Value of the investing organization's support for capacity-building efforts at investee companies as of the end of the reporting period.
Organizations should footnote all assumptions used.
This metric is intended to capture the value of the investing organization's support for capacity-building efforts at companies in their portfolio as of the end of the reporting period. Organizations should include only that support they paid for directly and should exclude any support funded by third parties.
Per the United Nations (https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/capacity-building), capacity building is "the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in a fast-changing world." For entrepreneurs and companies, capacity building can include trainings in fundraising techniques, fiscal management, or other business skills; support in recruiting and hiring staff or volunteers; networking support; consulting services regarding process implementation; mentoring; and purchasing IT and other equipment or resources to support business growth.
For an example of how investors can provide capacity-building support to entrepreneurs, see "Unleashing the Potential of Entrepreneurs of Color in Massachusetts: A Blueprint for Economic Growth and Equitable Recovery" (https://massinc.org/research/entrepreneurs-of-color/).
Used along with Target Stakeholder Demographic (PD5752) to specify historically marginalized groups due to race and/or ethnicity, this metric aligns with the Corporate Racial Equity Alliance’s (https://corporateracialequityalliance.org/) Investor Blueprint for Racial Equity and its corporate-focused CEO Blueprint for Racial Equity (https://corporateracialequityalliance.org/2021-blueprint).
June 2022 - IRIS v5.3 Released (current version)
New metric. Value of Capacity Building and Advisory Services Provided (II0324) was developed via the IRIS+ Racial Equity Expert Subgroup.
IRIS Metrics Work Better in Sets
To use IRIS metrics—and the resulting data—to understand impact performance, IRIS metrics should be used and analyzed in generally accepted sets and according to well-defined objectives. IRIS+ gives you access to generally accepted Core Metrics Sets aligned to common Impact Themes and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).