S&O Lunch Seminar on impact, accountability, and performance

You are warmly invited to the Sustainability & Organizations Institute’s  lunch seminar, on Tuesday March 17th 2026  at 12:00 pm in Room T001, HEC Paris Campus.

For this session, we are pleased to welcome two speakers offering complementary perspectives from practice and academic research on impact, accountability, and performance. 

Cédric Boyer Chammard, Managing Director of Element Impact, a multi-entity organization dedicated to supporting the growth, performance, and measurable social and environmental impact of entrepreneurial projects.

Daniel Martinez, Associate Professor of Accounting at HEC Paris, who will present his paper
“The Will to Impact: Accountability, Calculation, and Ethical Optimisation in Philanthropic Capitalism” (abstract below).

Together, the speakers will offer complementary perspectives from practice and research on the measurement and governance of impact.

A lunch will be offered to all participants. For organizational purposes, we kindly ask you to confirm your attendance by March 1st by replying to this invitation.

We look forward to reconnecting with you and engaging in an inspiring discussion!

The S&O Team

Speaker: Daniel Martinez
Title: The Will to Impact: Accountability, Calculation, and Ethical Optimisation in Philanthropic Capitalism

Abstract: This chapter examines the rise of impact as a central organizing principle in international development and philanthropy, tracing how managerial concerns with effectiveness have evolved into a moralized and calculative governing logic. It shows how tools such as the Logical Framework, Results-Based Management, and impact evaluation laid the groundwork for contemporary approaches that prioritize measurable outcomes and accountability. The chapter then analyzes the Effective Altruism (EA) movement as a critical inflection point, where consequentialist ethics, economic reasoning, and algorithmic evaluation converge to frame impact not merely as a performance outcome but as an ethical imperative to optimize welfare. By situating EA within the broader dynamics of philanthrocapitalism and Silicon Valley–inspired market logics, the chapter argues that a form of moral technocracy is emerging in the aid sector. This transformation reshapes accountability and transparency, shifting emphasis from hierarchical reporting and beneficiary-oriented accountability toward radical transparency of calculative models, assumptions, and reasoning processes. The chapter concludes by outlining implications for NGOs, cause prioritization, and future research on how moralized calculation reconfigures accountability, governance, and the political economy of aid.