Impact
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across many waters to create a ripple”
— Mother Teresa
Positive Systems change
The way the world operates right now is not sustainable. We are damaging our planet and the people that live on it. At Regenerative, we believe that in order to change the world, you must first change the systems that encourage it to operate the way that it does. While there are many advancements and benefits that our systems have brought us, there is still room for improvement. By leveraging technologies and knowledge within the current systems, we can shift them away from perpetuating environmental and social damage to actively contributing to positive social change and a more sustainable world.
Impact at Regenerative
Our company has always had impact at the core of what we do; from our birth as an impact investment vehicle to our current incarnation as a multi-industry family office. Positive impact guides everything we do; how we work, who we work with and where our capital goes.
There are three broad areas of impact that a business or business activity can have; economic, environmental or social. Positive impact in these areas would lead to an increase in economic, environmental or social benefit to either people or other business or places. Whilst from an optimistic perspective the ideal goal for most businesses would be Net Positive Impact – they put more back into society, the environment and the economy than they take out – this is not the exhaustive meaning of positive impact. Positive impact can still be achieved outside of it being Net Positive.
We are working towards creating an impact measurement and management system that helps us and the companies we work with track and report their impact.
Our aims;
Demonstrate that we, and the companies we work with, are working to fulfil our mission and vision.
To build a narrative of a company or project that highlights its impact story in a way that can increase both its marketing and its fundraising capabilities.
Amplify the work of our partners so that other companies may find inspiration and motivation from their impact/profit model.
Contribute to systems change by creating a replicable model for both the scalability of a company itself but also the growth of others.
Identify key risks to impact.
Our areas of focus:
According to the Impact Management Project, there are three ways in which impact can be classified – impact that acts to avoid harm, impact that benefits stakeholders, and impact that contributes to solutions. Regenerative recognizes that while optimal impact is one that targets all three classifications, this doesn’t mean impact that only targets one should be any less valued or amplified.
Acts to avoid harm
Is the enterprise acting to avoid harm to its stakeholders?
In order to achieve a goal of being Net Positive, businesses not only have to be conscious of what they are adding to society, the environment and the economy, but also what they take out.
Benefits Stakeholders
Is the enterprise delivering any positive outcomes?
This classification acknowledges that impact can lie outside the business’ primary impact goals. It promotes general good practice activities that aren’t necessarily product or solution-oriented e.g. paying workers above minimum wage, providing sufficient health-care coverage, having a diverse management team etc
Contributes to Solutions
Are any of the enterprise’s effects contributing to solutions to social or environmental challenges?
The solutions we are interested in are those that are systems changing.
The Four ‘P’ Framework
We look to understand positive impact by using the Four P’s Framework; the intersection between impact activities - product and process - and impact outcomes -people and planet.
Product refers to the goods and services that the company produces. Process refers to the procedures used in order to create and maintain the product.
People refers to social factors, and planet refers to environmental factors.
People x Product
We assess how companies contribute to social solutions through measuring the impact their product has on communities and individuals.
Planet x Product
We assess how companies contribute to environmental solutions through measuring the impact of their product on the planet.
People x Process
We assess how the processes a company uses in the creation and maintenance of its product impacts people through the following; employees, governance, community and supply chain.
Planet x Process
We assess how the processes a company uses impacts the planet through the following; governance, material inputs and outputs, transportation and distribution, built environment and the supply chain.
“If you can't measure it, you can't manage it”
Our Approach
For each company or project we are involved with or lend resource to, we have a series of metrics upon which we measure their impact success. We don’t expect every company to score highly across every indicator, but it is part of Regenerative’s role to highlight where they can improve, and more importantly how they can improve.
Regenerative also measures its own impact using the same metrics.
While there are many existing frameworks for impact measurement, our multi-industry activities and focus on both environmental and social impact have led us to take a holistic approach that incorporates various differing reporting frameworks in an integrative fashion. Our impact reporting aligns with metrics and targets outlined by the following reporting mechanisms;
