The investor?s participation in social impact bonds

Considering 181 Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) until 2020, we study the factors impacting on the number of investors, those influencing the institutional investor's participation, and the de-terminants of the philanthropic investor's commitment. We find that the risks of the projects are shared by several investors, the institutional investors are more attracted by less risky SIBs, the commitment of philanthropic investor translates into a greater investment. SIBs prove more attractive to non-mainstream investors. Results permit the exclusion of a social washing phe-nomenon in the SIBs' world and could be a starting point for harmonizing the controversial positions of academics on SIBs.