How should we fund private organizations that improve social welfare?

In his doctoral dissertation, Financing of Nonprofits and Social Enterprises, Andreas Nilsson contributes to making the efforts of socially responsible investors and philanthropists more effective.

His research falls into the new academic field of social finance, which concerns the financing issues of private organizations aiming to solve problems such as poverty, social exclusion and environmental issues. Social finance brings together several different disciplines, including finance, public economics and philanthropy and Andreas Nilsson is a pioneer in this important area.

His main conclusions include:
• Weak corporate governance is a very costly problem for traditional nonprofit organizations.
• Investing in socially responsible firms can be optimal, even if these firms do not profit from their CSR activities.
• Many investment policies used by socially responsible investors are suboptimal, including negative screening, breakeven conditions and Social Return on Investment (SROI).

“Based on my research, I am very optimistic about the future of social businesses and how investors can contribute to their success”, says Andreas Nilsson.

About Andreas Nilsson
Andreas Nilsson pursued his PhD in the Department of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics. During this time, he was affiliated with the Swedish House of Finance and SIFR and spent two years as a visiting fellow at Harvard University. He is the founder of Sonanz, an asset management firm focused on social investments.

For more information, please contact:
Andreas Nilsson: nilsson@sonanz.com, +49 151 2237 1025