2030 Global child mortality could drop to as low as 2 million in 2030 A dose of optimism and signals of progress may be what’s needed in a world increasingly desensitized to large-scale global problems. The series of animated charts in the new Goalkeepers site from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation shows the surprising progress […]
Root Capital and Acumen to test social-impact incentives
Smarter Money The idea is that payments to lenders will get more funds interested in delivering social impact Photo credit: REUTERS Social Impact Incentives, or more succinctly, SIINC, are financial payouts to organizations and social ventures that meet proven social performance targets. The SIINC model has been tested, with the Swiss development agency putting up the cash, […]
Here come the SDG-finance unicorns
2030 Finance Rockefeller Foundation’s ‘Zero Gap’ portfolio of financial innovations with billion-dollar potential By Dennis Price and David Bank To get to a trillion dollars, much less tens of trillions, you first have to get to $1 billion. At the Rockefeller Foundation, the hunt is on for 10 innovative financial structures that can mobilize at least $1 […]
Inside Unilever’s epic experiment in corporate sustainability
Good Business The firm is now locked in an existential pursuit to show that “sustainability” can, literally, deliver the goods Unilever CEO Paul Poleman l Photos by Richard Reyes Environmentally friendly soaps, water-pump installations in sub-Saharan Africa and advertisements without gender stereotypes. And a belief that promoting health and happiness in emerging markets will create millions, or […]
SOCAP taps impact-investing leaders to curate “spotlight” sessions
Smarter Money As a SOCAP media partner, ImpactAlpha is pleased to be able to offer a $250 discount through Sept. 29. Register now. Photo credit: SOCAP The Social Capital Markets conference, or SOCAP, convenes on the San Francisco waterfront for the 10th time October 10–13. Organizers have turned over a portion of the conference to guest curators to […]
Dreamer economics, big biz needs small biz, driving financial inclusion, Asia’s sustainable food…
The Brief Dreamer economics, big biz needs small biz, driving financial inclusion, Asia’s sustainable food boom Sept. 5, 2017 Shek Kip Mei Market, Hong Kong l Photo by Natalie Ng Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! #TalkingPoints: Dreamers How Dreamers boost the American economy. The Trump administration’s plan to cancel the program that allows about 800,000 U.S. immigrants who arrived as […]
From ‘Condemn and Disband’ to ‘Invest and Transform’
Good Business How U.S. corporations can put their strategies — and their cash — where their CEOs’ mouths are IBM CEO Virginia Rometty (photo: Zhang Jusheng/Imaginechina) Was the mass resignation of the country’s top CEOs from the Trump Administration a momentary reflex? Or the catalyst for collective and purposeful social leadership from business on the grand challenges of our time? […]
Useful impact data, lab-grown meat, Rise Fund’s under-30 challenge, Mexican impact bonds
The Brief Aug. 28, 2017 San Miguel de Allende, Mexico l Photo by Jezar Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! We’re ba-a-ack. #Featured: Open Mic Impact Management: How the right data can drive performance for people and the planet. All investments have an impact. But what type of impact and how does it compare? Bridges Fund Management facilitated the Impact Management […]
Which of the 17 U.N. global goals do impact investors prefer?
2030 New data sheds light on popular (and not so popular) SDGs John Legend l Photo credit: GlobalGoals.org Impact investors are increasingly adopting the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals as a guide to impact and opportunity. Yet little is known about which of the goals are getting the most attention. A new report from InvestorFlow, the fast-growing […]
Growing interest in sustainable investing is turning into action
Smarter Money Six in 10 Millennial investors say they’ve made at least one sustainable investment in the last year Growing interest in sustainable investing is turning into action. The trend is especially pronounced among Millennial investors, according to a new survey from the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing. In the survey, “Sustainability Signals,” 86% of active […]
Friends of ImpactAlpha, dance incubator, uncharted food access, sustainability signals, bitcoin’s…
The Brief Friends of ImpactAlpha, dance incubator, uncharted food access, sustainability signals, bitcoin’s remittance boom Aug. 10, 2017 Photo by Nadim Merrikh Greetings, FOIAs! #Featured: Editor’s Note Dear Friends of ImpactAlpha. The new ImpactAlpha is wrapping up its first season and gearing up for a breakthrough fall and new year. As we head into a two-week August recess, […]
Rockefeller Foundation seeds ETFs created by non-profits
Smarter Money The foundation backs Impact Shares with a $300,000 grant Photo credit: MARKANG Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are bundles of stocks that trade in the public markets. Most track a specific stock market index. Rockefeller Foundation is putting up a $300,000 grant to Impact Shares, based in Dallas, to let non-profit organizations create their own ETFs. Organizations would […]
Impact ETFs, tech for the visually-impaired, education’s OpenTable, inclusion through inclusion…
The Brief Impact ETFs, tech for the visually-impaired, education’s OpenTable, inclusion through inclusion, dark shadows Aug. 2, 2017 Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! What will impact investing look like in 2030? Our friends at the Global Impact Investing Network are working on a roadmap to accelerate impact investing toward the next stage of market development. You can have your […]
Chan-Zuckerberg’s portfolio, J.P.
