Creating Tangible, Measurable Impact

FFI Lenses Globe

Over the past five years Forum for Impact has evolved from hosting intimate gatherings into a trusted organization with a global community of over 460 impact-focused investors, family offices, and leaders from business and government in Europe, US, Canada, Asia, and the Caribbean. As FFI has become more established we have turned our focus to create measurable impact from our dialogue series, prioritizing and facilitating outcomes from each dialogue to produce real change in the world.

Creating Tangible, Measurable Impact

As a central component of our FFI 2.0 Strategy, Forum for Impact has committed to identifying and selecting several key impact areas annually. This strategic focus allows us to translate the innovative ideas and solutions generated within our dialogues into tangible, real-world outcomes and measurable impact. This emphasis on actionable results and quantifiable change not only distinguishes FFI from other convenings and gatherings in the space but also strategically leverages our unique and extensive global network. This network encompasses a diverse range of stakeholders, including impact investors, business leaders, and key government figures.

Forum for Impact has always maintained its position as a trusted entity within our network. This has enabled us to consistently provide a broad spectrum of valuable resources and support to our participants. This support has traditionally included introductions, investment opportunities, connections, and strategic advice. Our Impact Lens initiative represents a significant step forward in our commitment to fostering action and driving impact. Through this initiative, we aim to facilitate and accelerate the transition from dialogue and ideation to concrete action and measurable results within our identified impact areas.

What are the Benefits in Participating in an Impact Lens?

Forum for Impact has committed to identifying and selecting several key impact areas annually. This strategic focus allows us to translate the innovative ideas and solutions generated within our dialogues into tangible, real-world outcomes and measurable impact. This emphasis on actionable results and quantifiable change that strategically leverages our unique and extensive global network of impact investors, business leaders, and key government figures.

Funding Institutions

Empowering mandate-driven institutions focused on funding innovation and specific-impact ecosystems, our Impact Lenses significantly enhance your capabilities. We facilitate the discovery of a greater number of mission-aligned investment-ready projects, foster connections with valuable partners, provide crucial pathways to private capital (often a prerequisite for success), and unlock access to cutting-edge programs and blended finance solutions.

Family Office & Foundations

For discerning family offices and impactful foundations, we offer an exclusive seat at the table, fostering profound Measurable Impact and cultivating a dynamic, collaborative space for strategic partnering and shared vision. While not our central tenet, we also provide thoughtful curation services designed to strategically de-risk both investment portfolios and philanthropic endeavors, ensuring prudent growth and meaningful contributions.

Corporate & Private Enterprise

For forward-thinking corporates and dynamic private enterprises, our Impact Lenses unlock a wealth of new project opportunities, driving enhanced revenue streams and facilitating greater access to diverse funding avenues. Furthermore, we strategically elevate your company’s thought leadership profile, opening doors to a network of new investors and synergistic partners.

Sponsors

Each bespoke Impact Lens also presents a unique sponsorship opportunity. For Family Offices and Foundations, direct sponsorship offers enhanced ownership of tangible outcomes and elevates your reputation as a prominent co-convener and influential initiator in addressing the specific impacts most aligned with your values and philanthropic goals within the social impact sector. For corporate sponsors, we provide a powerful platform to elevate your brand, significantly enhancing brand presence and resonance with a targeted, qualified audience, ensuring authentic brand alignment with specific impactful initiatives, and promoting resulting outcomes and valuable insights across our comprehensive marketing channels.

How Impact Lenses Work

When we convene our gatherings, participants join us to discuss and engage around specific impact areas, such as philanthropy, sustainable oceans, climate, sustainable foreign investment, and donor-advised funds, among other pertinent topics. It often happens that a subset of participants express a desire to extend their engagement beyond the initial dialogues, with the goal of generating tangible outcomes. These outcomes could include establishing a foundation, setting up a donor-advised fund geared towards impact, creating a dedicated fund, or simply collaborating with fellow participants to amplify the impact of their existing foundations or investments.

To facilitate this pre- and post-dialogue collaboration, FFI has created Impact Lenses. These lenses serve as a platform for participants to translate dialogue into real-world impact, and subsequently, to report back to the wider FFI community on their progress and achievements. This process of feedback and reporting not only fosters accountability but also serves to advance the dialogue in specific impact areas.

2025 Impact Lenses

Donor-Advised Funds for Impact

Building on current research on the use of donor-advised funds (DAFs) for impact, there presents an emerging opportunity within the family office community. This is particularly relevant in Canada, where such models are nascent. This Impact Lens will convene existing impact-related DAFs from the US and Europe, along with researchers and family offices from Canada, to explore how these funds can be leveraged to address Canadian sustainability challenges. .

Target Outcome: Mobilising $50 million in donor-advised funds for Impact.

We are targeting the commitment of at least $50 million in donor-advised funds for impact in Canada for 2025/26. This will include realigning current DAFs to focus on impact, and/or the establishment of a new DAF within Forum for Impact to help support this goal.

Blended Finance for Sustainable Oceans

Substantial financial resources are invested annually in the blue economy to foster sustainable oceans, yet challenges remain in integrating public and private finance to stimulate innovation within this sector. A pertinent illustration is Canada’s strategy for sustainable oceans, where the absence of public-private partnerships in funding has resulted in a backlog of unallocated public funding. This funding requires private capital through mechanisms such as “match-funding,” while investors seek de-risked capital in ocean-related projects. This Impact Lens will convene leaders in public and private funding for sustainable oceans, along with leaders from the philanthropic and foundation sectors, to develop a blended finance approach to promoting sustainable oceans.

 

Target Outcome: Mobilising $25 million in blended finance for sustainable oceans.

We are targeting at least $25 million in funding for sustainable oceans using a blended finance approach. This may include existing a range of approaches including blending existing public funding initiatives with private sources, philanthropy, business development funding, and the development of publicly available blended finance blueprints for further collaboration.

Investing In and Alongside Indigenous Peoples for Impact

Numerous institutions, investors, and foundations within FFI’s network concentrate on generating positive outcomes for indigenous communities. However, few collaborate with companies and policymakers within the resources sector to establish measurable results for these communities. This Lens will utilize examples of collaborative investment models from our global networks to facilitate cooperation among these groups and direct investment toward indigenous impact.

 

Target Outcome: Mobilizing $20 million for Indigenous Peoples.

This year we will be seeking to promote investment in Indigenous communities around the world, including in North America, Africa, and Oceania. This will include philanthropic and investment capital as well as economic development and funding from public sources. We are also collaborating with our network on the adoption of innovative financial models for impact such as forest resilience bonds and blue economy restoration programs.

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