Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Social Impact Exchange launches index of high performers

S&I 100 allows effective non-profits to receive donations direct from Index site.

'By taking the guesswork out of giving, the S&I 100 has the potential to transform individual philanthropy,' says Alex Rossides, president, Social Impact Exchange.

The Social Impact Exchange (SIE), a national membership association dedicated to building a capital marketplace to scale high-impact social solutions, has launched the Social Impact 100 (S&I 100), a broad index of US non-profits with proof of results. Modelled on aspects of the S&P 500, the S&I 100 aggregates top-performing, evidence-based non-profits and tracks the number of people served across their respective portfolios.

'Right now, donors have no easy way of knowing which non-profits are truly effective at helping people in need, which means that fewer charitable dollars are going to those programmes that can do the most good,' said Alex Rossides, president of the Social Impact Exchange. 'The S&I 100 changes that. By taking the guesswork out of giving, the S&I 100 has the potential to transform individual philanthropy the same way the S&P 500 changed investing for individual investors.'

Donors can choose from 100 high-impact non-profits and nearly 16,000 local affiliates that are implementing their solutions. The 100 non-profits are screened for evidence of impact through third-party verified studies - made available to donors on the website. When donors visit the site, they are able to search for high performing non-profits in the issue areas and locations they care about most. Once they select a non-profit, the S&I 100 allows donors to give directly to the organisation in a few quick steps.

The S&I 100 was designed and implemented through a broad, sector-wide collaboration of evaluation firms, ratings firms and other industry leaders. Financial institutions, funder groups and other leading organisations are helping to share the Index with donors.

Major foundations, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation are supporting the SIE, which is also working with donor advised funds, such as Schwab Charitable, to offer the S&I 100 to their philanthropic clients. PRINTEMAIL