GIIN in the news Press releases

  • Green and Ethical Investment Comes of Age

    via Financial Timesby Penny Shepherd

    October 15, 2011

    Summary

    Green and ethical investment and finance in the United Kingdom is being increasingly recognized as a positive investment in activities that benefit society and/or the environment, according to a recent YouGov report.

    From original article:

    "More UK adults now define 'green and ethical investment and finance' as a positive investment in activities that 'benefit society and/or the environment' rather than the traditional view that it is about 'excluding companies involved in undesirable practices.'"

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  • A Quest for Hybrid Companies That Profit, but Can Tap Charity

    via The New York Timesby Stephanie Strom

    October 11, 2011

    Summary

    The New York Times outlines new legislation in the U.S. that bridges the divide between nonprofits and businesses.

    From original article:

    "California is the latest state to adopt a statute permitting what is called flexible-purpose corporations, new companies that are part social benefit and part low-profit entities. The companies are now allowed under laws in more than a dozen states and two Indian tribes."

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  • Philanthropy, Now Yielding Financial Returns

    via Forbesby Betsy Brill

    October 09, 2011

    Summary

    Forbes outlines socially responsible investing and impact investing options for those with charitable plans, and argues that for-profit investment can achieve social and financial returns.

    From original article:

    "For decades, giving for social benefit and investing for financial return have been practiced as separate and distinct activities. But today there are a range of philanthropic investment strategies available that simultaneously yield social and financial returns."

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  • $25m Fund Set Up to Finance 'Small Cap' Agribusiness in East Africa

    via The East Africanby Cosmas Butunyi

    October 08, 2011

  • Be Your Own Bank

    via GOODby Alex Goldmark

    October 02, 2011

    Summary

    Current U.S. laws prohibit those who want to invest directly into a start up company from doing so; but if they do change, social enterprises could benefit.

    From original article:

    "Asked to predict what the first wave of crowdfunded businesses will be, Jackley [founder of Kiva] says, 'I think social enterprises, I think retail. Anything that is a consumer brand that people love and can relate to and feel like they can be a apart of. When there's a social benefit attached to it, that's huge.'"

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  • Investors Attracted More to Funds with Impact Investment Ratings

    via The East Africanby Cosmas Butunyi

    October 01, 2011

    Summary

    The East African reports on the group of 15 investors that supports the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS), and notes that GIIRS has already rated some East African companies.

    From original article:

    "According to Olivia Muiru, a rating associate at GIIRS, 30 East African companies were rated during the test. Out of these, 19 are in Kenya, five in Tanzania and six in Uganda. In the West African region, only three were rated: one in Nigeria and two in Ghana."

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  • Could impact investing help India's poor?

    via BBC News, Delhiby Shilpa Kannan

    September 28, 2011

    Summary

    Impact investors are using insurance as a means of helping small businesses in India, rather than loans.

    From original article:

    "Leapfrog says that it is a big myth that because people have low incomes they are unable to pay for meaningful products. 'We are looking at the next billion consumers,' said Andrew Kuper, co-founder of Leapfrog. 'The consumers who are rising out of poverty and into the middle-classes... aspiring, seeking to acquire financial services and other services that allow them to go on their journey in a more effective way.'"

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  • Randall Kempner on the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs

    via Forbesby Rahim Kanani

    September 17, 2011

    Summary

    Forbes features an interview with Randall Kempner, Executive Director of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs. In this role, Randall oversees the implementation of ANDE's extensive program and policy agenda, including efforts to develop select standardized IRIS social and environmental metrics for impact investments in emerging market small and growing businesses, and training seminars on supporting and investing in emerging-market entrepreneurs.

    From original article:

    "The broader impact investment sector is beginning to mature. We've got a commonly accepted set of standards for measuring the social, environmental and financial results of impact investments (the Impact Reporting Investment Standards (IRIS) initiative); a continual stream of reports that aim to measure the present and future size of the industry, and a significant amount of activity focused on building marketplaces and exchanges to support investments in SGBs [small and growing businesses]."

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  • Slideshow

    via goodby Alex Goldmark

    September 12, 2011

    Summary

    GOOD magazine profiles Acumen Fund, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, Omidyar Network, RSF Social Finance, and more in this slideshow.

    From original article:

    "The Social Capital Markets Conference was an opportunity to find the best new social entrepreneurs to fund. GOOD talked with some of these pioneering investors to get tips for social entrepreneurs who want to attract values-driven cash."

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  • The Case For For-Profit Solutions To The World's Water Problems

    via Fast Companyby Dennis Merens, Sanjay Bhatnagar

    September 11, 2011

    Summary

    Acumen Fund portfolio company WaterHealth International argues in Fast Company that creating an economic system to ensure clean water will have longer lasting results.

    From original article:

    "The for-profit model can be successful in helping underserved populations by effectively supplementing other activities. The public sector can do much more on their limited budgets by supporting business models that leverage private sector funding. This enables the public sector to reach a larger number of underserved communities compared to what would be possible if they went it alone."

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  • Happy Returns

    via The Economist

    September 09, 2011

    Summary

    The Economist discusses the momentum building around impact investing.

    From original article:

    "Investors have greater choice than ever. Five years ago anyone wanting explicitly to combine financial returns with virtue was limited to investing in social housing for poorer people in rich countries, microcredit and a handful of ethical mutual funds that shun sinful shares such as tobacco and defence companies. In June Impact Assets published a list of the top 50 impact investors, ranging from Blue Orchard, which has invested around $1 billion in microcredit, to IGNIA, which is investing its first $100m fund in growing small businesses in Latin America and is about to start raising a second fund."

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  • Big Society Bank to Focus on Creating Market

    via Financial Timesby Andrew Bounds

    September 08, 2011

    Summary

    The Financial Times interviews Caroline Mason, the chief operating officer of Big Society Capital, which hopes to attract more capital to social enterprises in the UK.

    From original article:

    "The Big Society bank cannot fill the hole left by public spending cuts, its chief operating officer has admitted, but aims to create a market for social investing that will draw in at least £3bn of private money. The bank, now renamed Big Society Capital as it will not take deposits and will only lend wholesale, will focus on facilitating investment rather than funding frontline services."

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