The World Economic Forum, famous for its annual winter meeting of world and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland, has issued an important report assessing the impact investing sector. The report analyzed impact investing’s ability to engage mainstream investors.

The WEF’s comprehensive analysis is a must read. (Find it at http://www.weforum.org/reports.) Detailed, eye-opening and  provocative, (“Most organizations can look at their portfolio and find areas that are creating social impact; without the distinction of ‘intention,’ the discussion becomes watered down and nothing new”), the report concludes that the impact investing industry “teeters on the edge of explosive growth.”

It notes, “impact enterprises and deal sizes will grow, track records will be built, and perceptions about financial performance will be realized. Until then, a degree of commitment will be required by those investors intentionally looking to allocate capital towards impact investments.”

Still, this won’t come about without commitment. “Institutional investors that have found successful strategies delivering on the double bottom line will need to become advocates of the sector and share best practices and critical success factors,” the report says.

What else is needed for the industry’s success? Advocates, best practices and critical success stories.

The WEF says it will continue to move the impact investing industry in a forward direction and will “continue to move impact investing from the margin and into the mainstream.”

Other advocates, including yours truly, hope to, too.