GIIN Investor Forum 2018

California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest American public pension fund, recently saw a shift in their board, as discussed in this podcast by ImpactAlpha. Outgoing ESG-investing champion Priya Mathur’s board position was filled by Jason Perez, who has spoken against the practice, depicting it as a risk for the retirement security of the group’s investors. Such opinions underscore the need for innovation within the impact investing industry, focusing on infrastructure to scale and successfully repeat investments, to both improve the industry itself and attract more players.

A special edition feature of The Guardian called “The Future of Impact Investing Campaign” begins with a forward by GIIN CEO and co-founder Amit Bouri. In it, he highlights the “growing client demands, growing attention from world leaders, government bodies and the media” as impact investing moves further into the mainstream.  He also points out the need for a more radical shift to use impact investing’s full potential to better solve the world’s problems. The feature also includes articles from other industry leaders about various aspects of the future of impact investing, such as “Aligning Capital Markets With the SDGs”, “Using Pensions to Fund Impact Investment” and “Putting the Economy to Work for the Poor”.

Barron’s Abby Schultz interviews three “champions of impact investing” that are working harder than ever to push the market forward and use it as effectively as possible to alleviate global issues. Along with Amit Bouri, CEO and co-founder of the GIIN, Barron’s profiles two of his original mentors and early pioneers of the industry who continue to influence thought around the practice: Jed Emerson, founder of Blended Value Group and Charly Kleissner who with his wife, Lisa Kleissner, founded the Toniic group. Schultz speaks with these industry players on their entrance into impact investing and their visions for its future.

While impact investing is “booming”, we “also have to think about how we continue to grow this market and accelerate progress”, according to GIIN CEO and co-founder Amit Bouri, whom Ben Paynter interviews for this Fast Company article on the industry’s ability to make change. The article goes on to discuss the need to influence the system as a whole, and draws on the GIIN’s research, Financing the Sustainable Development Goals: Impact Investing in Action to provide examples of ways firms are incorporating impact throughout their investment cycle to address global challenges.

In a special piece on impact investing for the Financial Times, Owen Walker reports on the rising demand for organizations to more clearly define their impact. The piece highlights how more women and millennials are demonstrating interest in impact investing, and how there are increasing opportunities for impact investments. Walker also emphasizes the essential role impact measurement and management play in driving the change investors intend to create.

As the impact investing industry grows, more mechanisms for investing via fixed income and retail products are being developed. This article by Beth Braverman details how green bonds have become very successful in the last few years and inspired the launch of SDG bonds, which are linked to specific UN Sustainable Development Goals. Braverman also interviews GIIN Research Director Abhilash Mudaliar and other industry leaders—including Gil Crawford of MicroVest, Avi Deutsch of Vodia Capital, and George Gay of First Affirmative Financial Network—about the growth of the industry and new developments in the public side of the market.

In this article, Abby Schultz highlights how the GIIN is urging investors to focus their investments on bridging the multi-trillion dollar investment gap needed to finance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. She also reveals key findings from the GIIN’s latest report, Financing the Sustainable Development Goals: Impact Investing in Action, which outlines the processes of investors that have incorporated the goals into their investment cycles, demonstrating how they can be translated into the investment world. This serves as a step towards the eventual goal of inspiring all investors to take active roles in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by their 2030 deadline.

“In a generation, impact investing will be widespread, and it will be business as usual to think about impact across your investment portfolio, from the largest institutions to everyday individuals who want to ensure they have the money to retire—but also to invest in the world they want to retire in.” GIIN CEO and co-founder Amit Bouri is the latest interview by Leslie P. Norton, profiling influencers in the investment world. In this interview for Barron’s, Bouri discusses different facets of impact investing, as well as his vision for the future of the industry. 

The GIIN’s new report, The Landscape for Impact Investing in Southeast Asia, was featured in a recent article in Asia Asset Management. Published together with Intellecap Advisory Services, the report takes a deep dive into impact investing activity in 11 Southeast Asian countries. Abhilash Mudaliar, GIIN Research Director, says “The countries across the region offer dynamic business environments with increasing entrepreneurial and investment activity focused on ensuring inclusive and sustainable economic development.”

The Ford Foundation is using its status to address inequality under the leadership of its Vice President of Inclusive Economies and Markets, Xavier de Souza Briggs. Briggs is focusing on incorporating social and economic justice into the spectrum of the foundation’s work. In this article, Briggs elaborates on the meaningful direction his work at Ford is taking.