Amidst a steady stream of hyperbolic, content-free puff pieces all heralding that the impact investment industry has gone “mainstream,” Omidyar Network’s recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, “Across the Returns Continuum,” is an honest and nuanced treatise outlining their strategic framework. It is a must-read for any investor or philanthropic funder that seeks to develop a serious strategy around investing for impact.

However, for those with the flexibility and fiduciary responsibility to pursue direct impact in truly marginalized and underserved regions and communities, it’s necessary to grapple with the reality that these contexts often require concessionary rates of return, an appetite for a range of risks (geopolitical, currency, security, etc.), as well as a need for creative structures and patient timelines. We find it unhelpful when advisors, fund managers and even asset owners declare that you can have it all, when the reality is that it depends on what “it” is.

To make a real difference, he [Andrew Youn] proposed that we would need to take more risk and accept the realities of more concessionary returns. In lieu of financial returns, however, he suggested that we should expect capital-efficient, scalable returns in the form of increased income and improved livelihoods for the communities that One Acre Fund works in.

Read the full article by Greg Neichin and Diane Isenberg about impact investing on NextBillion