The Brief Chan-Zuckerberg’s portfolio, J.P. Morgan’s clean billions, Patamar’s livelihood thesis, care-bots, Brief Quiz No. №25 Jul. 28, 2017 Photo by Kimberly Farmer Hello ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: ImpactAlpha Original How Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg are investing their social-change billions. If and when the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative becomes one of the biggest private social-change funders in history, these early […]
Culture of transparency: Putting impact investing on the map
Better Data Jean Case, our CEO, issued a simple clarion call in the Stanford Social Innovation Review last month: #ShareYourData. The time is now. The impact investing field has grown leaps and bounds since the Global Impact Investment Network first started tracking the growth of the field in 2010. Networks like Toniic and The ImPact […]
Social impact bond pays off, Helping Self Help, B Corps for big business, blockchain future
The Brief Jul. 27, 2017 Hello ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: ImpactAlpha Original Peterborough social impact bond becomes a proof point. Fewer prisoners are returning to prison in Peterborough, England. That represents a success for the city, the ex-offenders, and the investors who backed the world’s first social impact bond, which financed a comprehensive post-release program. Social impact […]
Blending finance for global goals, responsible robo-advisors, U.S.
The Brief Blending finance for global goals, responsible robo-advisors, U.S. impact investing alliance, future of transportation in the U.K. Jul. 26, 2017 Rua Líbero Badaró, São Paulo, Brazil l Photo by Guilherme Cunha Hello ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: ImpactAlpha Original Blending finance to unlock capital for the 2030 global goals. To build its $150 million private equity fund […]
Kiva fund will give refugees access to loans
Inclusive Economics More than $9 million available for borrowing for refugees Photo credit: : Kiva The micro-lending platform’s latest fund is making more than $9 million available for borrowing by refugees and host countries like Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. There are 22.5 million refugees spread around the world; five million from the crisis in Syria. “Beyond direct relief, there needs […]
What we know about Bain Capital’s $390 million Double Impact Fund
Smarter Money Former Gov. Deval Patrick: ‘We’re being closely followed, so we owe it to the field to do it well.’ Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, manageing director, Bain Capital Double Impact The tipoff that impact investing is indeed reaching a new stage in the capital markets came when Deval Patrick described the $390 million Bain Capital […]
The Reinvestment Fund tests the public bond market’s appetite for social impact
Inclusive Prosperity The GSG honors Philadelphia community-development finance institution that connected capital markets and low-income communities Philadelphia, PA l Photo credit: Sam Horine For decades, Don Hinkle-Brown has fantasized about having access to the public markets to raise capital for childcare centers and charter schools, grocery stores and health clinics, energy efficiency upgrades and small businesses […]
Swiss Re to move $130 billion portfolio to track ESG indexes
Smarter Money Equities and fixed-income products with high ESG ratings “have better risk-return ratios” Photo credit: AP The world’s second-largest reinsurer is done with legacy indexes that fail to account for companies’ performance on environmental, social and governance, or ESG, issues. The Swiss firm is already 90 percent of way towards shifting its portfolio to track ESG […]
Steering impact investing toward a 2020 tipping point
Smarter Money ‘United Nations’ of impact investing in Chicago draws national advisory boards from 16 countries Chicago, United States l Photo credit: Austin Neill On the heels of the G20 meeting in Hamburg will come a summit of the Impact 16 in Chicago. That’s the number of countries, with the recent addition of Finland and Argentina, […]
An impact investing tent big enough for the problems we are trying to solve
Smarter Money Mainstream asset owners are on a journey to make their investments a powerful force for good — let’s welcome them. New York, New York l Photo credit: Anders Jildén In the impact investing community, there is continuing talk about whether “the big tent” — created by the diversity of strategies and approaches pursued by investors– is too big. There are […]
Lok Capital returns $65 million to investors and raises $80 million more
Inclusive Economics The venture capital fund is expanding into healthcare, agriculture, and housing Vishal Mehta, Co-founder Lok Capital Gurgaon-based Lok invests in financial institutions serving low-income Indians, and is expanding into healthcare, agriculture, and housing. Lok has exited four companies in the past 12 months, enabling the firm to return $65 million in principal from its second fund, […]
Climate Investor One raises $412 million for wind and solar project financing
Climate Finance The fund is looking to back twenty projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia with up to $100 million each Climate Investor One was conceived in 2014 and incubated by the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance. The fund is looking to back twenty 30- to 60-megawatt projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia with […]
