SIM TIG Week: Using Most Significant Change Stories in Social Finance System Change Initiatives by Jane Reisman, Jasmine Johnson, and John Sherman
How do you as an evaluator learn how individuals or communities experience an investment intended to benefit them when the intervention is not directly with them? This situation faced us – Jane Reisman, Jasmine Johnson, and John Sherman (aka JCrew) – in our evaluation of the Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP). This pool of philanthropic and mission-oriented investors uses an innovative social finance tool known as an “unfunded guarantee” to test credit risk assumptions that historically disadvantaged businesses led by people of color or women. The pool targets small businesses, affordable housing developers, and climate solution providers.