Initiatives ... Impact Investing
Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)

About Impact Investing ... impact investments are investments made in companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact

COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

About Impact Investing ... impact investments are investments made in companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact

The Global Impact Investing Network (the 'GIIN'), considers impact investments to be those investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Impact investments can be made in both emerging and developed markets, and target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending upon the circumstances.

Sometimes considered a type of socially responsible investing (SRI), impact investing is different from negative screening, which is used to avoid investment in businesses that cause social or environmental harm. Instead, impact investors actively seek to capitalize market-based solutions to social and environmental problems.

A growing number of investors – institutions and individuals – are searching for impact investments across geographies, sectors, and asset classes. These investors share a conviction that creative investment can play a crucial role addressing social and environmental challenges. This investment interest has sparked the emergence of an industry that supports the development of new tools like ImpactBase, which enables investors to easily identify investment funds and products that complement their impact goals.