Demand for impact investments generates a growing supply — of ‘intermediaries’
Smarter Money All 37 providers surveyed by Toniic expect their business to grow this year Impact wealth managers, impact investment advisors and managers, investment consultants, management consultants, financial advisors, family offices — an army of service providers is responding to growing client demand for impact investing advice (see, “Smoothing the flow of impact investing with lane markers and […]
OpenInvest points its robo-advisors toward refugee inclusion
Smarter Money The investment screening theme is the tenth one to be added to the impact investing robo-advisor’s platform Photo credit: Starbucks OpenInvest has added a #WithRefugees investment screen to its impact investing platform. OpenInvest allows investors to back publicly-listed companies that have forward-thinking policies towards refugees, including Starbucks, which has committed to hiring 10,000 […]
Grand challenges for impact investing
Smarter Money SOCAPs Good Capital Project seeks to streamline an unruly field Detail from Jonny Goldstein’s visualization of the Good Capital Project discussion With so many frameworks and schemas, the fragmentation of impact investing continues to frustrate. The latest to try their hand at coordination is today’s convening in New York of the Good Capital Project, […]
“In the future all investing will be impact”
Highlights from The Economist’s London impact investing event The Economist magazine put on its second impact investment gathering in a London still reeling from this week’s Grenfell Tower fire and recent terrorist attacks. Takeaways from the event: “Increasingly ‘impact’ is a measure of externalities embedded. So in the future all investing will be impact,” said […]
$30,000 and a platform: How Jeff Bezos and Amazon can revive small businesses and farmers
Inclusive Economics Keeping the pitchforks at bay Over the last 24 hours, Jeff Bezos has made news for two big things. And they’re related. Yesterday, the Amazon founder, not a publicly known philanthropist, took to Twitter to say: “I’m thinking I want much of my philanthropic activity to be helping people in the here and now — short term — at […]
Employee ownership can pay dividends for investors, too
Inclusive Economics Employee owners are less likely to be laid off and are 92% wealthier Arizona Stingley, New Era Windows Cooperative l Photo credit: The Working World Employee-owned firms reduce the disconnect between workers and owners, but they still need significant investment to scale. Investment opportunities in employee ownership are limited but emerging, says a new report […]
100th Brief, green Apple bond, Goldman’s NextEra climate move
The Brief Jun. 13, 2017 Port-au-Prince, Haiti Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: The Brief №100 Blow out the candles. Today’s 100th issue of The Brief is itself a #Signal. When we launched ImpactAlpha, skeptics doubted deal activity in the impact investment marketplace would be robust enough to warrant daily coverage. You put that to rest. Since January alone, […]
Big Society Capital takes majority stake of Charity Bank
The U.K.-based financial institution invested £2.5 million ($3.2 million) on top of the £12 million it earlier put into Charity Bank, a lender dedicated to charities and social enterprises. That brings Big Society’s ownership share up to 60.5 percent. Charity Bank offers loans of £50,000 to £2.5 million. It has lent £140 million since 2002 and […]
Connect Fund launches to build impact investing infrastructure
Smarter Money The fund wants to improve due diligence, offer blended finance, and lower transaction costs Photo credit: Mike Wilson The Connect Fund has launched to build out impact investing infrastructure. The £1.8 million ($2.3 million) fund, a partnership between Barrow Cadbury Trust and the Access foundation, will invest in collaborative initiatives to improve due diligence, […]
A second look at the Ford Foundation’s big shift toward impact investing (podcast)
Ford Foundation president, Darren Walker, broke through a barrier of sorts recently with the announcement the foundation would commit $1 billion from its roughly $14 billion endowment to so-called mission-related investments (see, “Ford Foundation to tap endowment for $1 billion to fight injustice and inequality“). That it would make news that a foundation, especially one […]
Expanding OPIC is Good for America and the World
Congress will soon begin debate on the recently released Trump Administration “budget blueprint.” This blueprint includes a dizzying array of choices that lay waste to efforts aimed at fighting poverty, improving education and health for vulnerable populations, and engaging in smart global development. One of the most inexplicable proposals included in the “budget blueprint” is […]
More credit guarantees could mean more capital for education, health and conservation investments
Credit guarantees, typically provided by philanthropic organizations, are designed to encourage new investors or commercial capital to enter “risky” or undercapitalized investment sectors. Although not a new tool in impact investing, guarantees are “extremely underutilized,” according to a new report from the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). Recent examples show their promise: A $5 million […]
Openimpact.ca profiles more than 150 Canadian impact investing products
