GIIN Investor Forum 2019

In this article, the GIIN’s Research Manager, Rachel Bass, shares highlights from discusses the GIIN’s latest publication, the second edition of its survey of the State of Impact Measurement and Management Practice report. She notes that “…a significant development in the twelve-year-period since the term ‘impact investing’ was first coined” has taken place. “Investors now universally regard IMM as important for understanding whether one’s impact demonstrates progress toward one’s goals” and “IMM is used as a tool to drive impact performance and shape business decisions.” This consensus that IMM plays a defining role in impact investing indicates a market well-beyond its infancy – and a market whose players are realizing their shared characteristics and coming to terms with their identity.

In this article, Zafirah Zein describes how “…after the #MeToo movement made headlines and women’s rights became a front and centre issue globally,” the world of finance seems “to be waking up to the benefits of inclusivity.” She outlines how gender lens investing is creating “an enabling space for women-led businesses.” She also notes that while financial institutions are increasingly recognizing the large potential of gender lens investing, women remain heavily underserved and underrepresented in Asia.

In this article, Adva Saldinger explains that “…most capital invested today is not aligned with the SDGs” and that harmonization of metrics within the finance community will be essential to spur progress and create impact. “While we see volumes growing, inconsistencies are emerging, and it is important to get that right.” She notes that “the Global Impact Investing Network has seen this growing demand for impact measurement and management from mainstream financial institutions” and quotes GIIN CEO Amit Bouri about how . The GIIN is currently working with DFIs to agree on common metrics and aims, to help meet this demand for simpler, more uniform ways of measuring impact, Amit Bouri, GIIN’s CEO, said.

In this Forbes article, Anne Field covers the GIIN’s newly released survey, The State of Impact Measurement and Management Practice, Second Edition, emphasizing how accurate insight into impact performance is critical to the growth of the impact investing industry. According to GIIN’s Managing Director, Sapna Shah, “impact management is a requirement for all credible impact investors,” “it’s not optional anymore.” The growing interest amongst financial investors to step up “their expectations for reliable and comprehensive impact performance reporting” will offer enterprises the opportunity “to differentiate themselves.”

In this article, Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans of the National Catholic Reporter dissects a variety of innovative financial initiatives in the global Catholic investing community and links these initiatives to the growing movement of impact investing, as defined by the Global Impact Investing Network. As Evans points out, “impact investing has broadened the choices available to financial managers” and broadened the community of investors, “attracting attention both from faith-based groups and secular organizations like pension funds and big financial sector players”.

This article provides important insights into the growing community of impact investors and discusses the need for greater and more comprehensive benchmarking “…to enable investors to quantify the impact of their investments.” Featured in the article is Director of Upstream Sustainability Services, Philip Hirst, who highlights that global real estate, with its “USD 1.5 trillion of new capital” over the upcoming years, will have stretched across a range of sectors “where investments can have a positive social, and environmental, effect.”

In this article, Tim Freundlich discusses the importance of “creative solutions that put more capital to work” to close the annual $2.5 trillion investment gap critical to realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. One of the solutions he identifies is ‘impact investing’ which, as Co-Founder and CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network Amit Bouri explains, is an industry that is currently “experiencing significant momentum.” Businesses of all sizes “are entering the impact investing market every week, and the industry has received a swell of support from governments, academics, and business leaders”, notes Amit Bouri.

As the demand for sustainable and impact investing grows, efforts to prevent ‘green washing’ and ‘impact washing’ are paramount for safeguarding the integrity of the impact investing industry. This article explores how Vornado Realty, Etsy Corporation, and LeapFrog Investments are currently approaching the concept of ‘impact assurance’, which enables informed scrutiny by third parties and independent verification.

In this article, Tom Freke and David Caleb Mutua discuss the complexity of, and confusion around, the ‘S’ in the rapidly growing sector of ‘ESG’ investing. While, according to the authors, what the ‘E’ and ‘G’ stand for is rather straightforward – environmental and governance, the ‘S’ – social - on the other hand, is not so specific and quite hard to pin down. This article gives insights into the different subsets to social investing.

This Pro Bono Australia article gives significant insights into the growing momentum of the impact investment movement, and provides an overview of what the authors identify as the, “core beliefs that could underlie […] a true Impact Revolution,” which they outline as: Equality of Humanity, Social Justice, Mutual Interdependence and Personal Transformation.  According to the authors, “revolution is not merely a reboot of capitalism into a more benevolent form. It is fueled by an entirely different philosophy and value set that is more conducive to the advancement of human civilization.”