Valuing a new “good”: Debates over the value of the social good in Canada's Social Finance Fund

Abstract

Despite promises of blending financial returns and social good to produce positive impact, what distinguishes “social” finance from the more traditional financial sector is ambiguous and often contested. Indeed, while financial returns are easily quantified and defined, the idea of a social return contains a plurality of understandings of how the social good is valued, who has power over its valuation, and its relative worth in comparison to financial returns. This article addresses this tension through examining how the concept of the social good has been understood and contested in the creation of Canada's Social Finance Fund. Using the creation of the fund in 2018 as a departure point, I outline the results of 37 interviews with social finance participants including representatives from social purpose organizations, intermediaries, and investors. Based on these interviews, I argue that struggles over how to value the social good hinge on the geographic imaginaries of those involved in the sector, power relations that privilege investors, and the models of organization which are embedded in existing investment systems. However, despite the relative power of investors, the need for social sector buy-in allows non-profits and service providers to influence how ideas of the social good manifest in valuation processes.