The GIIN’s Institutional Asset Owner (IAO) Capital Mobilization Program supports IAOs in moving from fragmented impact efforts to a systematic, strategic and portfolio-wide approach.

Since its launch in 2021, there has been growing interest among IAOs in understanding the impacts associated with their investments and their contributions to addressing systemic challenges, in the interest of their beneficiaries, alongside delivering on their financial return obligations.

Through the program, the GIIN accelerates this shift by providing IAOs with the encouragement, tools and guidance needed to move from exploring opportunities for investing with positive impact, or making fragmented efforts, to integrating a positive environmental and social impact approach across their portfolios.

Why Institutional Asset Owners?

With more than $100 trillion USD under management according to the OECD, IAOs play a critical role in shaping global capital markets. As long-term stewards of capital, they are uniquely positioned to influence real-world outcomes while delivering financial returns. Their scale, long horizons and fiduciary role make them pivotal in addressing systemic challenges such as climate, biodiversity and social inequality.

The GIIN’s 2025 State of the Market report indicated that IAOs already provide more than 50% of new impact investing capital. Further scaling of impact investing will require continued active engagement, commitment, allocation and deployment of IAO capital.

Standing Institutional Asset Owner Advisory Group

The IAO impact investing market has reached a point where the GIIN’s development of critical practical concepts, insights and engagement will benefit from a standing IAO Advisory Group of experienced senior individuals from impact-leading IAOs.

The IAO Advisory Group supports the GIIN in inspiring, guiding and strengthening IAOs that are entering or expanding their impact investing efforts by providing:

  • Advice to the GIIN on strategic IAO market engagements and direction
  • Feedback and input on the GIIN’s development of insight and guidance resources

The Advisory Group consists of about ten individuals in senior positions representing pension and insurance investment experience. Meetings are conducted under the Chatham House Rule.

The IAO Advisory Group members are: 

IAO Advisory Group Members

The Impact Lens Concept

The GIIN’s impact lens concept provides a practical and holistic approach for integrating impact into investment strategies. It moves beyond siloed asset class allocations and supports broader, more adaptive strategies. The impact lens overlay recognizes that social and environmental factors can positively and negatively affect portfolio value. The impact lens goes beyond evaluating financial risks and opportunities, to actively seeking both financial and impact returns, providing opportunities for optimized yields. In addition to protecting financial interests, an impact lens means considering the world beneficiaries live in and proactively choosing investments that improve their quality of life.

Learn more about holistic portfolio construction

Convening IAO peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges

Convening IAO peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges

The GIIN facilitates peer-to-peer learning through IAO roundtables held under the Chatham House Rule, creating a trusted space for senior professionals to exchange insights, share challenges and discuss evolving market practices.

This peer community convenes through regular virtual roundtables across multiple regions, complemented by more ad hoc in-person engagements such as executive roundtables at GIIN Impact Forums and country- or asset-owner-type-specific cohorts.

Since 2021, the GIIN has convened approximately 15 roundtable sessions per year, with more than 50 unique IAOs participating annually across sessions and cohorts over the last three years. Key features include small, curated cohorts of IAOs and regular virtual and in-person engagements designed to build continuity, trust and practical progress over time.

Producing IAO market insights and guidance

The program also develops and delivers practical guidance to help IAOs implement an impact lens alongside a financial lens. These insights are grounded in direct engagement with IAOs and are designed to inform decision making and support implementation.

Since 2021, the program has produced a growing body of work, including a flagship paper on holistic portfolio construction with an impact lens, multiple case studies on pursuing impact with a portfolio, and a global mapping of leading IAO impact approaches.

View a selection of publications from the IAO Capital Mobilization Program:

  • View a selection of publications from the IAO Capital Mobilization Program:

    Navigating Uncertainty, Seizing Opportunity

    Impact investing among institutional asset owners (IAOs) is entering a new phase. Once limited to scattered efforts, impact investing is now becoming a meaningful part of institutional portfolios; it is both more systematic and more common. This research, based on data from 22 IAOs collectively managing $3.5 trillion USD and headquartered across 10 countries, captures a field in transition. IAOs are moving from directional impact commitments to more concrete impact investing strategies, unlocking significant capital aimed at improving current and future quality of life for their beneficiaries.

  • View a selection of publications from the IAO Capital Mobilization Program:

    Pursuing Impact Within a Portfolio

    This paper provides a brief overview of an impact lens and lays out a series of cases that demonstrate the three features listed above. For IAOs interested in beginning or expanding their impact investing efforts, this paper offers a starting point and seeks to help practitioners visualize a path to integrate impact thinking into the management of their portfolio. The cases offer approaches that can be combined by any IAO wanting to develop a holistic approach to embed impact investments within its portfolio. 

  • View a selection of publications from the IAO Capital Mobilization Program:

    Holistic Portfolio Construction With an Impact Lens

    In this report, leaders at IAOs will find a useful, practical guide to apply a holistic portfolio construction approach with an impact lens. The report outlines the steps an IAO can take to implement this strategy, starting with planning and conceptualization and moving toward the ultimate goal of an impact lens applied across an entire portfolio. A specific example scenario of a teacher’s pension fund investing in affordable housing brings practical light to the theoretical framework offered.

  • View a selection of publications from the IAO Capital Mobilization Program:

    Strategies for Engaging With Asset Manager For Impact

    Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from institutional asset owners along with qualitative data from asset managers and intermediaries, this research seeks to detail which strategies and mechanisms asset owners may need in place to align with asset managers to achieve impact across their portfolios. The research brief covers the nature of engagement with asset owners, challenges in pursuing impact alongside asset managers, and strategies to align impact incentives with external asset managers.

  • View a selection of publications from the IAO Capital Mobilization Program:

    Approaches to Setting Social and Environmental Goals

    The report dives into institutional asset owner approaches to setting impact priorities and targets - unpacking challenges they face when assessing impact priorities, identifying ways of turning these challenges into opportunities to achieve greater impact, and outlining next steps investors can take to set targets and integrate social and environmental priorities into their investment processes.