‘The Bridges Spectrum of Capital’ is our attempt to map out the broad range of risk/return strategies that exist within sustainable and impact investing – and to explain how that relates to the capital markets more generally.

Our thesis is that these categories fit into a broader spectrum of capital, ranging from traditional investment on the one hand to philanthropy on the other – and that along this spectrum there are a number of different strategies for investors to adopt, depending on their desired risk, return and impact profile.

We first published a version of this spectrum in 2013, as part of our annual impact report. Since then it has been widely used and referred to across the sector – including in the final report of the G8 Social Investment Taskforce in 2014. This is a slightly updated version of that original spectrum, revised to reflect our latest thinking.

Since 2002, Bridges has developed a number of different fund types, operating in different areas of this spectrum and targeting different investor profiles (as we also highlight in this report).

Download the Bridges Spectrum of Capital