This week was the launch of Y Analytics, a new, independent organization established to drive increased and more effective investment in creating social and environmental good by equipping capital allocators with the research basis to effectively understand the impact of their decisions. The organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C. and led by Maryanne Hancock, will help bridge the divide between the research community and capital allocators. Ultimately, this will ensure that capital directed at addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is used most efficiently, and more broadly, that we advance our abilities to direct capitalism towards solutions that have the potential to create real, tangible impact.
From Maryanne Hancock, CEO of Y Analytics: “We are building on the extensive effort of others, who have worked for decades to advance the world’s understanding of what creates impact. Y Analytics is built on the premise of learning from their work, utilizing research to understand what creates impact, building effective tools to predict, underwrite, and manage it, and sharing that work with others to drive better decision-making. Enabling better decisions around how the world directs capital towards change will be vital in achieving the progress we seek to make.”
From Bono, Co-Founder of The Rise Fund: “Capitalism isn’t immoral, but it is amoral and it needs direction. If capitalism is to be a force for good we have to be able to measure when it’s doing good and when it’s doing harm. To persuade the biggest institutional investors to commit their funds to tackling some of the world’s most urgent challenges we need to be as confident about the impact returns as we are about the financial returns – fuzzy thinking just won’t cut it. We need cold hard facts – that’s what Y Analytics has been created to provide.”
From Bill McGlashan, Co-Founder and CEO of The Rise Fund: “We face a daunting series of global economic and environmental challenges, and as the UN Sustainable Development Goals show, we have to activate the scalable engine of entrepreneurship to reach those heights. To do that, we need to help people better understand what creates real change and empower them to grow the solutions that work. Y Analytics will help inform capital in pursuit of change, ensuring that every dollar is used most effectively and providing a common language to pursue positive impact – narrowing the gap to reach the Sustainable Development Goals and advancing progress towards sustainability and economic inclusion.”
From Sir Ronald Cohen, Chair of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment: “The launch of Y Analytics represents another step in the crucial effort to channel increasing investment to improve lives and the planet. It is a myth that impact is not capable of being reliably measured and compared. If impact investing is our rocket-ship to social improvement, impact measurement is our navigation system. I look forward to supporting Y Analytics efforts to accelerate the impact revolution’s advance.”
From Anders Strömblad, Head of External Management, AP2: “We support the Y Analytics mission in pursuit of a better understanding of how to drive positive social and environmental impact alongside market rate returns. For investors, impact cannot simply be a qualitative term, it should be intrinsic to and fully integrated in one’s business model and quantifiable. Y Analytics’ work to better understand and evaluate what creates impact and to track and assess it over time is vital; we all know why we need to consider social and environmental impact, but how we hold ourselves accountable to our goal is the crux of the issue.”
Y Analytics is an outgrowth of The Rise Fund and is informed in part by active investment experience, totaling nearly $2 billion across 25 investments in a variety of industry sectors and spanning markets around the world. Building on the work of The Rise Fund – in partnership with Bridgespan and KPMG – and staffed by a team of economists and researchers, Y Analytics will seek to translate research to help decision-makers evaluate impact at the front-end of the capital allocation process and manage impact rigorously thereafter. It will also collaborate with other organizations working creatively in this space and share its learnings to help advance knowledge in the field. It will focus on two primary streams of work:
- Creation, Advancement, and Stewardship of Research-based Disciplines – Building mechanisms and methodologies that bridge the divide between research communities, capital allocators, and other key decision-makers. Y Analytics will actively share the approaches and learnings with the public to help advance the field.
- Impact Assessment and Analytics Services – Helping investors make more effective, evidence-based decisions using a rigorous approach that curates and translates research to inform estimations of net impact in economic terms that an investment creates across several impact pathways.
Y Analytics will actively engage with leaders across a wide range of disciplines to ensure that it brings multiple perspectives into its work. Its Editorial Advisory Board includes Helene Gayle (President and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust and former CEO of CARE), Lenny Mendonca (Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey and Company), Judith Rodin (former President, Rockefeller Foundation and President Emerita, University of Pennsylvania), Laura Tyson (Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School, Haas School of Business and Chair, Board of Trustees, Blum Center for Developing Economies, University of California, Berkeley), and Robert J. Zimmer (President, University of Chicago). It is forming partnerships with leading research institutions, such as the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT, the World Resources Institute and with leading researchers who will serve as a Research Advisory Council. These partners will help Y Analytics develop a more thorough understanding of potential impact pathways and continually advance its work.
Y Analytics will partner with and serve a variety of organizations and industries over time.
About Y Analytics
Y Analytics is a new independent public benefit corporation, where research and capital converge for good. Y Analytics bridges the divide between decision-makers and the research community, leveraging a research-based approach to help better understand the impact of capital allocation decisions. Y Analytics will enable the increasing efficiency and reach of every dollar invested and ultimately help catalyze a sustainable future. The organization, which includes an in-formation, affiliated nonprofit is headquartered in Washington DC and led by CEO, Maryanne Hancock.
Photo: Free images
