Through Investor Profiles, investors in the Frame community articulate their impact strategies in a consistent structure. Over time, we expect these Profiles will help us develop methodological guidance that is inclusive and based on collective wisdom. They’ll also help us understand why and how methodologies shift according to organizational characteristics, such as fund size. In the spirit of Frame’s values of integrity and transparency, we design, review, and manage profiles with these goals:

• Decisions that drive towards impact are what matter: The purpose of impact assessment is to help improve the choices investors make to steer capital towards innovations and strategies that reduce global GHG emissions over time. All profiles demonstrate how assessment shapes investment decisions.

• All profiles must be consistent in structure and content: Profiles are based on common structure and questions that all investors follow. For example, rather than excluding responses to questions that an investor may not have answers to, they share progress, wherever it is. Profiles will also increasingly apply Frame’s terminology and taxonomy, rather than language that any individual investor uses on its own. As we learn by doing, we’ll add questions and refine structure. 

• Audiences must understand how the theory of change affects methodological decisions: Investors clearly articulate the reasoning for assessment processes — what they are looking for in assessment and why.

• Assessment and decision-making continue after initial investments are made. Investors share how they continue steering companies toward impact after initial investments are made and how ongoing analysis affects their investment and assessment strategies overall.

• Evolution is embraced: No process is perfect! In the spirit of transparency and modeling how we learn by doing, we publish work in progress and welcome investors to define what and when they plan to update over time.