The Global Impact Gaps
A story we all live. $2.3 trillion in purpose-driven capital, and the four places it leaks.
Every year, organizations like yours invest in making things better.
Corporations. Foundations. Governments. Families.
You.
Together, we deploy...
0
in annual philanthropic and social investment capital
Where it comes from
Domestic Philanthropy
Stays within originating countries
$1.8T
Official Development Assistance
Government to government
$223B
Cross-Border Private
Foundations, remittances, diaspora
$180B
Impact Investing
Returns-seeking capital for good
$50B
Follow the money.
Where does it go?
Where Capital Flows
By country income classification
distributions
Where Needs Exist
By individual income level
VS
Compare the distributions
70%
of capital
→
16%
of people
3%
of capital
→
10%
of people
THE GAP
$160 BILLION
annually bypasses those who need it most
But proximity is only the first question.
What happens when capital does reach the right places?
$2.3T
Deployed with intention
GAP 1: PROXIMITY
70% flows to wealth, not need
~$690B
Reaches target geographies
GAP 2: EXECUTION
58% of strategies fail
~$290B
Actually executes
GAP 3: IMPACT
86% track outputs only
~$40B
Measures outcomes
GAP 4: SCALE
86% never scales
~$6B
Creates systemic change
Of every dollar invested in social good...
ONLY
20-28%
reaches intended impact
And less than 1% creates lasting systemic change at scale.
These four gaps are not inevitable. They are design choices. And design choices can be redesigned.
The good news: each of these gaps has been closed by someone, somewhere.
The question is how to close them systematically.
This is not a failure of generosity.
It is a systems challenge. And systems can be redesigned.
Understanding why is the first step to closing these gaps.
Gap 1
Proximity
70% -> 16%
Capital vs need mismatch
Gap 2
Execution
58%
Strategies fail
Gap 3
Impact
86%
Track outputs only
Gap 4
Scale
86%
Never scales
THE MONEY GOES WHERE THE MONEY IS
Not where the need is
Capital flowing to high-income countries. While 40% in need live in low-income countries
You already know that philanthropy clusters in familiar geographies. The places that need funding most often receive it least. This is not because leaders do not care. It is because the infrastructure to deploy capital where need is greatest has not been built yet.
THE SAY-DO GAP
Good intentions don't equal good outcomes
Global Say-Do Gap. Consistent across geographies
If you have led a social impact initiative, you know the gap between the boardroom commitment and the field reality. Strategy is the easy part. Building the operational rhythm to execute it, adapting to local context, aligning teams and resources: that is where most programs stall.
MEASURING ACTIVITY, MISSING OUTCOMES
The accountability gap
Output vs outcome tracking split. The measurement gap
We all track what is easy to count: people trained, meals served, trees planted. The harder question, did lives actually improve, is the one most measurement systems were not built to answer. And the leaders running these programs already know it.
17 YEARS TO SCALE WHAT WORKS
The translation gap
Global evidence-to-practice gap. 86% of proven interventions never scale
The evidence exists. The proven interventions exist. The question is why it takes 17 years for what works in one place to reach the communities that need it in another. The systems that generate proof are disconnected from the systems that could act on it.
Four gaps. Four ways we close them.
From last mile to first mile. Grassroots impact at population scale.
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