GIIN in the news Press releases

  • Where Will All The People Live?

    via Financial Advisor Greenby Ellie Winninghoff

    February 28, 2011

    Summary

    Enterprise Community Loan Fund has invested capital into affordable housing for low-income Americans for decades, and more recently, the fund has worked with green builders on their projects, according to this article in Financial Advisor Green. The product is available now to both individual and institutional investors.

    From original article:

    "Are you looking to invest with a social enterprise that has an extraordinary track record for tackling complex problems with creativity, not gimmicks?

    "Enterprise Community Loan Fund (assets: $176 million), one of the largest loan funds in the country, has started offering 'community impact notes' to individuals and institutional investors that help finance green and affordable housing, as well as the revitalization of communities, which its founder once visualized as 'gardens that grow people and civilizations.'"

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  • The New Candy

    via Financial Advisor Greenby Ellie Winninghoff

    February 28, 2011

    Summary

    Financial Advisor, a trade publication for wealth advisors, details the growing interest in impact investing and the products available in the market now.

    From original article:

    "Imagine investing in - not donating to - nonprofits that make small business loans in Appalachia, develop affordable housing in New Orleans, support fair trade initiatives for chocolate and coffee growers, or maybe extend credit to micro-entrepreneurs or small businesses that sell clean energy or deliver access to water in the developing world.

    "Or perhaps your clients prefer to invest in a for-profit loan fund that supports organic farms, or a private equity fund that preserves ranchland or develops sustainable forests. Or a venture capital fund focused on climate change solutions.

    "Welcome to the world of 'impact investing,' a way to invest to solve the world's social and environmental problems while earning a financial return - as little as a return of capital to as much as well-above-market rate.

    "These investments, which range from CDs in community banks to private placements limited to accredited investors, can also include various tranches in massive development projects involving partnerships between governments, foundations, banks and pension funds."

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  • Transparency Needed

    via Financial Advisor Greenby Thomas Kostigan

    February 27, 2011

    Summary

    This blog post in Financial Advisor Green makes the case for transparency and consistency in social and environmental performance reporting, noting the work of the GIIN to create the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS).

    From original article:

    "Impact investing needs indexes, benchmarks and uniform reporting in order for investors to make intelligent investment decisions. Otherwise, it's investing in a vacuum - and that won't do the world as much good over the long term.

    "It's happening.

    "The Global impact Investing Network has developed Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS). This is a common framework for measuring social and environmental impact of investments."

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  • Government and Nonprofits Experiment with New Approach on Financing

    via The Chronicle of Philanthropyby Martha Ann Overland

    February 19, 2011

    Summary

    As governments in the United States consider social impact bonds, the idea gets coverage in this article, which appeared in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

    From original article:

    "Now a new financing effort getting attention from foundations and governments - most notably the Obama administration, which last week offered up to $100-million toward the approach - may help nonprofits like Earthen Vessels attract the money they need to expand, with the goal of saving money for society in the end.

    "Backers of the new financial tool, known as social-impact bonds, want to tap the discipline of the business world by enlisting investors to put up the money to run social programs that the government normally pays for.

    "The incentive for investors: If they back programs that get results, the government will not only repay the money but also provide a bonus.

    "The concept is popular because it reduces fund-raising headaches for nonprofits and because it allows the government to avoid paying for programs that don't make a difference.

    "If a nonprofit fails to reduce homelessness or doesn't increase graduation rates, for example, then the government pays nothing."

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  • Entrepreneurs Are Transforming The Developing World

    via The Huffington Postby Randall Kempner, Aspen Network For Development Entrepreneurs

    February 17, 2011

    Summary

    Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneur's Randall Kempner makes the case that investing in small and growing businesses provides valuable economic and social benefits to developing economies.

    From original article:

    "For the impact investing community, and even the broader investment community - SGBs provide a valuable channel and opportunity. More and more investors are realizing that they can reap financial rewards as well as social and environmental impacts by investing in these types of businesses. Our upcoming Impact Report will share research that demonstrates that in 2010 alone, 31 new funds targeting SGBs were launched."

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  • The Most Exciting 0.003% of Obama's Budget

    via Fast Companyby Alex Goldmark

    February 15, 2011

    Summary

    Reporter Alex Goldmark looks into the motivations behind social impact bonds, which are allocated $100 million in President Obama's proposed budget.

    From original article:

    "Buried deep within President Obama's $3.7 trillion budget is a tiny little item that might just change public finance forever... if it works.

    "Well it's tiny by comparison anyway. President Obama is asking for up to $100 million — less than 0.003 percent of his overall proposed budget — to pilot a brand new way to pay for public services called the Social Impact Bond. The plan uses private, profit-motivated investment money to fund public services up-front. The government only pays if the services deliver as promised, and only out of government cost savings. No taxpayer money wasted on failed programs in this plan...

    "...'There are a whole range of social issues, where if we get better at preventing them, then prevention is cheaper than cure,' Eccles says. 'That's something that is hard for government to commit to,' especially in tight fiscal times like the current ones, but private investors are used to paying up front and waiting for results."

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  • Rockefeller Foundation Sees Social-Change Dividend

    via Wall Street Journalby Shelly Banjo

    February 14, 2011

    Summary

    GIIN Board Chairman Antony Bugg-Levine's impact investing program at the Rockefeller Foundation is the subject of this article, which details the work that's being done to bring social impact bonds to the United States.

