The IRIS catalog pulls together the most useful metrics from across the impact investing industry and puts them in one place which makes it easier to create an informed performance measurement system and reduce mistakes that could affect your credibility. Using IRIS metrics also makes it easier to compare your performance with others and communicate your results to the entire industry. If you are interested in tracking your performance results, the IRIS catalog is your resource for selecting social, environmental, and financial metrics.

There is no single combination of IRIS metrics that will be right for all organizations. As such, using IRIS does not require that all or even certain metrics are tracked. Instead, IRIS users select a set of IRIS metrics specifically relevant to their own activities, impact objectives, and stakeholder requirements, among other potential criteria.

The IRIS metrics are available for free. You can browse the catalog and use the metrics and resources however you choose. Users are encouraged to register their IRIS use on the IRIS registry and to cite IRIS metrics in external reports and communications.

IRIS is being used by leading impact organizations from across the globe. To see some examples of how these organizations are using IRIS, view their profiles on the IRIS registry, a directory of IRIS users that highlights the specific metrics they track and that can be searched by sector, geography, or impact focus. To get started with IRIS, you can read our Getting Started with IRIS guide as well as several use cases with details about how different organizations have integrated IRIS metrics into their impact measurement practices.

The IRIS initiative is managed by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). The IRIS metrics catalog is maintained and updated with support from an Advisory Body comprising experts in impact measurement and other related areas. Metrics are considered for inclusion in IRIS through a rigorous process that involves input and consultation from a broad and diverse group of stakeholders. 3. Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) Information

Subpage Listing Using IRIS Metrics in PULSE

1) Background on Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) and Pulse

Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) are standards for reporting the social and environmental performance of impact investments.

Many mission-driven businesses already use data to communicate their social and environmental impact to company stakeholders, including impact investors who deliberately invest in organizations that produce social or environmental good. By standardizing the way these businesses report, IRIS enables fair comparisons and performance benchmarking, two critical functions that impact investors have identified as necessary for the growth of the impact investing industry.

IRIS gives businesses a standard framework and vocabulary for reporting information across four main areas: ·

• Profile information, including the social or environmental goals of the business and the countries where its goods or services are available.
• · Financial information, including financial performance metrics that are aligned with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
• · Operational information, including definitions and guidelines for reporting on an organization’s employees, suppliers, governance policies, and environmental footprint.
• · Social and environmental impact information, including metrics and definitions for reporting on the scale, scope, and beneficiaries of the products and services offered.

Investors, funders and others who work with mission-driven businesses can use Pulse to track the financial, social, and environmental performance of their portfolio companies. Pulse was developed by the Acumen Fund in collaboration with Google and Salesforce and is now managed by App-X. Pulse comes configured with IRIS metrics so that users can readily adopt the IRIS standards.

Pulse also allows users to easily submit their data to IRIS’s anonymous database of Impact Investing social performance data. Future releases of Pulse will include benchmarking data from this database that will allow a fund manager to compare the performance of their investments against broader industry benchmarks.

Contributing data to the IRIS database is a valuable and anonymous way to share information that will inform and shape the growth of the impact investing industry. A repository of social performance data will lead to the creation of industry-wide benchmarks as well as increase the understanding of the scope and breadth of the industry. The IRIS benchmarks will allow organizations and investors to better understand their performance relative to their peers and ultimately compel them to improve their performance on both financial and non-financial indicators. The success of these global reporting standards relies on fund managers who are committed to measuring and anonymously sharing IRIS data, as well as tracking and assessing their own funds’ impact.

IRIS data from investments or funds will be not be shared openly or attributed directly to individual organizations, investments, or funds. The information will be kept anonymously and aggregated to create industry benchmarks, which contributors will have access to as they become available.