
That’s largely because, historically, there has been no clear, shared understanding of what ‘good’ impact reporting actually looks like. The result? Reports that often feel more burdensome than necessary for managers, and less useful than they should be for investors.
Last spring, the Impact Performance Reporting Norms were published following an 18-month public consultation led by Impact Frontiers. The Reporting Norms establish a consensus on how asset managers in private markets can report their impact performance to asset owners.
Now being piloted by more than 100 investors worldwide, the process is beginning to reveal what investors actually find most valuable in impact reporting. One perhaps surprising insight: many investors place significant value on case studies, seeing them as a powerful way to bring impact to life and support decision-making.
Effective storytelling
At the same time, investors are often skeptical of case studies when it’s unclear whether they represent typical performance or have been cherry-picked to showcase only success stories. The Reporting Norms seek to address this tension by providing recommendations to managers about not just what information to include, but also how to present it transparently. That includes clearly disclosing:
- How the case study was selected. For example, was the featured investee based on an objective criterion, such as representing the largest investment(s) in the portfolio? Or simply because it was the only investment with sufficient available data?
- What message the manager hopes to convey by including it. A best-case example might help to communicate “What does a high-impact investment look like?” or “What factors contributed to its success?”
This kind of transparency helps case studies resonate with investors, offering a credible and compelling narrative of change that complements other performance disclosures.
Effective storytelling through case studies isn’t in opposition to good impact reporting. It can be an integral part of it, if done well.
Matt Ripley is a director of Impact Frontiers, responsible for leading research and field-building projects.