    From original article:

    "Originating in the U.K., social-impact bonds encourage private investors and philanthropic foundations to fund privately managed social programs in areas such as health care and prisoner recidivism. If the programs succeed in reaching previously set targets - and social outcomes improve - investors receive so-called success payments from the government. If the programs don't work, the government pays nothing. In these scenarios, investors take on all the risk and the government pays only for programs that work...

    "...'There simply isn't enough money in philanthropy and government alone to solve the problems that need to be solved,' Mr. Bugg-Levine says. 'There's $80 trillion in for-profit capital markets and we believe there's huge potential in unlocking some of that money and deploying it to solve social problems.'"

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  • India

    via LiveMintby Pierre Omidyar, Founder Of Omidyar Network

    February 09, 2011

    Summary

    Pierre Omidyar, whose Omidyar Network is a founding member of the GIIN Investors' Council, writes in this guest column about the Omidyar Network's approach to financing social and environmental businesses that can accelerate India's economic development.

    From original article:

    "We also hope to have a catalytic effect with our investments. This implies a focus on investments or grants at organizational inflection points, when financial resources and professional expertise will have the most impact in helping an enterprise grow. Typically, this means companies with a proven model and demonstration of social impact, supported by a strong management team. Success is judged by how many people's lives each organization is impacting and to what extent. This evaluation system is imperfect, but we believe it's a good indicator of the type of impact we want to see in the world.

    "Our hope is that this type of impact investing can play an important role in India's development by supporting innovative organizations that foster economic, political and social advancement for all Indians."

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  • Morgan Stanley Pledges $500 Million for Small Biz Lending

    via Bloomberg Businessweekby John Tozzi

    February 09, 2011

    Summary

    GIIN Investors' Council member Morgan Stanley will take advantage of a new program from the Small Business Administration that provides government guarantees for loans that create or retain small business jobs.

    From original article:

    "Morgan Stanley (MS) plans to buy up to $500 million of commercial property loans made to small businesses over the next few years, a move the bank says should help ease credit by allowing community and regional banks that make such loans to move them off their books and make new ones.

    "The investment will inject much-needed liquidity into a loan market that has not yet recovered from the financial crisis. Morgan Stanley will buy commercial mortgages made through the Small Business Administration's 504 program, which companies can use to purchase or improve their properties or invest in new equipment. 504 loans, which are partially guaranteed by the government, require businesses to create or retain one job for each $65,000 that the SBA guarantees."

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  • For Federal Programs, a Taste of Market Discipline

    via New York Timesby David Leonhardt

    February 07, 2011

    Summary

    Governments in the United States are considering the social impact bonds first piloted with organizations that aim to prevent prisoner recidivism in the United Kingdom.

    From original article:

    "Wouldn't it be nice if taxpayers could somehow get a refund for government programs that didn’t work?

    "Instead, the opposite tends to happen. Programs that fail to make a difference - like many of those that train workers for new jobs - endure indefinitely. Often, policy makers don't even know which work and which don't, because rigorous evaluation is rare in government. And competition, which punishes laggards in the private sector, is typically absent in the public sector.

    "But there is some good news on this front. Lately, both American and British policy makers have been thinking about how to bring some of the competitive discipline of the market to government programs, and they have hit on an intriguing idea.

    "David Cameron's Conservative government in Britain is already testing it, at a prison 75 miles north of London. The Bloomberg administration in New York is also considering the idea, as is the State of Massachusetts. Perhaps most notably, President Obama next week will propose setting aside $100 million for seven such pilot programs, according to an administration official."

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  • Energy Firms Aided by U.S. Find Backers

    via New York Timesby Matthew Wald

    February 01, 2011

    Summary

    Seeded with grant-funding from the U.S. government, six new clean energy ideas have attracted traditional investment capital to move their businesses forward.

    From original article:

    "In late 2009, the federal government gave $151 million in grants to advance 37 clean energy ideas deemed too radical or too preliminary to attract much private financing - like electricity storage that mimics photosynthesis and batteries that double or triple the energy stored per pound.

    "Since then, six of the projects have made enough progress to attract $108 million in private venture capital financing - about four private dollars for every dollar that the taxpayers spent to get them rolling - the Department of Energy plans to announce Thursday."

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  • How to Have An Impact

    via Financial Advisor Green Magazineby Tom Kostigen

    January 31, 2011

    Summary

    In his first post for an impact investing blog hosted by Financial Advisor Green magazine, Tom Kostigen highlights the progress of the impact investing industry, including mentions of the GIIN and other key groups and initiatives.

    From original article:

    "Showing your value to the wealthiest people in the world may mean showing your values. And one way to do that is through impact investing.

    "This blog will be devoted to providing you with the tools, tidbits, insights, and information you'll need to capitalize on the burgeoning field of impact investing, which is now being deemed so hot it is its own asset class.

    "Refresher: Impact investing aims to solve social or environmental challenges while generating financial profit. It differs from philanthropy because that is, bluntly, charity. And it differs from socially responsible investing because that is, bluntly, more passive; SRI typically uses screens and filters to adhere to investor preferences (winnowing out, for example, sin stocks). Impact investing is more akin to private equity investing: more risky but more rewarding—in ways that go beyond mere moolah."

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