Our Organization and Members

The Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) is a non-profit membership organization with more than 4,800 members from all over the world. Our members include financial service providers, investors, donors, ratings agencies, researchers, and other stakeholders interested in inclusive finance. SPTF engages with these stakeholders to develop and promote standards and good practices for social and environmental performance management (SEPM), in an effort to make financial services safer and more beneficial for clients, and to ensure that the interests of employees, local communities, and the environment are given priority attention.

Our Core Funders

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Our Program Funders

Our Work

In 2012, the SPTF released the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management (Universal Standards), a comprehensive manual of best practices, to serve as a resource for all financial service providers (FSPs) with social goals. We work with all stakeholders—from FSPs, investors, development finance institutions, networks, regulators, and others—to promote adoption of the Universal Standards.

Our Focus: Social and Environmental Performance Management (SPM)

SPTF promotes social and environmental performance management (SEPM)—a way of doing business that puts customers, employees, communities, and the environment at the center of every decision. SEPM practices include defining and monitoring social goals, developing client-centric products and services, treating clients and employees responsibly, balancing social and financial performance, and stewarding environmental resources responsibly.

Our Vision

SPTF envisions a financial services industry in which social and environmental performance management is standard business practice among all stakeholders and is used to achieve the full potential of inclusive finance.

Our Mission

The mission of SPTF is to empower inclusive finance stakeholders to develop and implement Universal Standards for Social and Environmental Performance Management.

As a trusted global membership organization, SPTF is uniquely positioned to fulfill its mission by:

• Setting and promoting industry standards for the management and reporting of social and environmental performance.
• Providing training and other resources to deepen implementation of SEPM.
• Building consensus on the desired outcomes of financial inclusion and on how to measure and report them.
• Providing a platform for dialogue, learning, and collaboration between all types of stakeholders around the world.