Canadian nonprofit Convergence launched its long-awaited Investment Network this morning, promising to link private, public, and philanthropic investors with blended-finance opportunities in emerging markets. Making blended-finance deals happen isn’t easy, says Peter Stoute-King, the investment network’s managing director, but such deals are key to closing the $2.5 trillion annual gap in funding needed to achieve the […]
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New ESG products showcase sustainability in Latin America and…the future
IndexAmericas, a new benchmark from the Inter-American Development Bank and S-Network, was released yesterday in Buenos Aires. Formally named the IDB-IIC Latin America Corporate Sustainability Index, it recognizes companies in Latin America and the Caribbean based on performance against 172 environmental, social and governance indicators selected by the IDB, including 15 specific to the region. […]
IFC’s first “Social Bond” raises $500 million for women-led companies and low-income communities
The IFC’s first “Social Bond” has raised $500 million for women-led companies and low-income communities. The issue was the first since International Finance Corp. merged its Banking on Women and Inclusive Business bond programs, which had raised a combined $564 million since 2013. The IFC, part of the World Bank, will use the latest proceeds to […]
Bridges Ventures gets cheaper capital for energy-efficient real estate
It’s getting a little easier being green. Lloyds Bank’s Green Lending Initiative offers real estate owners lower-cost capital to make energy-efficiency upgrades. Bridges Ventures secured the first such discount for an existing loan. Lloyds is cutting Bridges’ interest rate by 0.2 percent in exchange for Bridges’ commitment to energy upgrades across its Flexspace chain of […]
Family offices and foundations look for impact opportunities in water
Rising global demand for water and the decline in reliable supplies means higher prices. That should drive a growing market in water efficiency, as farms, cities and industry value their water properly. And as public policy does the same, conservation efforts that restore degraded watersheds should also become investable. That’s the argument in a new […]
What is ‘scale’ in impact investing and how do we get there? (podcast)
Impact investing asset managers manage some $35.5 billion in assets, up 18 percent in the last two years. That may sound like a lot, but in a $70 trillion capital market, it’s a rounding error. Meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, for example, requires as much as $5 to $7 trillion each year in public […]
BlackRock launches euro-based green bond fund
BlackRock has launched a euro-based green bond fund. “A few specific clients” prompted the global asset manager to scope the new fund last year, according to BlackRock’s Ashley Schulten (paywall). We don’t know how big the fund will be, but it will track the MSCI/Barclays/Bloomberg index of “investment-grade corporate, government-related, treasury and securitised bonds” (not […]
Leapfrog’s portfolio reached 91 million people and grew revenues and profits in 2016
Andrew Kuper, CEO of Leapfrog Investments, has taken impact investors to task for not being ambitious enough about transformative social impact for hundreds of millions or billions of people (his talk at last month’s Economist conference is worth a look). Now, Leapfrog has reported its 2016 performance. The firm says its portfolio companies provide financial […]
HowGood raises $4.2 million for sustainable retail ratings
HowGood has raised $4.2 million for sustainable retail ratings. The Brooklyn-based startup offers consumers a sustainability and responsibility guide for 200,000 food, drink, personal care items and home goods. HowGood’s data on environmental, health and trade impacts includes packaging chemicals and labor practices. A rating is available with a mobile barcode scan. The Series A […]
Heron Foundation beats deadline to deploy 100 percent for mission
Traditionally, foundations have kept their investment sides separate from their giving sides. In 2012 the F.B. Heron Foundation set a goal to invest 100 percent of the foundation’s $250 million in assets to fight poverty by the end of 2017. CEO Clara Miller says Heron hit its target last year and “became one staff, working […]
Follow the Women: Introducing ImpactAlpha’s Women Rising
Every day is International Women’s Day in impact investing. Solutions in every domain, from climate to food to education to broad economic inclusion, depend on women’s leadership and equal participation. The remarkable progress of women over the last century sets up a truly huge opportunity in this century to drive progress for all. Women’s leadership […]
The Brief Quiz (No.5): How High is Your Impact IQ?
