The Snowball Fund’s annual impact outcomes per £1 million invested.

Impact measurement is central to impact investing. According to the widespread Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) definition, impact measurement is a core characteristic of impact investing, as distinct from ESG. Expert impact management is also crucial to building successful, profitable companies that can improve outcomes for society and our world.

Snowball is committed to setting best practices in how we measure and report our impact.

For the first time, we are sharing an illustration of the collective annual positive impact associated with a £1 million investment in the Snowball Fund. This demonstrates the depth and breadth of impact across the portfolio.

Learn more about how we arrived at the numbers.

At Snowball, we only invest in best-in-class solutions, and we are proud of their impact. As we report on these impact metrics for the first time, here is a guide explaining some of the challenges in collecting impact data.

The twelve metrics we have gathered address the Fund’s two target impact areas, social equity and environmental sustainability, and the six themes that sit below them.

We have gone through an extensive exercise to gather the impact data. This has included focused engagement initiatives with our investments and the use of third parties such as Net Purpose, a real-time impact measurement and reporting platform for public companies. The reported data is attributable to the Snowball Fund, accounting for Snowball’s percentage ownership of the underlying holdings. We believe this is the best way to present impact data as it reduces the risk of double counting. We have not independently verified the data provided to us by third parties.

In the past, we have been wary of presenting aggregated impact data as this does not necessarily capture the nuance of how underserved the people experiencing the impact solution are - or the depth and duration of impact achieved. However, impact reporting is important from an accountability perspective, just like reporting on financial metrics. These numbers add a valuable additional layer of understanding to the portfolio and our aim is to use these as a tool to maximise the impact of the portfolio, track how impact has changed over time and ultimately drive financial returns.

Snowball is part of a wider ecosystem enabling outcomes in its investment portfolio. Attributing impact can be difficult as it is hard to say who caused the impact, and who contributed to what. The figures we present are therefore a proxy for how Snowball has contributed to impact.

The impact data presented is likely to be a conservative estimate of the positive outcomes associated to the Snowball Fund, for several reasons, which are as follows.

• The metrics we have selected do not capture the full scale of the impact achieved by all the investments. As an example, GEV Wind Power provides maintenance services for wind farms and the key impact metrics they gather are number of blades serviced or annual megawatts of clean energy maintained, which is not covered by our list of metrics

• Several investments are not as far progressed in the collection and reporting of impact data. Some are early-stage companies focused on product development and commercialisation, and it is understandable that impact data collection may not yet be a priority

• We have excluded investments in the portfolio that will generate or enable impact in the future. For example, real estate development of healthcare facilities or affordable housing where impact will occur once these are in operation

• Numerous investments, including impact litigation, are focused on systemic impact, which is not currently captured within the impact metrics. Snowball and its peers are working on how best to encapsulate such a broad concept into better defined metrics

This impact illustration is just the start. Our goal is to continue working closely with the sector and our portfolio to drive forward best practice in impact reporting.

Collating the Snowball Fund’s impact outcomes is one of many ways Snowball measures and monitors the impact of the portfolio. Our best-in-class impact framework informed by evolving best practice across the sector continues to be core to portfolio impact measurement and management.

Footnotes

¹ Assumes that one meal is equivalent to 550g.

² International Civil Aviation Organization carbon emissions calculator LDN to JFK.

³ Ofgem average gas and electricity usage.

⁴ Average UK households’ annual waste. Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs Official Statistics (2022).