Social Value Investing

Social Value Investing presents a new way to approach some of society's most difficult and intractable challenges. Although many of our world's problems may seem too great and too complex to solve - inequality, climate change, affordable housing, corruption, healthcare, food insecurity - solutions to these challenges do exist, and will be found through new partnerships bringing together leaders from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors.

In their new book, Howard W. Buffett and William B. Eimicke present a five-point management framework for developing and measuring the success of such partnerships. Inspired by value investing - one of history's most successful investment paradigms - this framework provides tools to maximize collaborative efficiency and positive social impact, so that major public programs can deliver innovative, inclusive, and long-lasting solutions. It also offers practical insights for any private sector CEO, public sector administrator, or nonprofit manager hoping to build successful cross-sector collaborations.

Social Value Investing tells the compelling stories of cross-sector partnerships from around the world - Central Park and the High Line in New York City, community-led economic development in Afghanistan, and improved public services in cities across Brazil. Drawing on lessons and observations from a broad selections of collaborations, this book combines real life stories with detailed analysis, resulting in a blueprint for effective, sustainable partnerships that serve the public interest. Readers also gain access to original, academic case material and professionally produced video documentaries for every major partnerships profiled - bringing to life the people and stories in a way that few other business or management books have done.

Winner of Axiom Business Book Silver Award for Philanthropy / Nonprofit / Sustainability 2019

“What a wonderful approach to solving large problems with a long view, specific collaborated objectives, and cross partner ownership of the metrics for success. Having personally observed successful military humanitarian assistance planning and execution, this five-point approach works and ought to be the standard everywhere. Buffett and Eimicke take the concepts further with a meaningful longer-term and holistic framework for success, which is so important for our future.”

Social Value Investing offers a compelling argument and practical framework for how collaboration between philanthropy, governments, and the private sector can drive long-lasting solutions to the world's toughest challenges. -- Bill Gates
The secret to success often involves recognizing the power of partnerships. Social Value Investing shows how extraordinary returns can be achieved when governments, businesses, nonprofits, and citizens team up and work together. -- Michael Bloomberg
Grounded in a well-researched and tested approach, this book will serve as a framework for partnership building. As you learn from the strategies pursued in these stories, you’ll discover just why I’m so hopeful about the future. You will enjoy this book, and I’ll bet you will be inspired, too, by its message of optimism and action. -- Warren Buffett
The book discusses the benefits of extensive collaboration between companies, governments, philanthropists and investors. But it is Buffett’s framework for predicting and measuring the positive social and environmental impact of a project that will be of interest to impact investors. -- Stephen Foley Financial Times
A critical contribution to our understanding of how to solve the world’s most pressing problems, presented as a practical step-by-step guide to forming powerful transformational partnerships. Through firsthand accounts dispatched from Brazil, India, New York City, and Afghanistan, Social Value Investing sets a new standard for effective international development. -- Josette Sheeran, president and CEO, Asia Society
In this important new book, Howard W. Buffett and William Eimicke have created a simple framework for building lasting social change through partnerships. They provide insights on what has worked, what has not worked, and the lessons learned. These best practices are a great guide for NGOs, private sector firms, and governments that are forging new partnerships. This should be essential reading for students and practitioners in economic development, non-profit management, and public policy. -- Sonal Shah, director, Beek Center for Social Impact+Innovation, Georgetown University
Eimicke and Buffett posit a new architecture for business models used to tackle our most intractable social problems based on the concept of 'shared success.' The solutions they cite lead to not only efficacy but also high performance, motivating a new way of thinking about social change. This book updates our thinking on this new form of problem solving and provides useful pragmatic and actionable examples to serve as business models for the next generation of social change maker. -- Ted D. Zoller, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The public sector is overwhelmed when it comes to the problems it needs to solve. Government faces a crisis of limited resources and a polarized leadership. What Buffett and Eimicke outline in Social Value Investing is how the private sector can fill the vacuum. It isn’t about eliminating the need for government, it’s about how to infuse the public sector with the innovation needed to make a dent into our collective societal challenges, like affordable housing, health care, transportation, or climate change. Bottom line, this book serves as a blueprint for our government officials to address one of our society’s most vexing challenges: our inability to actually solve problems. -- Chuck Todd, Host of Meet the Press
"Making a significant positive impact on the world is the holy grail of today's philanthropists, along with a growing number of businesses and public sector organizations. Impact Rate of Return, a new measurement for social impact at the heart of Social Value Investing, helps organizations achieve that goal. Buffett and Eimicke have authored an inspiring book with a detailed framework for collaborative leaders committed to doing good better.” -- Matthew Bishop, coauthor, Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World, and former senior editor, The Economist Group
Social Value Investing is a must-read for practitioners and academics who are truly interested in how to develop and implement inclusive and effective public policies. By seamlessly connecting rich case studies with an analytically sophisticated framework, Buffett and Eimicke show how partnerships between government, corporations, and philanthropy can provide the resources, expertise, and agility to solve complex twenty-first-century problems. -- Ester R. Fuchs, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science, Columbia University
Claiming to create a cross-sector collaboration is easy. But structuring one that produces lasting positive impact is not so easy. Eimicke and Buffett, two of the country's leading experts with both practical and academic experience, have written the perfect book on how to design and invest in partnerships that produce true value. -- Stephen Goldsmith, director, Innovations in American Government, Harvard University
-- Admiral Cecil Haney, USN (Retired), former commander, U.S. Strategic Command
Howard W. Buffett and William B. Eimicke remind us of a universal truth: none of us can change the world on our own. Using compelling case studies and instructive insights, they demonstrate the power of inclusive partnerships, and show how to create change that is both measurable and meaningful. -- Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation
The authors' key contribution to the field of social value investing - the development of the formula of the Impact Rate of Return as a measure for comparing various social investments - will make this work a visionary, and perhaps controversial, method for determining the value of this type of funding. Booklist
A must-read resource for professional practitioners across the domains of public policy, economic development, corporate governance, and philanthropy. Kirkus Reviews
The book is a good read for all readers....Recommended. Choice

Howard W. Buffett is an adjunct associate professor and research scholar at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He served as the executive director of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and coauthored the New York Times best-seller 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World (2013). Previously, Buffett oversaw economic stabilization programs in Afghanistan and Iraq for the U.S. Department of Defense. He also served as a policy advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he coauthored the president's cross-sector partnership strategy.

William B. Eimicke is professor of practice and founding director of the Picker Center for Executive Education at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He previously served as New York City's Deputy Fire Commissioner for Strategic Planning and Policy, as the housing "czar" of New York State, and as a housing policy and management consultant to vice president Al Gore's National Performance Review. He has coauthored four books on topics including effective public management, contracting, sustainability, and management innovation.

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