The start of the Impact Management Project network

We are pleased to share the launch of the Impact Management Project (IMP) network during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. IMP is an Ally to the WBA and we are proud to be one of the nine members of the IMP network.

“We believe that the work of IMP and it’s network can play an important role in enabling impact management to become a norm for business and investors. Together the IMP Network can work towards setting standards of practise to manage performance and impact, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We look forward to our partnership with the IMP network, working together to share expertise on creating a framework and indicators that can be used in our corporate SDGs Benchmarks, driven on the ground impact.”

– Gerbrand Haverkamp, Executive Director, WBA

The SDGs challenge all businesses and investors to understand and manage their impact on people and the planet. There has been a growing demand for greater consensus on what constitutes good impact management practice, and the IMP network was created as a response to that demand. This global network of standard-setting organisations has come together to accelerate widespread adoption of impact measurement and management. The network consists of nine leading organisations with expertise in data, principles, disclosure standards and benchmarking (see list below). It builds on the work of the Impact Management Project, through which over 2,000 stakeholders across more than 50 countries came together to agree on norms for impact management. In an increasingly fragmented landscape of initiatives, this network offers a unique shot at agreeing on standards of practice that might ultimately become generally accepted globally.

 “In financial management, ‘general acceptance’ of norms for how we talk about, measure and manage financial performance enables capital to flow efficiently across value chains and across borders. If we want impact management to become the norm for every enterprise and investor, as the SDGs demand, we need shared principles, reporting standards and benchmarking methods for impact. The IMP network is the first time that such a diverse group of organisations, from across the entire value chain, have chosen to work on content in a deliberately coordinated fashion. This is our best shot at creating an impact management approach that can ultimately become ‘generally accepted’ globallyy.

– Clara Barby, Lead Facilitator Impact Management Project

If stakeholders across the value chain can understand and report on their performance using a generally accepted approach, it will be easier to work together to achieve common goals like the SDGs, facilitate the flow of more capital into the space, and prevent any attempts at impact-washing.

The IMP network is a collaboration between nine global organisations with complementary areas of expertise:

• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• The International Finance Corporation (IFC)
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
• Social Value International (SVI)
• The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)
• The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
• The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA)
• The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG)

Please visit IMP’s website for more information about the network.