Where Capital Meets Accountability

The Impact Evaluation Lab brings the rigor of the capital markets to impact investing.

We provide a first line of financial and impact due diligence, applying third party data and analytics to assess impact and financial performance. So allocators can invest capital with full confidence. 

For impact to scale further, the sector must provide investors with the same high caliber data and decision-making frameworks that they expect from other asset classes. The sustainability sector is experiencing tremendous innovation and evolution. At the same time we are seeing growing scrutiny from regulators and others demanding greater transparency and accountability.

What we do

IEL’s products are grounded in finance and designed to bring greater trust, transparency, and accountability to impact investing, for allocators and fund managers alike.

Our two flagship products work in tandem – built to reinforce one another and address the core barriers holding impact investing back.

For Allocators

The Impact Navigator Database allows investors to fast track fund due diligence and invest in impact with greater confidence. Our database contains data-rich profiles of hundreds of firms and their funds and features those that have completed our rigorous Impact Authenticity Score assessment process. Our uniquely comprehensive analysis measures the impact generated by an investment strategy – alongside credible projections for financial performance. 

Explore The Impact Navigator Database

For Fund Managers

Our Impact Authenticity Score, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive evidence-based assessment gives managers credible third-party validation so you can stand out in a crowded, skeptical market. We go far beyond impact metrics and consider a fund’s mission alignment and impact integration, team composition and experience, impact execution, and financial performance. The process is both consultative and credible and gets managers directly in front of allocators seeking to direct capital to strategies like yours. 

Learn How to Become an IEL Verified Fund

The IEL Ecosystem: How Our Products Work Together

Step 1 - Assess

Funds undergo the Impact Authenticity Fund Assessment (IAS) or IASp (provisional assessment for early-stage funds).

Step 2 - Verify

Each assessment produces a standardized, third-party report that validates mission authenticity, impact execution, and financial performance.

Step 3 - Discover

Assessed funds, and the firms behind them, are featured in the Impact Navigator Database, which features extensive fund profiles and highlights our IEL-verified funds. Our uniquely comprehensive analysis measures the impact generated by an investment strategy – alongside credible projections for financial performance. 

The IEL Difference

Built with the market: Framework developed in collaboration with leading investors, allocators, and fund managers.

Grounded in finance: Methodology designed to meet institutional capital markets expectations

Third-party validation: Independent assessments, free from marketing spin.

  • “It was basically the wild west in impact investing. I think our intention to work with IEL is in part a response to the shifting maturity of the impact industry and our interest in having a third party verification to demonstrate that we are, in fact, leaders in this space and have someone come in, look through all of our systems practices, but also our financial performance and really understand if we're walking the talk.”

    Kristin Sadler, Head of Impact & Platform Quona Capital

  • “It's always helpful to have a third party assessment and to have someone outside the organization… So, we really took it seriously, and we went line by line and we were able to create…a scorecard to measure, not only the financial return but also that impact that our partners are having.”

    Fiorella Diaz, Communications & Social Impact Manager WCCN

  • “I really valued the framework design that you created. And you also taught me some language that I hadn't really been thinking about in terms of how we're investing… It is possible for us to achieve a more sustainable economy. It takes work, it takes commitment, and it takes companies, but also their investors, to support those companies.”

    Tim Dunn, Co-Founder CIO Terra Alpha Investments

Trust Transparency Accountability

IEL’s uniquely comprehensive ecosystem incorporates financial and impact analysis and builds trust in the impact investing market so we can attract greater capital flows from the mainstream capital markets.

  • Investors get the impact and financial insights they need to invest with confidence.

  • IEL Verified Managers get the ability to stand out from the pack and be showcased in front of investors looking to allocate capital to our  greatest challenges.

For Allocators
For Fund Managers