go beyond charity
create a legacy
i
Dear Insaan Friends,
We all need a new story.
The human experience calls for new stories periodically – a chance for new beginnings, renewal and perspective.
In this 2018 Annual Report, we are going a little deeper to explain the collective mark we make to improve human lives, as well as describe our operational set-up fueled by the kindness and generosity of our Board of Directors, family, friends, philanthropists and countless partners working with us on a pro bono basis. So, I begin with an expression of gratitude to you for making all of this, all of Insaan, possible.
In 2018, our new story revolved around Insaan’s goal to bring the charitable sector internationally to think of metrics and standards more rigorously.
Along with this relatively ambitious aim, we continue to monitor and accompany our social investees on their journeys, discuss exit possibilities, share additional growth capital, document their and our social impact, facilitate connections and plan due diligence field missions and new social investments.
Behind this synchronized strategy for impact, and the data presented, I wanted to share here what is not captured in the data. I wanted to share here what we have learnt, what we think about, what we observe but too rarely take time to share.
When Insaan was launched in 2007, very few entities were set up to support for-profit and non-profit social enterprises. Today, the field of impact investing has grown tremendously (where investors get a financial return back), but we had made a choice to focus on philanthropic capital, where any financial return would be re-invested to support more social enterprises and we pushed for social and/or environmental returns to be tracked.
Letters to Insaan Social Investors