Impact Dispatch - May 2025

What does the world need from impact investing right now? How do we increase the resilience of our leaders, systems, communities and economies during these turbulent times? How can we invest so that one plus one equals three?

These are some of the questions I’ve been reflecting on from last week’s Investors’ Council Annual Meeting here in New York. The Investors’ Council is a leadership group within the GIIN’s broader membership base. It was a great event with lots of discussions on big topics that impact investors are grappling with, like what does leadership mean in this moment in time, or how to ethically leverage AI for impact measurement and management, or how to scale climate finance in the regions most vulnerable to a warming planet, just to name a few.

One topic in particular stood out: resilience. It came up first in my fireside chat with the former head of the Rockefeller Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania (among other pursuits including serving on the GIIN’s board of directors), Dr. Judith Rodin, whose research and writing on the subject led to a framework that she refers to as the five core capacities of resilience: awareness, diversity, integration, self regulation and adaptability (you can read more in detail on her website and her book). I was struck by how she characterized resilience as a learned skill, not a personality trait.

So what does resilience mean in the impact investing context? Here’s how I’m thinking about it, borrowing her framework:

• Resilience means being aware and mindful of the unique strengths and weaknesses of impact investing, and the circumstances that shape these qualities.
• Resilience means diversifying the field with new ideas, capabilities, voices and sources of information.
• Resilience means integrating and sharing with each other more, and fostering collective ownership over the results and outcomes that impact capital can power.
• Resilience means building our own personal and organizational capacities to be able to fail safely and rebound.
• Resilience means being nimble, flexible and adaptable to the ever changing seas we’re sailing on.

Toward the end of our conversation, Dr. Rodin highlighted that it’s essential that after a shock hits – be it a financial crisis, a pandemic, a war, a weather disaster – we have to transform and not go back to what we were before the shock. She said that the old version of us (or our company or industry or system) had vulnerabilities that made us susceptible to the shock to begin with, so we can’t return to that version.

It’s a challenge that we as impact investing leaders should all embrace: not to rebuild what was, but to invest in what the world actually needs to become better, fairer and more resilient than before.

• Planet Money interviewed writer Derek Thompson (who recently published the book Abundance with Ezra Klein) on what it will take to make building affordable housing more efficient and abundant. Affordable housing was a hot topic at the GIIN’s West Coast Impact Forum in April and we covered GIIN member Kayne Anderson’s accessible housing initiative in a narrative case study in 2024.
• With a focus on using nature-based solutions to help cities in northern Europe manage water and climate risks, a new initiative called the City Blues project just launched with backing from the EU.
• Recent report finds venture capital drives the most deals in regenerative ag and food systems investment according to Regenerative Food Systems Investment group.
• Norway’s giant oil fund thinks climate threats to valuations have been underestimated, per FT.
• New report indicates China’s overall greenhouse gas emissions have dropped even as the country’s overall energy use and economic activity increased; the decrease in emissions is being largely attributed to extensive clean energy production. Coverage in Vox.
• Arab Impact Network, a regional impact investing network dedicated to the Middle East and North Africa geographies, has launched. Learn how to get involved here.

• The GIIN has launched a new working group in Japan and brought on a senior advisor to expand discussions and initiatives aimed at scaling impact investing in the country with rigor and at scale.
• A new case study highlights how impact investing has helped power an Indonesian logistics company TransTRACK that’s making the regional economy run smoother and safer.
• Explore the latest GIINsight reports sharing investment trends, challenges and opportunities in the forestry and healthcare sectors. Each report draws on data from the GIIN’s impact performance benchmarks to offer evidence-based insights on impact and financial performance.
• In partnership with Investors for Purpose and the Impact Investing Institute , the GIIN recently launched a refresh of the Impact Investing Principles for Pensions which provides a framework to help trustees align long-term investment decisions with fiduciary duty and measurable outcomes.

• GIIN’s Climate Solutions Investing Framework launches June 24 at London Climate Action Week. Don’t miss a chance for a 25% discount to the Climate Innovation Forum as part of our partnership with Climate Action. Use code IP-GIIN25OFF and read more about our climate solutions investing initiative here.
• GIIN Asia Impact Forum convenes in Singapore on July 31. Register here and join us to learn, network and contribute to scaling the impact investing industry with integrity in Asia.
• A new web series from the GIIN called Impact Now is coming this summer, featuring voices from the impact investing industry offering their perspectives, wisdom and hot takes.
• The flagship GIIN Impact Forum takes place in Berlin from October 7 - 9 where an estimated 1,600 global leaders from institutional asset owners, asset managers, family offices and more will gather for the GIIN’s largest event of the year. Register today for the early bird rate.