Sustainable finance

Social Finance

Finance explicitly pursuing social as well as financial returns — social banking, community finance, microfinance and impact investment.

Established · Editorial draft

Definition

Social finance is the provision of finance with the explicit intention of achieving social impact alongside financial return, spanning social and ethical banks, credit unions and community development finance institutions (CDFIs), microfinance, social enterprise investment, social impact bonds and the social end of impact investing. It is distinguished from conventional finance by intentionality (impact as an objective), and from pure philanthropy by the expectation of capital preservation or return.

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