International Venture Philanthropy Center

THE OPPORTUNITY Global social challenges require new solutions and theories. Their scale and complexity is such that current public-sector resources and traditional investment and grant theories are not sufficient to address these challenges. Innovative models which combine private, public and social sector strengths are needed which can deliver more efficient and effective societal impact. Throughout the world, Venture Philanthropy (VP) and Social investment (SI) has proven to be a powerful way to create social impact, by utilizing the same tools applied by the Private Equity/Venture Capital industry to successfully address social problems. VP/SI enables individuals and organizations with high aspirations for making a difference by deploying their financial, human and intellectual resources strategically, with discipline, transparency and accountability. There is opportunity to expand and advance the adoption of VP/SI theories. Two organizations are doing so already very successfully in Europe and Asia: The European Venture Philanthropy Association. The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network. Together these organizations have over 650 members in 52 countries, who – since the inception of these organizations – have mobilized more than USD 7 billion helping create substantial social change and impact. While these theories are being developed on a region-by-region basis, there is opportunity to catalyse these methods on a global level.