The winners of the Impact Narrative Awards, the first ever awards dedicated to outstanding communication that captures the imagination and puts impact investing centre stage, have been announced.

The awards were launched earlier this year by The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG), Torino Social Impact and Social Impact Agenda per l’Italia, the Italian National Advisory Board, which promotes the development of impact finance in Italy. They aim to identify and honour best-in-class storytelling and communication used to persuade financial institutions and governments to put their full weight behind impact investing.

The winners in the category “best impact narrative aimed at the financial sector” were social impact and justice journalist, Meg Massey, and director of communications at Village Capital, Ben Wrobel, for their article “A Story About Power” based on their book Letting Go which highlights the “top-heavy” and “insular” nature of global foundations and impact investment funds and tells the story of those that have “chosen to cede decision-making power to people with lived experience of the problem at hand.”

The winner in the category “best impact narrative aimed at government” was GSG’s National Advisory Board (NAB) in Chile, which was represented by María de los Ángeles Ferrer. The Chile NAB produced a compelling two-minute video that explained how impact investing could help solve some of the globe’s most pressing problems.

The winners were announced to over 1,000 impact professionals during the GSG Global Impact Summit and win communications support from PR firm, Thinkshift, who will develop a communications strategy centred on the award-winning content.

By honouring narrative excellence, the Awards highlight the importance of communications that promote impact investing and the transition to economies that work for all people and the planet. The Awards also provide a platform to strengthen the narratives used to promote impact investing and help the movement to speak with one voice.

Cliff Prior, Chief Executive of the GSG, said:

“We need compelling new ways of communicating with people outside of the impact investing field to truly become mainstream. These winning submissions go a long way to encouraging financial institutions and governments to put their weight behind impact investing. We congratulate the winners and hope that the Awards shine a light on the importance of powerful storytelling in our movement.”

Mario Calderini, Spokesperson for Torino Social Impact, said:

“A compelling narrative is a key tool to foster stakeholder engagement among finance and government sectors in order to expand impact investing. This is why Torino Social Impact actively collaborated and supported the creation of the Awards, which have raised awareness about the importance of communication and to deliver effective examples. We therefore congratulate the winners and thank them for their important contribution for the achievement of the impact movement goals.”

We would like to congratulate all the organisations shortlisted for the Awards. The finalists included: Chi Impact Capital; Centre for Social Investment, University of Heidelberg; UniCredit Social Impact Banking; Bravo Charlie; Neev Fund; Open Value Foundation; and FAIR.

We would also like to thank the Awards selection committee for undertaking the challenge of evaluating the excellent submissions received for consideration:

• Dolika Banda, financial expert, GSG Ambassador, member of the CDC Board
• Elena Casolari, CEO of Opes Italia Sicaf Euveca, a pioneer in the impact investing space
• Tim West, communication expert, founder editor and CEO of Pioneers Post
• Sandra Stewart, communication expert, founder of Thinkshift Communications, which is offering probono consultancy to the winners
• Matias Kelly, former Secretary of State for Social Economy in the Argentinian Government and founder of Sumatoria, an Impact Finance firm