A Swiss foundation has set up a platform bringing together the stakeholders in impact finance (philanthropy, investment, funds, family offices, etc) to enable them to assess impact projects, support them and remove the ceiling on their financing (donations, investments, blended finance, coaching) in order to make these projects economically viable and scalable.

It is looking for a criteria tool designed to identify, assess, monitor, support and evaluate impact projects. The tool is intended to optimize impact investment decision-making processes, ensuring that selected projects maximize social and environmental benefits while ensuring sustainable profitability and functional viability.

Benefits sought
1. Customized evaluation: customizable evaluation criteria, enabling users to define specific priorities according to their impact objectives. This includes social, environmental and economic indicators adapted to each project.

2.Automated tracking:collection and analyze of relevant data to generat regular reports to inform investors of project progress and impact.

3. Purpose-built format for inclusion in a collaborative platform to facilitate collaboration and exchanges between various players in impact investing.

4. Real-time analysis:
Potentially, propose advanced data processing algorithms that do not integrate artificial intelligence, using the successful tricks of projects that have become economically viable or scaled up (human identification and scaling).

Possible solutions
1. Interactive dashboards that visualize project performance data (dynamic graphs, hotspot maps and comparative reports)

2. Simulation tools to model different investment and impact scenarios, helping investors to predict potential outcomes before making decisions.

3. External data integration: the tool can integrate data from external sources, such as public databases, research reports and sustainable development indicators, to enrich the analysis.

The tool is used to :
- Identify projects with high impact potential
- Assess the viability and effectiveness of proposed projects
- Monitor project progress in real time
- Support project leaders with recommendations based on data and best practices
- Evaluate the final impact of projects to ensure greater transparency and accountability.

The tool is based on scientific sources such as :
- United Nations (UN) reports on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) studies on social and environmental impact
- Competence centers for sustainable finance
- Academic publications on impact assessment methodologies, in ethical finance and philanthropy
- Databases on ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) performance indicators

Development stage
To be usable, the tool must be at an advanced prototype stage, having demonstrated its ability to process and analyze data reliably. The main functionalities should be operational, with an intuitive user interface and robust security systems to protect sensitive data.
However, it may be possible to schedule a collaborative workshop to move towards this stage if the skills are already in place.

The first proposals should be collected by September at the latest to discuss the solutions before a working meeting with interested professionals planned early December at the UN in Geneva.
Advantages and innovation
Criteria list and tool designed by peers to support UN, impact investment funds, NGOs, international organisations, banks, foundations, philanthropists and family offices, social enterprises and government agencies and development institutions to increase the number of projects detected and supported, while increasing their success rate.
Technical Specification or Expertise Sought
The tool must have certain basic parameters such as financial impact or accounting bases, simplifying them (agile method, etc.) and adding other parameters in order to optimize impact investment decision-making processes:

1. Research and analysis skills:
- Documentary Research: ability to conduct in-depth research on academic publications, industry reports, and industry and financial databases.

- Critical Analysis: skill in critically evaluating sources and data to determine their reliability and relevance.

2. Specific expertise:
- Sustainability experts: in-depth knowledge of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues.

- Economists and sociologists: contribution of a socio-economic perspective on the impacts of projects.

- Business and NGO management: setting up successful projects

- Management of disruptive technologies: economic viability