• Summary

    In a podcast interview with ImpactAlpha, GIIN’s CEO Amit Bouri reflects on the current COVID-19 crisis and notes that despite an inevitable pause in impact investment activity as funds and enterprises focus on health and safety and basic business continuity, the crisis represents “a real moment of leadership.” According to Bouri, impact investors “…that do have capital to deploy, they want to be part of the response to the crisis, the recovery coming out of the crisis and ultimately investing in a more resilient system that can better weather the shocks coming out of the crisis.”

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  • Summary

    In this Barron’s article, Abby Schultz covers GIIN CEO Amit Bouri’s perspectives on impact investors' challenges during the current COVID-19 crisis. Amit explains that his expectation is that the impact investing community “…can be part of the response to helping to limit the damage of the crisis itself,” and that he believes impact investors can play a significant role in the broader global recovery.

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  • Summary

    What is impact investing? Can business owners handle their problems in socially constructive ways? How much more money needs to be allocated to impact investments to sustain the future? In this episode of the Real Leaders podcast, GIIN CEO Amit Bouri answers these questions and more as he shares his reflections on how people can be invested in more than just profit.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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”.

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  • Summary

    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.

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  • Summary

    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.”

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    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.”

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    This article by Michael Cosack of ImpactWise LLC and Jeremy Bach of Bach Capital Advisors examines the challenges of aligning financial and impact risk. Cosack and Bach argue that the slow adoption and the confusion about impact investing stems from the lack of “a common impact investment language” which leaves too many financial advisors that institutional asset owners rely upon without a full understanding of the impact investing space. Furthermore, they outline how the investment vehicles that the financial services industry offers are created in traditional investment terms that need to be adapted to impact investing.

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    In this article, Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation, describes how he imagines “a more equitable 21st-century capitalism.” He argues that “the imperative of the 21st century is to build a new economy” because “solving today’s challenges requires unprecedented collaboration between business and philanthropy, private and public sectors.” He explains how the Ford Foundation is currently working to reimagine its philanthropic model to create “value in ways that better benefit society.”

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