Earlier this month, we stood alongside eight fellow impact investors, from philanthropies to family offices to corporate leaders, to launch the Tipping Point Fund on Impact Investing (TPF). With $12.5 million in pooled grant capital, TPF will invest in the core market infrastructure needed to scale impact investing with integrity. It was an important moment for the impact investing movement, and we were extremely pleased to participate as one of a diverse and broad group of founding contributors who have committed to strengthening the industry.

At Omidyar Network, we’ve been engaged in field building for nearly a decade, and this experience has reinforced the importance of investing in public goods to build a market – they serve as the rails on which the rest of the industry rides. Public policies that enable impact investing can help unlock new sources of capital and new approaches. Data and standards allow us to assess results and benchmark performance, and ensure we meet the intent to have actual impact. Networks enable peer-to-peer learning and allow new entrants to get started more quickly and effectively. We hope that TPF’s launch will shine a bright light on how critically important it is to engage in impact investing field-building, and encourage others to join us on this journey.

It hasn’t always been easy, and there have been important lessons learned along the way. As we first articulated in 2012’s Priming the Pump, three key learnings have guided our investments throughout the years, which align to the focus areas of the TPF. Those lessons, which have been deeply informed by our partnerships along the way, include: 1) supporting a sector’s infrastructure is critical to the success of individual players; 2) government policy is critical to scaling a nascent field, particularly in scaling (or retarding the growth of) a nascent field; and 3) those positioned to deploy flexible capital should pay special attention to addressing gaps in the market.