Ten years ago, YSI published its first annual impact snapshot—a modest four-page PDF that tracked a handful of metrics across a cohort of 12 social enterprises. This year’s report covers 214 ventures across 38 countries, includes longitudinal data on employment, revenue, and environmental outcomes, and draws on interviews with 60 founders, investors, and corporate partners. The headline finding is straightforward: businesses built around a social or environmental purpose do not sacrifice performance to do good. They outperform.
The Numbers
Across the YSI portfolio, social enterprises that completed the full programme cycle reported median revenue growth of 34% in the 24 months following graduation—compared to 18% for a matched control group of non-programme peers. Employee retention rates were 22 percentage points higher, and net promoter scores from customers averaged 61, versus 44 for sector benchmarks.
Perhaps most significantly, 71% of YSI-supported ventures that sought investment in the past five years closed a round within 18 months—a success rate that reflects both the quality of the ventures and the signal that rigorous programme selection sends to the capital markets.
“The data doesn’t show a trade-off between purpose and performance. It shows that purpose, done well, is the performance strategy.”
What the Past Decade Taught Us
Three lessons stand out from ten years of iteration. First, the most durable ventures are those that embed their social mission into the business model itself—not as a CSR layer on top, but as the source of competitive differentiation. Second, peer networks matter as much as expert mentorship: founders consistently cite connections with other programme alumni as the most valuable resource in navigating growth challenges. Third, corporate partnerships work best when they are structured as genuine co-creation rather than philanthropy with branding attached.
What’s in the Report
The full 10-Year Impact Review includes sector-by-sector breakdowns, regional spotlights, a methodology note on how we measure and attribute impact, and six extended case studies profiling ventures at different stages of their journey. It’s free to download and licensed for reuse with attribution.
We hope it’s useful to founders building something new, investors looking for evidence-based frameworks, and corporate leaders asking whether purpose can be more than a communications strategy. We believe it can. The data agrees.
