GIIN in the news Press releases

  • Impact Investing

    via Wall Street Journal Chinaby Tao Zhang

    February 21, 2012

    Summary

    An article published in the Wall Street Journal China was translated and featured on the Next Billion website. The article discusses impact investing in China.

    From original article:

    "Triple bottom line investing is another term people use interchangeably with impact investing, in which investors seek to create environmental and social benefits alongside profits from their investments. As the name suggests, in addition to certain financial returns, investors are also looking for quantifiable social and environmental performance indicators to measure the success of their investments. According to a 2010 J.P Morgan/Rockefeller Foundation report entitled Impact Investments: An emerging asset class, the size of impact investments worldwide could reach USD 400 billion to one trillion in the next 10 years. At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, the organizers convened several important discussions among leading investors to look at the prospect of impact investing over the coming two decades."

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  • Two Acronyms Every Pro-Poor Business and Investor Should Know

    via Progress out of Povertyby Lindsey Alexander

    February 14, 2012

    Summary

    The Progress Out of Poverty conducts a Q&A session with the GIIN's Katy Lankester. Katy discusses IRIS and the Progress out of Poverty Index.

    From original article:

    "The Impact Reporting and Investment Standards, or IRIS, is a common language for describing the social, environmental, and financial performance of mission-driven businesses. IRIS is intended to reduce fragmentation in investors' efforts to measure impact, efforts which have historically relied on proprietary measurement systems or anecdotes alone."

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  • Impact Investing Creates Template for Responsible Capitalism

    via Huffington Postby Alexandra Tracy

    February 13, 2012

    Summary

    The Huffington Post features an article on how impact investing creates a template for responsible capitalism.

    From original article:

    "Impact investing has developed out of traditional philanthropy in an effort to find solutions that allow investors to make profitable investments that can also address social and environmental challenges. Impact investors seek to combine the seemingly conflicting aims of investing for maximum risk-adjusted returns and contributing to social good. The level of return expectation varies according to the type of investor."

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  • Insight into the Impact Investment Market

    via NextBillionby Robert Katz

    January 30, 2012

    Summary

    The Acumen Fund's Robert Katz interviews GIIN Director of Strategy & Development, Amit Bouri.

    From original article:

    "Some of the other trends the GIIN is seeing in the impact investing industry are (1) continued enthusiasm among new and existing industry actors and (2) demand for tools and resources that support the practice. With the industry's energy and momentum, the question is: how can we develop resources and tools that help impact investors effectively place capital to address the world's most pressing social and financial challenges?"

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  • US to Fund "Pay for Success" Prevention Programs

    via Nonprofit Quarterlyby Saras Chung

    January 30, 2012

    Summary

    From original article:

    "The White House blog recently quietly announced that the federal government will invest up to USD 20 million in 2012 for "Pay for Success" projects to provide preventative services for vulnerable populations through the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor."

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  • World's Wealthiest Turn to Impact Investing

    via Euromoneyby Helen Avery

    January 29, 2012

    Summary

    From original article:

    "If the allure of the finance industry was tarnished by the crisis, impact investing could be the saviour that steps in to solve the social problems that world governments are now ill-equipped to handle alone. The world's wealthiest individuals are now evaluating their investments, and putting them to work alongside government programmes to help solve economic and global social issues."

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  • Pay for Success

    via Good Magazineby Alex Goldmark

    January 26, 2012

    Summary

    From original article:

    "Two federal agencies will steer tax money for social programs through a new for-profit investing tool tested in the United Kingdom and Australia, according to a report co-authored by the White House and the Nonprofit Finance Fund."

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  • Two New Social Impact Bond-Style Investments Launched

    via Third Sectorby David Ainsworth

    January 23, 2012

    Summary

    Third Sector reports that the social impact bond model will be used in at least two of six payment-by-results schemes being launched with the backing of the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK.

    From original article:

    "The Department for Work and Pensions is supporting the schemes with its GBP 30m Innovation Fund, set up to attract private investment to tackle the problems faced by disadvantaged young people.

    Under the the social impact bond model, investors will fund charities to carry out work with young people, and will be paid according to the success of those charities."

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  • Green Bond Bankers in Japan, Sweden Beat U.S. to USD 7 Billion

    via Bloombergby Sally Bakewell

    January 23, 2012

    Summary

    Bloomberg reports that Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken and Daiwa Securities Group have underwritten the most green bonds since the securities were first issued in 2007, indicating the dominance of Swedish and Japanese banks in the market.

    From original article:

    "Five of the 10 top underwriters on about USD 7 billion of the bonds issued by international finance institutions were drawn from Sweden and Japan, according to a ranking by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. London-based HSBC Bank and JPMorgan Chase of New York took third and fourth place."

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  • Oxfam Moves Into Fund World

    via Financial Timesby Sophia Grene

    January 21, 2012

    Summary

    Financial Times covers the launch of a new impact investment fund by Oxfam in a joint initiative with Symbiotics, a Swiss microfinance specialist.

    From original article:

    "Oxfam, the anti-poverty charity, is branching out into asset management by launching its first investment fund, which will aim to combine social good with financial returns. The Small Enterprise Impact Investment Fund will invest in financial intermediaries with a mandate to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa and Asia."

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  • A New Approach to Funding Social Enterprise

    via Harvard Business Reviewby Antony Bugg-levine, Bruce Kogut, Nalin Kulatilaka

    January 13, 2012

    Summary

    The article discusses how unbundling societal benefits and financial returns can increase investment in social enterprise.

    From original article:

    "The lack of funding opportunities is one of the major disadvantages social enterprises face. A conventional business can use its balance sheet and business plan to offer different combinations of risk and return to many different types of investors: equity investors, banks, bond funds, venture capitalists, and so on. Not so for many social enterprises-but that is changing. An increasing number of social entrepreneurs and investors are coming to realize that social enterprises of all sorts can also generate financial returns that will make them attractive to the right investors. This realization will dramatically increase the amount of capital available to these organizations."

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  • Meet Tony Elumelu, Africa's Frontline Business Leader

    via Forbesby Mfonobong Nsehe

    January 08, 2012

    Summary

    Forbes profiles Tony Elumelu, founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, a GIIN Investors' Council Member.

    From original article:

    "Africapitalism. It's a word you've probably never heard before - but it's an idea that is likely to burst onto center stage in 2012 as Africa maintains its upward spiral towards economic growth and significance. According to Tony Elumelu, the Nigerian-born banker who coined the term, Africapitalism is an 'economic philosophy that embodies the African private sector's commitment to the economic transformation of Africa through long-term investments that create economic prosperity and social wealth.'"

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