The single market needs new, inclusive growth, focused on employment for all, underpinning the growing desire of Europeans for their work, consumption, savings and investments to be more closely attuned to and aligned with 'ethical' and 'social' principles.

Social finance is fast becoming a mainstream source of funding for goods and services that target poor people across the globe. With social finance, impact investors put their capital behind enterprises that profitably cater to underserved populations by expanding access to critical goods and services, such as healthcare, affordable housing, credit, and quality employment. Social finance is hybrid in that it is driven by both social and commercial imperatives: Impact investors and social businesses want to generate financial returns alongside a positive social impact.

The Single Market Act II states that “the Commission will develop a methodology to measure the socio-economic benefits created by social enterprises. The development of rigorous and systematic measurements of social enterprises’ impact on the community ... is essential to demonstrate that the money invested in social enterprises yields high savings and income”.

In November 2009, EIF issued a working paper on the European microfinance market. In this study, we found that there are wide spectra of final beneficiaries and intermediaries and concluded that here is no common microfinance business model in Europe. While our findings suggested that the microfinance market is immature and fragmented, they also pointed to its growing importance as a market segment with a potential to counter poverty and unemployment while fostering financial and social inclusion.

This policy brief will present the fundamental issues and ongoing debates surrounding social impact measurement. It will also provide concrete examples of measurement methods, underline challenges related to social enterprises and conclude with a number of issues relevant to policymaking.

New sets of finance products have emerged in the market that can serve the needs of disadvantaged entrepreneurs. This policy brief focuses on these new tools, which offer a more sustainable approach than traditional grants to finance inclusive entrepreneurship.

This paper aims to provide an introduction and overview about the social investment market for OECD member countries. Social investment is becoming increasingly important as a way to address both social and economic challenges. Several OECD member countries have been active in creating policies and support mechanisms for social investment. This paper seeks to provide background information on social investment, demonstrate how the market is evolving and highlight the role that policy makers can play in facilitating the development of the market.

This study investigates the effects of microcredit in the European market. Based on the review of relevant literature and recent surveys, this research explores the general meaning of microcredit before addressing the European SME landscape with a special focus on micro enterprises and Microfinance Institutions (MFIs).

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) can - in addition to their classic products - develop non-financial services: vocational training, technical assistance, agricultural or health education. The comparative assessment of five Latin American MFIs (including FINCA Peru) shows that performance varies depending on how non-financial services are integrated into usual activities, but that this diversification is possible and even seems to make a great improvement to the quality of the portfolio.