We hope to see a future in which more funds flow to investments seeking the generation of social and/or environmental value in conjunction with some level of financial performance. As the 'capital markets' moniker would suggest, we would like to see these capital flows be performance-based (so that funds advance the work of high-performance investees, while being less accessible to lower-performing and/or riskier ventures). Furthermore, we would like to see these investments adopt structures that more completely address the diverse needs and interests of investors and investees. Our ambition is that by better organizing the ideas and initiatives of the many individuals who have worked to frame this emerging market, these goals may be advanced. The paper's secondary goals are to help focus future research and praxis on efforts that build on the significant body of existing work without unduly re-treading well-worn analytical paths. This paper seeks to promote an elevated discussion of the social capital markets, a discourse focusing on high-leverage issues. The paper also invites experts from related academic and practical fields to engage in a conversation that has to this point largely been conducted between social sector professionals turning their attention to capital flows and finance professionals placing their expertise in the service of social purposes
