GIIN in the news Press releases

  • Impact investing lends a hand to struggling social entrepreneurs

    via Pro Bono Australiaby Maggie Cogan

    September 18, 2020

  • Wouter Koelewijn: COVID-19 crisis will stimulate need and demand for impact investing

    via Financial Investigator by Jolanda de Groot

    July 21, 2020

    Summary

    In this article, Financial Investigator’s Jolanda Groot interviews Wouter Koelewijn, European Liaison for the GIIN, about the challenges and the effects of the coronavirus crisis on impact investing. According to Wouter, “there will be a great need as well as a great demand for impact investing as a result of this crisis.” Investors wanting to create a positive societal impact can put their money to work in “efforts to rebuild businesses, restore quality jobs and increase access to basic services such as health, housing, and education” during both the crisis and the recovery phase. In this regard, Wouter underscores the launch of the Response, Recovery, and Resilience Investment Coalition (R3 Coalition) which, managed by the Global Impact Investing Network as the organizing body, “aims to streamline impact investing efforts that will address the large-scale social and economic consequences of COVID-19.”

    Read original article

  • Intention is not enough: Impact investors seek standardised measures of ‘impact’

    via Institutional Asset Managerby Madeleine Taylor

    July 21, 2020

    Summary

    In this article, Madeleine Taylor interviews Kelly McCarthy, Director, IRIS+ and Impact Measurement and Management at the GIIN, about the standardization of impact measurement and management. According to the GIIN’s 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey, 66 percent of impact investors highlighted that ‘impact washing’ is an incredibly important issue to tackle if the market is to scale. Kelly explains that a goal on itself is not enough but that “it’s also important to be able to demonstrate measurable performance against that goal.” She underscores that “now more than ever, there is a real cry as the world needs companies to act and reflect on a broader number range of topics than those that have been required by regulators, and those typically captured in profit and loss statements.” According to the GIIN, “…impact will become a feature of company performance, just like the liquidity or risk and return profile of an investment.”

    Read original article

  • Impact investors not scared off by Covid-19 – GIIN global survey

    via Pioneers Postby Post Reporters

    July 01, 2020

    Summary

    This Pioneers Post article, covering the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN) 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey, highlights that impact investors do not seem to be scared off by the current COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, according to the survey, more than half (57%) of the respondents answered, “they were unlikely to decrease the volume of capital they had planned to commit to impact investments this year.” Moreover, the article underscores that this year’s survey, “provides data and insights from the largest number of respondents ever: 294 of the world’s leading impact investors, who collectively manage USD 404 billion of impact investing assets.”

    Read original article

  • With $715B In AUM, Impact Investors Stay The Course, Despite The Pandemic, Says The GIIN

    via Forbesby Anne Field

    July 01, 2020

    Summary

    In this article, Anne Field from Forbes interviews Amit Bouri, Co-Founder and CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network, about some key findings from the GIIN’s 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey. In particular, they focus on the Survey’s findings related to the current COVID-19 crisis and note that impact investors seem to not have abandoned pre-crisis investing plans. According to Bouri, this makes sense, particularly if you understand investors’ reasons for embracing impact. He also underscores, “Impact investors are motivated by issues that are going to take a long time to resolve.”

    Read original article

  • Global Impact Investing Network launches COVID-19 coalition

    via Pensions & Investments by Hazel Bradford

    June 11, 2020

    Summary

    In this article, Hazel Bradford covers the launch of the Response, Recovery, and Resilience Investment Coalition – “R3 Coalition” – founded  to “streamline impact investing efforts that address the social and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic through opportunities such as health interventions and access to capital.” The current COVID-19 crisis "underscores the need for bigger and better collaboration," notes Amit Bouri, Co-Founder and CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network, which is managing the coalition.

    Read original article

  • Impact Investor Networks Collaborate to Tackle Covid-19 Fallout

    via Barron’s by Abby Schultz

    June 11, 2020

    Summary

    In this article, Abby Schultz interviews Co-Founder and CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network, Amit Bouri, on the launch of the new Response, Recovery, and Resilience Investment Coalition (R3 Coalition). According to Bouri, “there was a broad recognition that we had a unique and unprecedented global crisis that required a unique and global response.”

    Read original article

  • What do ‘bad’ SDG impact ratings mean?

    via Expert Investorby Elena Johansson

    June 11, 2020

    Summary

    In this article, Elena Johansson covers how the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be used as an “investing tool” to drive greater impact, and interviews Rachel Bass, Senior Manager, Research, at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) in New York. According to Bass, although the application of the SDGs in investments remains an evolving process, the importance of SDG investing is rising. Bass underscores that the GIIN’s 2020 State of Impact Measurement and Management Practice survey revealed that approximately three-quarters of respondents are aligning their portfolios with the SDGs, “using the SDGs to guide their impact measurement and management practices” and to set their targets.

    Read original article

  • Reflections on the Outcry for Change

    by Amit Bouri

    June 11, 2020

    Summary

    In this statement posted on Medium, GIIN CEO Amit Bouri reflects on persistent racial discrimination and the urgent need for action. "In this tumultuous moment, we must use our pain as fuel to redouble our efforts toward that future: a future that is more inclusive, more equitable, and more just; a future in which finance is used as a powerful lever to tackle our most urgent challenges; a future in which the “black lives matter” mantra is understood simply as a statement of fact.” - Bouri shares his reflections on structural racism and urges all those in positions to make change happen to take action. George Floyd and far too many others deserve justice.

     

    Read original article

  • WILL THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS MAKE OR BREAK IMPACT INVESTING?

    via Campden FBby James Beech

    May 15, 2020

    Summary
    In this Q&A interview, Amit Bouri, co-founder and CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), shares his thoughts on the current COVID-19 crisis and how impact investors, in particular, can respond. Bouri highlights that the crisis has exposed the world’s inequalities and the vulnerabilities of today’s socio-economic system. What has become clear, Bouri says, is the need to invest “in a more resilient and inclusive system.”

    Read original article

  • This is an opportunity to prove our money can do more than just make more money

    via Responsible Investorby Amit Bouri

    May 15, 2020

    Summary

    In this article, Amit Bouri, co-founder and CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), highlights the significance of impact performance and provides insights from the GIIN’s second edition of The State of Impact Measurement and Management Practice report. For instance, Bouri underscores that impact performance is shaping the way, “investors will think about impact for years to come…” and “…is redefining what ‘successful’ investing looks like.”

    Read original article

  • OPINION: We must invest differently to support women and girls

    via Thomson Reutersby Giselle Leung

    April 28, 2020

    Summary

    “Many of the structural issues at the root of gender inequality are locked in and magnified by our current financial system,” notes Giselle Leung, Managing Director at The Global Impact Investing Network. In this Op-ed, Leung explains that gender lens investing “is an investment practice with a focus on promoting gender equality” but is “equally understood as a lens though which conscientious investors can assess the gender equality implications for any investment opportunity.” That lens, highlights Giselle, “can be applied whether or not the underlying investment is specifically women-focused.” She also underscores that although the implementation of a gender lens has already been gaining “traction among investors intentionally seeking an environmental or social benefit alongside their financial return…the mainstream investing community’s focus on gender equality is not always ambitious enough.”

    Read original article