All the aid and philanthropy in the world combined leaves a $2.5 trillion a year gap in the money needed to finance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The capital is flowing. But it begs the question, what about the impact? We speak so much about the supply of capital in impact investing because the investment doesn’t get started without the money. But the whole reason we are here is for the impact.

Across panels and side conversations at this year’s Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco, participants evaluated how impact investing might help bridge that gap. Sessions discussed how to evaluate progress; how to measure its growth in both dollar terms and impact; and how the sector can realize its full potential.

Some $115 billion worldwide is invested in deep impact investments — in private companies seeking to create impact as well as financial returns, according to the Global Impact Investing Network.

Read the full article by Catherine Cheney at Devex International Development