International Women’s Day is over. The International Year of Mansplaining continues. Sad! The Brief Quiz can bring us together. Let’s see where your Impact IQ got you this week. Get ImpactAlpha’s daily newsletter, The Brief. 1. Together with BNP Paribas, the World Bank issued its first Sustainable Development Goals-linked bond. How is it different from green […]
Sustainable Development Goals take hold as a universal impact investment framework
A year ago, every company had to have a Big Data story. Now, no initiative is complete without AI and machine learning. Extra points for “blockchain.” Next up: companies, asset owners and fund managers touting their alignment with “the SDGs.” If you don’t know already, those are the Sustainable Development Goals, with colored icons to […]
National Australia Bank offers fixed-income gender equality bond
National Australia Bank has created a fixed-income gender equality bond. The new bond will finance “employers of choice for gender equality” as determined by an Australian government agency. Organizations on the list demonstrate commitment to cultivating female leadership, closing the gender pay gap, enabling a safe work environment, and offering family-friendly work arrangements. The bond’s portfolio […]
Morgan Stanley launches two sustainability strategies for smaller investors
Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit has launched two sustainable investment products in which individuals can get started with as little as $10,000. Hilary Irby, head of Morgan Stanley’s Investing with Impact initiative, said the low investment threshold was part of a strategy to make sustainable investing more accessible. Morgan Stanley’s brokerage group launched similar offerings […]
Asian social stock exchange founder Durreen Shahnaz seeks Trump’s support for impact investing
Asian social stock exchange founder Durreen Shahnaz is seeking Trump’s support for impact investing. “I may have been born in Bangladesh, but I was nurtured to be a banker, media executive and entrepreneur in the US,” Shahnaz wrote in an open letter to President Trump. Shahnaz is the founder of IIX, based in Singapore, which connects […]
Jean Case is bullish on impact investing
Jean Case is bullish on impact investing. Writing in Stanford Social Innovation Review, the former AOL executive and head of the Case Foundation credits the growing influence of young people and women, the entrance of big institutions and an increasingly robust data ecosystem. On that last point, Case touts the Impact Investing Network Map under development […]
World Bank: Tap Islamic finance to achieve the SDGs
Global Islamic finance represents $1.9 trillion in assets, mostly in predominantly Muslim countries in Africa and Asia, where large numbers of people still live on less than $1.25 per day. That makes financial institutions rooted in Islamic principles an under-tapped resource for the $3 to $5 trillion per year needed to achieve “shared prosperity” and […]
Sonen Capital raises $75 million to invest in sustainable real assets
Sonen Capital has closed its first fund for investments in real assets like buildings, energy infrastructure and land. The San Francisco-based investment manager already has made eight investments in affordable housing, clean energy, and timber in the U.S. Africa and Asia. Launched in 2012, Sonen has nearly $400 million under management and impact investment strategies […]
Prime Coalition and Investors’ Circle back solar startup
Prime Coalition and Investors’ Circle have backed solar startup, ConnectDER. ConnectDER helps home solar systems easily connect to the electric grid and helps utilities manage such distributed energy inputs. The $1.1 million investment includes nine individual investors from Investors’ Circle; Prime brought together a mix of program-related investments and grants from the Ellis Family Fund, the […]
Dina Powell: Impact investing’s woman in the White House
Whither social-impact investment in the Trump administration may depend on Dina Powell, the former Goldman Sachs executive who was named, with Ivanka Trump’s help, assistant to the president and senior counselor for economic initiatives. Powell joined Ivanka, the president and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Monday’s roundtable meeting in the Cabinet Room on women entrepreneurs. […]
Six opportunities – and one big risk – for impact investors in 2017
Political headwinds are serving as a wake up call for the growing movement of investors and activists using the capital markets to curb climate change, eliminate global poverty and close the gap on income inequality. Stripped of the comforting support of a sympathetic President Obama, investors and advisors seeking demonstrable, measurable impact on social and […]
Calvert Foundation and U.S. Bancorp back $20 million fund for small business lending
Calvert Foundation and U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation have backed a new $20 million fund for small business lending in U.S. communities. Greenline Ventures, a minority-controlled and employee-owned firm in Denver, will manage the fund. The fund leverages New Markets Tax Credits, a federal program that incentivizes business and real estate investment in low-income U.S. communities with […]
Which Side Are You On? (No, This Isn’t About Trump)
Fair warning: he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned just might make a cameo appearance below. But the bigger decision facing investors, from American families with 401(k)s to managers of the world’s largest pension and sovereign wealth funds: Whether to bet on the low-carbon energy transformation now under way – or stick with business-as-usual. It’s not renewables that are ‘alternative.’ […]
Which investors are bridging the gap in research funding?
