GIIN in the news Press releases

  • Impact Investing Needs to Break out of its Niche

    via Financial Newsby Amit Bouri

    July 13, 2018

    Summary

    In this Op-ed, the GIIN’s co-founder and CEO Amit Bouri emphasizes the need for a much better understanding of the benefits of impact investing. As detailed in the GIIN Roadmap for the Future of Impact Investing, Bouri underscores that education for both finance professionals and business managers is required to change how investors and business leaders think about society and the environment. He notes that while the industry has seen much success over the past ten years, “the current financial system is not serving the planet. It’s not serving the people. And it’s not serving investors.” Impact investing is a powerful solution, though in order to build a world where impact is integrated into all investment decisions, impact investing needs to scale at a much faster rate—and providing further education will help fuel the market’s growth.

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  • Cambridge University Throws Weight behind Impact Investing

    via Investments & Pensions Europeby Gail Moss

    July 05, 2018

    Summary

    Cambridge University has recently committed to addressing climate change through divestment from fossil fuels in the university’s £3bn endowment fund, academic efforts to encourage environmental impact investment, and more. The University will also create a Centre for a Carbon Neutral Future as a home base for its sustainable energy research as a well as a platform for policy discussions, appoint an ESG officer, and aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, if not before. These commitments come after pressure from students and staff stemming from their concern over the university’s environmental impact.

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  • Wealthy Millennials Fuel Impact Investing Gains

    via Barron's PENTAby Fang Block

    July 05, 2018

    Summary

    The growth of the impact investing among high-net-worths in the U.S. is found to be largely driven by millennials. According to U.S. Trust’s annual wealth report, the vast majority of young investors include ESG or impact investments in their portfolios. In recent years, millennials have become more visible in the market, in terms of both presence and money invested, making this trend more noticeable. Read more about millennial’s interest in impact investments in the full article.

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  • Sign of the Times: Designation for Financial Planners Underscores Demand for Impact Investing

    via Forbesby Anne Field

    July 05, 2018

    Summary

    An impact-investing oriented professional designation for financial advisors was unveiled by the College of Financial Planning, in collaboration with the US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. The designation, called the Chartered SRI Counselor (CSRIC), is aimed at financial advisors interested in demonstrating expertise in various responsible investing approaches. The course will likely be launched this fall.

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  • Millennials Pressure Britain into Making Pension Billions Do More Good

    via Reutersby Lee Mannion

    July 05, 2018

    Summary

    Britain announced new regulation that requires pension companies to reveal the social and environmental impact of their investments on behalf of those saving for their retirement. The new rules, prompted by demand from millennials, will allow savers to monitor how their money is being invested by the companies running pension schemes.

     

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  • People are Really into Impact Investing

    via Fast Companyby Ben Paytner

    June 21, 2018

    Summary

    This article focuses on the growing interest in impact investing over the last year, drawing heavily on the GIIN’s recent Annual Impact Investor Survey. The piece highlights data on a range of topics, including investor satisfaction with financial performance. Paytner shares data showing that over 80 repeat respondents demonstrated an annual growth rate of 13%, with the same group upping investments by an average of 27% this year. On this point, Amit notes that the data is “particularly noteworthy because it demonstrates that investors remain optimistic in the future of the market and are committed to creating impact, as they continue seeking new investment opportunities around the world.” 

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  • Best Practice in Impact Management Begin to Take Hold

    via Stanford Social Innovation Reviewby Ben Thornley and Brian Locascio

    June 21, 2018

    Summary

    Unifying best practices in impact management has become an increased focus over the last year.  In this article, Tideline outlines their IMPACT Principles—integration, materiality, pragmatism, authenticity, commitment, and transparency—to help investors toward continued progress in impact measurement and management. The GIIN’s Navigating Impact is mentioned as a useful resource to help impact investors, regardless of where they are with their impact management strategy. Read more about the IMPACT Principles, and discover other industry resources highlighted in the piece.

     

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  • Impact Investors Hold USD 228 Billion in Assets

    via Barron'sby Abby Schultz

    June 08, 2018

    Summary

    This article highlights several key findings from the GIIN's 2018 Annual Impact Investor Survey. Specifically, the piece shares information about growth in the market, investor satisfaction with financial and impact performance, how the market is evolving with more conventional investors making impact investments, some challenges that lie ahead as the industry continues to grow, and more. The article also quotes GIIN Research Director Abhilash Mudaliar about some of the GIIN's priority areas going forward, including, "developing a set of principles for impact investments" and, "how to address fragmentation and bring about a greater degree of standardization in the ways in which we measure and manage impact."

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  • Impact investing deals soar in 2017 – GIIN

    via Pensions&Investmentsby Sophie Baker

    June 08, 2018

    Summary

    In this article, Sophie Baker provides coverage of the 8th edition of the GIIN's Annual Impact Investor Survey. She highlights data such as capital invested in 2017, allocations into particular sectors and geographies, investor alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and more. The piece quotes GIIN CEO Amit Bouri about the momentum in the market as well, "The annual survey demonstrates there is significant momentum in the market and provides data and insights for investors to maximize their impact and ultimately tackle critical global issues such as access to education and health care, gender inequality, poverty, climate change and more."

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  • Millennials are driving a shift in investing — here's how to meet your financial and social impact goals

    via Business Insiderby Interview with Sara Silverstein & Amit Bouri, published by Jacqui Frank and Kara Chin

    June 05, 2018

    Summary

    In this interview Sara Silverstein and Amit Bouri discuss the development of the impact investing market, the performance of impact investments, ways that investors can approach impact measurement and management, and more. The interviews highlights how there is growing interest from a variety of investors around the world as they begin to recognize that, "impact investing in many ways is proving that money can do more than just make more money." Bouri also notes that millennials in particular are driving a shift in investing, "the huge wave of interest is coming from millennials."

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  • Impact holding companies: Breaking the chains of the 10-year fund is harder than it looks

    via Impact Alphaby Carol Clouse

    May 17, 2018

    Summary

    This article explores how holding company or “holdco” structures can help investors to take “long-term stakes in operating companies that deliver benefits such as affordable housing, financial inclusion and sustainable fisheries.” The piece details how traditional closed-end structures that typically span 10 years, "do not always give portfolio companies the time they need to generate optimum financial value or sustained social or environmental results." As such, the market is seeing impact investors expressing interest in--and developing holdco structures to create lasting impact.

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  • Proof of Performance in Private Impact Debt

    via Barron'sby Abby Schultz

    May 17, 2018

    Summary

    In this article, Abby Schultz provides an overview of key findings from the GIIN's report, The Financial Performance of Impact Investing Through Private Debt. The piece quotes GIIN Research Director Abhilash Mudaliar on the significance of this type of data, “Performance data is critical information for investors who want to make informed choices, “and to better be able to compare and contrast performance against other aspects of their portfolios as well as their peers.” The article also describes how impact investing has gained a lot of traction, but also highlights how more capital is needed to solve global challenges. Schultz quotes GIIN CEO Amit Bouri, “One way to attract that capital is by bridging knowledge gaps in both financial performance and impact measurement.” 

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