We recently had the opportunity to work with a leading Dutch impact investor, DOEN Participaties to co-create a new set of investment contract templates, inspired by the Impact Term Sheet. This project wasn’t just about tweaking clauses, it was about translating impact ambition into legal language that can be applied to the realities of deal making. 

Both the DOEN team and LISI share a belief that something fundamental needs to shift in the industry.

Contracts are still lagging behind when it comes to anchoring impact and protecting long-term mission integrity. Your written contracts are the most important commitment you can make to impact. Because in the end, it’s the legal agreements that turn intentions into accountability. And when trade-offs inevitably arise, the contract is where priorities are tested.

Here are three key takeaways from our comment project of redesigning DOEN’s legal documentation.

1. We Started with Clarity on What They Wanted to Anchor

Before we touched any legal docs, we worked with the DOEN team to create a personalised impact anchoring roadmap, using LISI’s Impact Card. Together, we defined their goals around:

- Balanced deal terms

- Mission safeguarding

- Stakeholder engagement

From there, we reviewed DOEN’s existing documentation and spent time with their investment team to understand the real-life issues they were facing during negotiations. This gave us a solid foundation to start shaping the legal templates.

2. We Made Sure the Essentials Were Reflected in Writing

Once we had that clarity, we moved into co-creation mode. We iterated with the team, adjusting the language to reflect both their impact goals and practical needs. The result? Legal templates that anchors priorities like:

- A shared vision and alignment on impact intent among all parties

- A clear board mandate to consider and act on impact

- A gradual scale of mission safeguarding tools, including the option to scale to steward-ownership

- Commercial terms that strive to reflect a fair and balanced approach - so impact isn’t enforced like a stick, but as a common goal that everyone benefits from. 

3. The Real Work Happens in Practice

What stood out the most in this process? That ambition evolves when you try to put it on paper. Ideas and ideals that seemed straightforward in theory had to be adapted to match legal norms, deal realities, and the maturity of portfolio companies. And that’s okay, impact is a practice, not a checkbox.

We learned (again) that it’s essential to start, try, refine, and try again. And that working closely with a committed team - like the one at DOEN - makes all the difference.

This was the first time the principles of the Impact Term Sheet were translated into actual legal documentation. And while we’re proud of the result, we’re even more excited about what’s ahead.

Our mission remains to give the impact investment industry the legal tools it needs to live up to its own values.

A huge thank you to the DOEN team for their trust and collaboration. We’re here to keep building, testing, and sharing - so more investors can follow, and the entire system can shift.

‍