The fate of climate and other public research may be in the hands of private investors and philanthropists as the EPA and other agencies face cutbacks under the Trump administration, reports FastCompany. Who’s stepping up? In January, Al Gore stepped in to revive a CDC climate and health conference in Atlanta. Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, […]
Does Impact Investing Matter in the Age of Trump and Brexit? (Or, How I Talked Myself Down From the Ledge)
I’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of ideas and passion since I put out a call for answers to the question, “Does impact investing still matter in the age of Trump and Brexit. The takeaway: Yes, more than ever. There is a real danger that impact investing will only makes rich people feel good about their […]
University of California breaks with Wells Fargo over values
The University of California is the latest to tell Wells Fargo it is taking its banking business elsewhere. UC canceled $475 million in business with the bank, including a $300 million line of credit. The university was under pressure from the Afrikan Black Coalition over Wells Fargo’s investments in private prisons, but a university spokesman […]
Backstage Capital eyes second fund for women- and minority-led startups
It took Arlan Hamilton 16 months to convince Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, Brad Feld of Foundry Group, ex-Salesforce executive Susan Kimberlin and others to put up $5 million for Backstage Capital to invest in women- and minority-owned businesses. Hamilton expects it to take as little as two months to raise Backstage’s second fund, as […]
Japan will use dormant bank accounts for social impact investments
Japan will use dormant bank accounts for social impact investments. The new fund, to be launched in 2019, will be modeled on the UK’s Big Society Capital, which uses unclaimed bank accounts to finance charities and social enterprises. Portugal and Israel have also moved to create such capital pools. An estimated 100 billion yen ($886.5 […]
Fossil-fuel divestment is not just prudent asset-management. It’s the law.
The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund could soon be required to divest from fossil fuels. The Irish Parliament voted 90 to 53 to pass a bill requiring its public investment fund to divest its €8 billion ($8.6 billion) in coal, oil and gas investments over the next five years. The bill is likely to become law […]
Ross Baird has a plan to build businesses and create jobs in rural America
Village Capital founder Ross Baird gets his say in a long profile in Bloomberg Businessweek. His formula: look for three-baggers, versus the 10X returns most VCs expect, in agriculture, healthcare and energy – and look for them in the red states between the coasts. Example: Fin Gourmet, a Kentucky startup that hires disadvantaged workers to […]
After the Women’s March: Make the Most of Where You Shop, Save and Invest
We marched. We came together in cities across the globe to protest the inauguration of a president who does not embody the values we espouse. So many of us marched, it was the largest recorded protest in U.S. history. There were so many thoughtful messages and humorous signs, and many different issues to embrace and hold […]
Inclusive Development Index: Measuring What Matters
Call it the Norway model. A new economic measure introduced at the World Economic Forum suggests inequality is not a natural byproduct of globalization, but a choice countries make through investments and priorities. The Inclusive Development Index shifts the evidence of a nation’s economic health from gross domestic product to living standards. GDP, a commonly used economic […]
Intentionality and Community: Impact Investing With Jewish Values
The motivations and intentions of investors have long been part of the dialogue around meaningful investing. The generally accepted definition of impact investing requires intentionality as a prerequisite, even in investments that clearly have a positive impact. Some may choose to invest in their local neighborhoods, as a manifestation of the principle that the poor […]
Read This if You are Not a Zillionaire: Impact Investing For the Rest of Us
Supply is beginning to catch up with demand for impact investing products for “retail” investors. Ample research indicates that everyday investors increasingly care about the impact of the investments they make. But impact investing products – funds, direct deals, social impact bonds and the like – have mostly been geared to high net worth individuals and […]
Supply and Demand: New Impact Investing Products Help Investors Go “All In”
The supply of impact investments is catching up to investor demand. The experiences of members of Toniic, an impact investing network, suggests impact investors are moving beyond private equity and creating portfolios diversified by asset class similar to traditional asset allocation. The message of a new report on their performance: full portfolio alignment with impact is possible […]
GIIN Forum Reflects New Urgency and Maturing Market
Amsterdam – More money, bigger investors, diverse products and specialized funds: This is what market evolution looks like. How you invest money over the next five years will determine how the world looks in 300 years.Christiana Figueres At the Global Impact Investing Network’s forum here last week, 800 investors and industry leaders gathered to cheer the field’s growth and opine […]
Is Impact Investing Ready for the Trump Era? (Podcast)
Boy, were we wrong. First, we devoted a whole Returns on Investment podcast to the future of impact investing under President Hillary Rodham Clinton. Then, we did a follow-up that still held out hope that President-elect Trump might soften his hardline position against urgent action on climate change. The latest podcast was recorded before Trump […]
Impact Investing Deals Start to Flow in Central America and the Caribbean
Antigua, Guatemala was the place last month to take stock of the impact investing ecosystem in Central America and the Caribbean. More than 350 investors, entrepreneurs and other participants from 34 countries gathered at the Latin American Impact Investment Forum for Central America and the Caribbean. Education and courage are key to strengthening the regional ecosystem, […]
Small Biz Tax Deduction Lower Risks for Early-Stage Impact Investors
Everybody loves a tax deduction, as we were reminded in the recent presidential campaign. A provision of the I.R.S. tax code can help de-risk early-stage impact investments by providing a significant tax deduction for losses from investment in “qualified small businesses.” In some cases, the deduction is even more advantageous that the tax deduction for […]
#Dealflow 11.17.16: Community Capital Management Backs Green Bonds, Accion Venture Lab Scores Exit, India Lowers Renewables Risk, and Pennsylvania Invests in Impact
Impact can be added to mainstream financial products, as well as the other way around. This week’s #Dealflow includes asset-backed securities and other such “plain vanilla” financial products. “Investing is very habitual,” says Jennifer Kenning of wealth manager Align Impact. “The more we can make [impact investing] look like what we have always done, the more […]
Trump is like the dog that caught the fire truck. Some ideas for what he does now.
