The European Center for Social Finance (ECSF, www.ecsocfin.com) is a research and advisory organization based at Munich Business School. All projects have a European focus and include topics such as alternative finance for social innovations, human rights, youth unemployment, the role of new technologies or technical assistance for social enterprise [...]

The article “Social Reporting Standard-  making social impact visible” by ECSF co-founder Barbara Scheck has been published in the first volume of the Sustainable Finance book series by Springer. Sustainable Finance is a reference series linking research and practice on concepts and findings  in the field of sustainable investing and [...]

2021 is certainly a year which makes predictions challenging. I still try to come up with four predictions for the coming year: Shifting Narratives: Poverty and unemployment won’t be seen as personal failures anymore The Reckoning: Good and bad corporate behavior will become more visible Social Data: The social [...]

In the wake of COVID 19 crisis, the markets have observed a surge in social bonds emissions. As of September 30, prior to the up to €100bn first social bond of the European Union (SURE employment scheme), the volume of social bonds issued was more than eight-fold the one [...]

The Robertson Trust Foundation in Scotland recently published the results of an initial evaluation of their Social Bridging Finance scheme (SBF) pilot. Supporting a highly demanding social services’ transformation in Scotland, SBF is a finance and operational partnership between a private funder, a social enterprise, and a local authority. [...]

Frischepost has raised a seven-figure amount in an investment round led by BonVenture. Hamburg-based Frischepost is linking farmers to consumers and is delivering more than 2.500 different products with electric vehicles. This investment should not be confused with Flaschenpost which is delivering beverages and was recently sold for €1 [...]