Impact investors face a dilemma of their own making. On one hand, impact investing is now on the agenda of nearly every Chief Investment Officer. On the other hand, the most recent survey by the Global Impact Investment Network found only $114 billion of the $61 trillion of private fund investable assets that are categorized as impact funds.

The problem is that the term “impact investing” has become code for “investments that do not make money.” This despite the the survey by the GIIN that found 66% of impact funds target risk-adjusted market rates of return.

The transformation of impact investment into a $15 trillion subset of capital markets hinges on eliminating the false-choice between returns and impact. That starts with a willingness of impact investors to leave the safe confines of donative capital — and show the world that social impact is a great business to invest in.

Read the full article by Daniel Pianko about impact investing on ImpactAlpha