It may be foolish to think that Donald Trump actually has solutions for addressing the wave of anger he rode into the White House. He’s spent decades stiffing contractors, outsourcing jobs and avoiding taxes. But if he’s looking for good ideas, let’s show him where to find some. There are at least a few areas where at […]
#Shifts October/November: New Theses, Markets and Signals Guiding Impact Investors
In this edition of#Shifts, ImpactAlpha’s monthly roundup of ideas and trends driving impact investing: investors look to restore degraded land and back U.K. charities, renewables could boost Ohio’s economy and migration is a boon for host economies. THESES: PROVOCATIVE INVESTMENT PROPOSITIONS Reducing and restoring degraded land. Financing land rehabilitation, sustainable agriculture, ecotourism, and other areas can increase the […]
After the Election: Can the ‘Impact Economy’ Power Clintonomics? (Podcast)
There’s still a nail-biting week remaining in the presidential election campaign, so it’s possible the Returns on Investment podcast jumped the gun. Nonetheless, in this week’s episode our regular guests look ahead to the potential for impact investing in a possible Clinton administration. “There are going to be huge challenges that she’s going to face […]
Impact Investing in Central America: New Funds, More Support, High Expectations
Promising impact ventures, new impact funds and growing interest from banks, NGOs and high net worth families – impact investing in Central America may finally be poised for takeoff. One place to take stock of the rising level of activity is Antigua, Guatemala, which is gearing up for this month’s second Latin American Impact Investment Forum […]
Investing in Impact Enterprises: Three Principles for Newcomers to Impact Investing
Most of us enjoy a good burger. But we sometimes feel guilty about the impact of all that beef on the environment. Should we stop eating our beloved burgers? Tech start-up PastureMap has a different answer. PastureMap created an app that helps farmers plan grazing, raise more beef, make a profit, cut carbon – and […]
Anders Ferguson: Tech-Driven Impact and Other Takeaways from Generation Investment
Most of us dedicated to sustainability tend to think about it terms of the big issues – climate change, food scarcity, clean water and other global environmental and social issues. After returning from Generation Investment Management’s recent conference, my perception about creating sustainable businesses and systems evolved markedly. It turns out the highest profile issue […]
Rockefeller Brothers Fund: How the Oil Heirs Are Getting Out of Fossil Fuels
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund – founded in 1940 by the five sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr. – made headlines a couple years ago when its announced it would divest its endowment of fossil fuels. Breaking with its own oil legacy was part of the fund’s decade-long commitment to align the impact of its $860 million endowment with […]
The Why of Impact Investing, Millennials and the Last Word at #SOCAP16
Jed Emerson has been studying his history, as evidenced by the arc he traced from Dutch East Indies Company and the 1848 Oneida commune in upstate New York, through the German dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Marshall Plan, to our present moment and “out into the future for more centuries to come.” And Jed, as he’s […]
The Tribes of Impact Investing, the Big Tent and Getting Real About #SOCAP16 (Podcast)
SOCAP: the place where the citizens of Impact Land gather to discuss … what exactly? And who are these people, anyway? This week on Returns on Investment our roving panelists deconstruct the annual Social Capital Markets conference, scene of a thousand meetings, hundreds of panels and dozens of parties. This week’s episode brought our three regulars […]
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