GIIN in the news Press releases

  • Impact Investing Firms Develop Ways to Keep Score

    via Wall Street Journalby Luis Garcia

    August 19, 2019

    Summary

    In this WSJ Pro article, Luis Garcia covers the increased demand for impact investing that investors have been witnessing in recent years, as well as the need to create a universal set of measurement methods, due to the growing numbers and variety of stakeholders. Garcia discusses this with Kelly McCarthy, Director of Impact Measurement and Management at the GIIN, who believes that there is “still so much innovation and creativity that needs to be fostered” in regards to impact measurement approaches.

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  • Three Reasons Why Every Financial Advisor Should Know About Impact Investing

    via Financial Advisorby Justin Conway

    August 19, 2019

    Summary

    Justin Conway makes a case for financial advisors to become more informed about impact investing. He notes, “impact investing is real and growing,” “clients want impact investing options, so financial advisors need to catch up,” and “talking with clients about impact investing can pay huge dividends to your practice” as top reasons. Referencing the GIIN’s 2019 Annual Impact Investor Survey’s findings on predictions for market growth, Conway also states that advisors “can only expect this interest in genuine impact to grow.”

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  • Why You Should Move Your Money to Impact Investing

    via Forbesby MeiMei Fox

    August 19, 2019

    Summary

    Forbes interviews Lori Chatman, SVP at Enterprise Community Investment and President and CEO of Enterprise Community Loan Fund, about Chatman’s involvement in impact investing. The interview shares how Chatman became involved because she “longed to use her talent for numbers and investments to disrupt ongoing economic disparities, helping communities that normally do not receive capital investments to do so.” Chatman told author MeiMei Fox that it is “energizing” to know that there is “a whole community of like-minded people looking every day for ways to create better opportunities for those who, because of the situations they are in, must focus on day-to-day survival.”

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  • Why Sustainable Forestry is a Good Investment

    via World Resources Instituteby Adam Dolin, Caroline Gagne, Lissa Glasgo and Sabin Ray

    July 30, 2019

    Summary

    This World Resources Institute blog post covers the launch of a new theme on Sustainable Forestry, which was created in conjunction with WRI’s Global Restoration Initiative on the GIIN’s Navigating Impact project, a component of the GIIN’s larger IRIS+ system. The new theme identifies five main impact investment opportunities in the sustainable forestry space, and provides evidence, metrics and strategies for each. The blog also details why investments in this sector are an increasingly compelling financial and impact opportunity, which has already shown its ability to “make a profit while reducing greenhouse gases, [strengthen] local economies, [increase] incomes, [and improve] ecosystem services like water quality, air quality, [and] soil productivity.”

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  • Impact Investing Finds its Way on Lists of More Major Players

    via Pensions & Investmentsby Hazel Bradford

    July 30, 2019

    Summary

    Pensions & Investments highlights how there’s an increasing number of pension funds and other large institutional investors making impact investments as “the approach goes mainstream.” Author Hazel Bradford speaks to GIIN CEO Amit Bouri about this growth and cites data from the GIIN’s 2019 Annual Impact Investor Survey that supports this finding. Bradford comments that as the world’s major environmental and social issues “come up as almost daily topics,” this trajectory will continue.

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  • Pension Funds Join Impact Investing Campaign for a Better World

    via Financial Timesby Catherine Howarth

    July 30, 2019

    Summary

    This Financial Times article discusses the entry of more pension funds into the impact investing space as they realize the practice is “directly relevant to the interests and long-term security of their clients and beneficiaries.” Author Catherine Howarth explains the important role institutional investors can play in the achievement of impact investing’s mission, in terms of both capital and influence. Howarth also references the GIIN’s Core Characteristics of Impact Investing to underscore the need for “every fiduciary investor, including every pension fund, [to see] themselves as an impact investor” in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

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  • An Impact Investing Boom is Under Way

    via Al Jazeeraby Dawn Kissi

    July 11, 2019

    Summary

    In this Al Jazeera article, Dawn Kissi claims that “impact investing is experiencing a boom” due to “concerns about climate change, human rights and social justice dominating pop culture today.” Kissi uses data from the GIIN’s 2019 Annual Impact Investor Survey to discuss the current state, future, and successes and challenges of the impact investing market.

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  • "Socially Responsible" & Impact Investing: What's the Difference?

    via Al Jazeeraby Ben Piven

    July 11, 2019

    Summary

    In this Al Jazeera article, Ben Piven breaks down the differences between socially responsible investing and impact investing. He notes that clarifying definitions will benefit the increasing number of investors looking for “double bottom line returns that meet financial goals and advance their personal values where people and the planet are concerned.” He provides a definition of impact investing and addresses common questions about the practice, including whether impact investors can also make money and how impact is measured. Piven highlights the work of the GIIN, and the creation of IRIS+ in particular, in this breakdown.

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  • Impacts Impress Investors But They Just Can't Get the Staff

    via Campden FBby James Beech

    July 11, 2019

    Summary

    Campden FB discusses one of the new “Current Market Topics” in the 2019 edition of the GIIN’s Annual Impact Investor Survey: Human Resources. The report includes respondents’ insights about their challenges and successes in implementing impact investing practices, such as the challenge of finding appropriate staff for impact management. Author James Beech places these findings within the larger context of the industry’s rapid growth, referencing the average respondent’s plan to invest 33% more in impact investments in 2019 than the 2018 average and the overall satisfaction of current investors, with 90% of survey respondents reporting that their impact investments were in line with or exceeded expectations.

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  • Global Investments Show Healthy Growth: Study

    via ThinkAdvisorby Michael S. Fischer

    July 11, 2019

    Summary

    ThinkAdvisor uses findings from the GIIN’s 2019 Annual Impact Investor Survey to highlight the growth of the impact investment market, both in terms of increasing numbers of investors and increasing assets under management. Author Michael Fischer also includes data referencing client demand’s large role in fueling impact investing’s growth, and respondents’ wide belief that impact investing has a “key role to play in driving broader shifts in investment practice.” GIIN CEO Amit Bouri is quoted in the piece about factors contributing to growth, including how many impact investors are now “accounting for considerations that have long been ignored in the financial sector--the impact of investments and businesses on people and the planet.”

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  • Big Philanthropy Could Fuel the Green New Deal--If It Learns to Listen

    via Fast Companyby Ben Paynter

    July 11, 2019

    Summary

    Fast Company outlines how the Green New Deal provides nonprofit and philanthropic organizations with “a new mandate for designing and funding initiatives that back both environmental sustainability and economic equity.” Author Ben Paynter discusses the “uptick in public inspiration” with GIIN CEO and co-founder Amit Bouri, who says that over time there has become “a lot more convergence and a much more integrated way of thinking” surrounding the cash pools for social and environmental causes—56% of the GIIN’s 2019 Annual Impact Investor Survey’s respondents reported that they now focus on both social and environmental impact simultaneously. Bouri comments that this type of integrated approach “is absolutely what we need, because if you’re thinking about improving the lives of lots of low-income populations, the effects of climate change will have a disproportionate impact on poor.”

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  • The GIIN Founder Provides Impact Investing Definition

    via Forbesby Devin Thorpe

    June 28, 2019

    Summary

    In a video and accompanying article, Devin Thorpe interviews GIIN CEO Amit Bouri about the continued growth of the impact investing market and the related efforts of the GIIN to create an agreed-upon definition and sets of core metrics for the practice. During the discussion, they also cover the GIIN’s three strategic goals for the future of impact investing: mobilizing more capital, safeguarding the integrity of impact investing, and galvanizing a much broader movement around impact investing that will “really [create] a social mandate around the purpose of capital.”

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