Openimpact.ca debuted with information on more than 150 Canadian impact investing products. The public database provides a detailed look into Canada’s C$9 billion ($6.6 billion) market for impact investing. Built by Purpose Capital, a Toronto-based impact-investing advisory firm, and University of Toronto’s Lee-Chin Institute for Corporate Citizenship, the database includes searchable information on products across asset […]
Sustainable aquaculture is a $100 billion opportunity for feed producers
Farm-raised fish every year devour 30 million tons of wild-caught fish worldwide. With seafood consumption hitting record levels in recent years – more than 20 kilograms per person per year, according to the latest FAO research – it will take 20 to 30 new feed products to achieve a sustainable seafood industry this century, says […]
Two more startups raise seed capital to tackle food waste
Full Harvest, in San Francisco, has raised $2 million to support online sales of “ugly” produce—the goods grocers consider unfit for supermarket sales. The funding round was led by Wireframe Ventures and backed by BBG Ventures, Early Impact Ventures, Impact Engine, VC Radicle, and several angel investors. Founder Christine Mosley, formerly with fresh juice company Organic […]
Earth Day: Nine Ideas to Bridge the Gap in Conservation Finance
Consider this: The $400 billion in private capital that is needed annually for large-scale conservation, according to Credit Suisse and McKinsey & Co., is eight times even the more generous current estimates of total conservation financing. Conservation practitioners and investment experts gathered last month at the New York City office of Credit Suisse to explore […]
Vermont Works has raises $50 million for state economic and job growth
Vermont Works has raised $50 million for the state’s economic and job growth. Vermont Works is targeting the state’s growth-stage companies. “When companies are out for growth-stage capital, that’s when the availability of capital in Vermont tends to stumble,” Robert Zulkoski, a co-founder of thefund, said in an interview. The new fund has made four investments, […]
The Path Forward for Impact Investing in the Trump Presidency
How will impact investing fare in the Trump administration? I’m not the first, and undoubtedly won’t be the last, to write about this. Erika Karp at Cornerstone Capital wrote a letter to her investors after the 2016 election and Stephanie Cohn Rupp and Ron Albahary penned a thoughtful and tactical piece last December on the […]
Generate Capital launches $250 million financing facility for solar+storage projects
Generate Capital has launched a $250 million financing facility for solar+storage projects. The advent of cost-effective batteries for electricity storage is making the numbers work for an increasing number of commercial and industrial solar installations (see “Energy storage takes shape with financing for Southern California battery installations”). Also helpful: rebates for such projects from the state […]
World Bank passes $10 billion green bond milestone
With a sale last week of two bonds to Swedish insurance company Folksam, the World Bank passed the $10 billion mark for its issues of green bonds [paywall]. The bank, which launched the first green bonds in 2008, is now the world’s third largest green bond issuer after European Investment Bank and German development bank […]
Introducing Agents of Impact. First up: Root Capital
The response to our call last week to ‘name your favorite impact investor’ demonstrated the breadth of the talent pool under the big tent of impact investing. Many respondents ducked the question because they couldn’t pick a single favorite; only a few nominees were named more than once. The responses spanned asset classes and geographies […]
Webinar 4/18: How can impact investors combat wage stagnation and income inequality?
Economic inequality creates social and political unrest. It also creates long-term systemic risk for investors. How can available investment strategies address inequities based on age, race, gender and geography? Learn about investing to address income inequality in a complimentary one-hour webinar on April 18th at noon ET. Hosted by Phil Kirshman, Cornerstone Capital’s investment chief, […]
Black lives matter in investing (and divesting)
The economic platform of the Movement for Black Lives includes demands for progressive tax policy, job creation, environmental restoration and the reallocation of federal, state and local budgets from incarceration to education, employment and restorative justice. The broad set of principles reimagines black communities’ relationship with land and economic development and argues for systemic policy […]
Bono challenges impact investing for being “hippy-ish” about financial performance…while others debate impact
At last week’s Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England, the music icon doubled down on his diss of impact investing as an excuse “for good people to do bad deals” (see video). If we want to really have an impact, “we can’t be hippy-ish about this. This isn’t camp,” he said in an interview with […]
Sustainable Investing Challenge Winner: Flexible Finance for Low-Income Schools
A team of MBA students from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management that proposed a low-interest loan fund for India’s 400,000 low-fee private schools took first place in last week’s Kellogg Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge. Now in its seventh year, the tone at the finals in New York suggested the tide is shifting towards […]
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