The Social Impact Club: Research, Capital, Community & Impact
Across the UK and East Africa, more purpose-led organisations are committing to balancing profit and impact.
At the same time, the impact economy is growing rapidly.
Capital, customers, and partners are increasingly asking not just what impact are you creating, but:
can you prove it?
This shift matters to everyone working in social impact.
What interests us is how that commitment evolves over time
- How does purpose translate into governance, reporting, culture and capital?
- How is impact understood and embedded internally?
- How does it shape external credibility and trust?
To explore these questions, we are bringing together social enterprises, NGOs, purpose-led businesses, and certified organisations across both regions.
The Social Impact Club is a collaborative space to build research, share insight, and learn from each other, as organisations move towards more rigorous, credible, and scalable approaches to impact, and ultimately towards Social Impact Excellence.
Email us to join the research, the conversation and the club:
marcus@mysocialimpact.org
Research & Emerging Themes
Through ongoing conversations with founders, impact leads, advisors and investors, we are examining how impact commitments translate into practice, particularly within fast-growing and entrepreneurial markets.
A key area of interest is how formal standards and certification operate in real-world settings.
This includes widely recognised frameworks such as B Corp certification, which has helped to set the pace in how organisations define, measure and report impact.
Areas of focus include:
- The integration of impact metrics into management reporting
- Board-level oversight of social and environmental performance
- The clarity, consistency and credibility of impact data
- How purpose influences strategic and capital allocation decisions
- How impact is understood internally and communicated externally
- Whether certification strengthens stakeholder and investor confidence
Insights will be shared through blogs, research papers, webinars, discussions and podcasts, grounded in real-world experience.
Capital & Investment Readiness
Across East Africa, many purpose-led enterprises engage with Development Finance Institutions, family offices and institutional impact investors.
In this context, credibility is critical.
- Reliable data
- Clear methodology
- Strong governance
- Alignment between purpose and performance
We are particularly interested in what it means to be impact investment ready.
This includes exploring:
- How impact investors are increasingly conducting impact due diligence, alongside financial analysis
- Whether certification, including B Corp, strengthens investment readiness and credibility
- What alternative approaches exist for organisations that are not certified
- How organisations can build robust, investor-grade impact measurement and reporting systems
A key question is whether being a B Corp enhances readiness for investment, or whether there are multiple pathways to becoming impact investment ready.
These are active areas of research and discussion within the Social Impact Club.
With a background in corporate finance in London and ongoing work across East Africa, this intersection between impact and investment remains a central focus.
Social Impact Club – East Africa
Alongside the research, we are establishing the Social Impact Club in East Africa.
The aim is to create a thoughtful and inclusive space for:
- Social enterprises and purpose-led businesses
- Organisations exploring certification, including B Corp
- Certified organisations
- NGOs and charities
- Advisors and ecosystem builders
- Impact-focused investors
Through roundtables and curated discussions, the Club encourages peer exchange, shared learning and practical dialogue as the regional ecosystem continues to develop.
Complementary Frameworks
Formal standards provide structured routes to certification and external recognition.
There are a wide range of approaches organisations use to demonstrate credibility, including international standards such as ISO, sector-specific certifications such as Rainforest Alliance and Organic, and broader frameworks such as B Corp, as well as UK-based initiatives like the Good Business Charter.
Each plays a different role, depending on the organisation, sector and geography.
Some are focused on specific products or supply chains, others on governance, ethics and overall business practices.
B Corp is one of the more comprehensive frameworks, covering a broad range of impact areas, but it is one of many approaches organisations may consider.
Alongside these, we are interested in a different but complementary question:
How is social impact managed within an organisation?
Our approach focuses on advancing organisations towards Social Impact Excellence by embedding impact as a management discipline.
At the core is a simple framework built around five pillars:
Purpose Leadership Data Delivery Communication
Together, these reflect how impact moves from intention to something that is clearly defined, measured, managed and communicated.
This is not a rules-based or compliance-led approach.
It is about building the internal capability, systems and accountability needed to manage impact in the same way organisations manage financial performance, operations or people.
As a starting point, organisations can complete a Social Impact Maturity Assessment.
This is a simple 10–15 minute exercise that provides a snapshot of where an organisation currently sits across the five pillars, followed by a short conversation to reflect on the results and next steps.
It is open to any organisation looking to better understand how impact is embedded in practice.
This approach can support organisations working towards certification, including B Corp, but it is not dependent on any single standard.
Importantly, the Social Impact Club is not a platform to promote a single methodology.
It is a space to explore, compare and refine different approaches, including our own, with learning shared in both directions.
Join the Conversation
If you are:
- A certified B Corp or exploring certification
- Active within the UK or East African impact investment ecosystem
- Interested in contributing to research or participating in the Club
We would love to chat with you: marcus@mysocialimpact.org