#174 Summer 2013 — Impact Investing

Impact Investing Resources

If you want to explore impact investing further, here are some places to start.

[Read the whole impact investing issue.]
Reading

Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While Making a Difference, by Antony Bugg-Levine and Jed Emerson, 2011. Published by Jossey-Bass.

Impact Investing: A Framework for Policy Analysis and Design, 2011. Published by InSight at Pacific Community Ventures and the Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University.

Data Driven: A Performance Analysis for the Impact Investing Industry,
2011. Iris Data Report published by the Global Impact Investing Network.

Options & Innovations in Community Investing, 2012. Published by the US SIF Foundation.

Accelerating Impact: Achievements, Challenges and What’s Next in Building the Impact Investing Industry, 2012. Published by The Rockefeller Foundation.

Gateways to Impact: Industry Survey of Financial Advisors on Sustainable Impact Investing, 2012. Published by the Calvert Foundation.

Perspectives on Progress: The Impact Investor Survey, 2013. Published by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Global Impact Investing Network.

Impact Investing 2.0: The Way Forward – Insight From 12 Outstanding Funds, 2013. Published by Pacific Community Ventures, Inc. (PCV), ImpactAssets, and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

From the Margins to the Mainstream: Assessment of the Impact Investment Sector and Opportunities to Engage Mainstream Investors, 2013. Published by the world Economic Forum.

Government and Philanthropy

Putting Dollars to Work in the Community: 9 Things Local Government Can Do to Harness Private Capital for Public Good, 2012. Published by Living Cities.

Catalytic First-Loss Capital, 2013. Published by the Global Impact Investing Network.

Scale

Impact Investing: Challenges and Opportunities To Scale, 2011. Published by B Corp.

From Blueprint to Scale, 2012. Published by the Monitor Group.

Breaking the Binary: Policy Guide to Scaling Social Innovation, 2013. Published by the Word Economic Forum and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

Accelerating Impact Enterprises, 2013. Published by SJF Institute and Duke University. Fuqua School of Business.

Resource Organizations

 

B Lab
B Lab is a nonprofit organization that created and awards the B Corporation certification for for-profit organizations. The “B” stands for beneficial and indicates that the certified organizations voluntarily meets certain standards of transparency, accountability, sustainability, and performance, with an aim to create value for society, not just for traditional stakeholders such as the shareholders. B Lab also campaigns for the adoption and improvement of benefit corporation statutes at the state level.

The Global Impact Investing Network
The Global Impact Investing Network nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing. The GIIN addresses systemic barriers to effective impact investing by building critical infrastructure and developing activities, education, and research that attract more investment capital to poverty alleviation and environmental solutions. The GIIN is currently a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

ImpactBase
Impact Base is a searchable, online database of impact investment funds and products designed for investors. It is a project of GIIN.

Maximpact.com
Maximpact.com is an online solution center for the dynamic, rapidly growing impact and sustainability sectors. It combines a venture & project posting platform—a digital environment where entrepreneurs and investors connect for free—and a support platform with a range of fee-based services to support ventures & projects of all kinds at every stage of their development and investment cycle.

Mission Markets
Mission Markets operates a capital market for impact investments. We provide capital market support services, data and technology solutions for the growing market of impact investors and socially responsible companies.

Nonprofit Finance Fund
Nonprofit Finance Fund is a community development financial institution with over 80 million in assets that supports mission-driven organizations through tailored investments, strategic advice and accessible insights. NFF helps organizations connect money to mission effectively.

Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation (SICP)
Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation (SICP) is part of the Domestic Policy Council of the Obama administration. SICP engages the social sector – individuals, nonprofits, foundations, as well as business and government to find new ways to solve old problems and drive collaboration to make greater and more lasting progress in meeting the challenges the nation faces.

SOCAP
SOCAP is an annual event series that connects leading global innovators—investors, foundations, institutions and social entrepreneurs—to build this market at the intersection of money and meaning.

US SIF: the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment
US SIF: the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment is the US membership association for professionals, firms, institutions and organizations engaged in sustainable and responsible investing. US SIF and its members advance investment practices that consider environmental, social and corporate governance criteria to generate long-term competitive financial returns and positive societal impact.

OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE

  • One-pager shows a repeating image of a manufactured home down the center, with myths on the left about why they are bad, and facts on the right. Image links to pdf version.

    Q: Are manufactured homes a bad form of affordable housing?

    March 26, 2014

    A: Not any more! There are many myths out there about manufactured (or "mobile") homes, but in fact they can be a very important source of quality affordable housing...

  • Too High to Pay

    March 26, 2014

    The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future, by Joseph Stiglitz. Norton & Company, Inc., June 2012, 448 pp. $27.95 (cloth).

  • A girl with a pony tail points at a dialogue box on a large screen in a classroom, at Monarch, a school funded by an impact investment from Clearinghouse CDFI that provides quality education, safe environment, and support services to homeless youth.

    Impact Investing for Community Development

    March 26, 2014

    New sources of mission-driven private capital could step up to support community development where traditional sources of financing are withdrawing.