Initiatives
Impact Investing Policy Collaborative (IIPC)

Impact Investing Policy Collaborative (IIPC) ... What is Impact Investing Policy? ... What we do

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

What is Impact Investing Policy?

Impact investors direct capital to companies, organizations, and funds with the intention of generating measurable social and environmental impacts alongside a financial return. Public policy plays an important role in creating those opportunities and growing impact investing markets.

Impact investors direct capital to companies, organizations, and funds with the intention of generating measurable social and environmental impacts alongside a financial return. Public policy plays an important role in supporting impact investing, for example by directing large institutions to invest in target areas (e.g. Priority Sector Lending regulations in India), by providing tax credits and other subsidies for investments with social or environmental benefits (e.g. Green Funds Scheme in the Netherlands), and by creating investment opportunities by providing special recognition for special purpose enterprises and financial intermediaries (e.g. Solidarity Enterprises in Brazil) or procurement (e.g. Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act in South Africa).

In 2011 alone, over $2 billion was made available specifically for impact investment by governments in the UK, US, Europe and Australia, according to recent research from JP Morgan. The public sector is also responsible for innovations in the field including the development of social impact bonds.

How does the IIPC support Impact Investing Policy?

The IIPC includes over 30 participating organizations in 15 countries actively researching impact investing policies and advising governments directly, in addition to policymakers and investors at the field’s forefront. The work of the IIPC includes an online forum for sharing insights and evidence, international in-person meetings, and sub-grants and fellowships for member organizations. The IIPC is supported by an International Advisory Council.

Collaborative illuminates the role of policy worldwide in enabling private investment for public good and financial returns. We are a global community of researchers and policymakers who share knowledge and influence capital markets to support more effective impact investing.

The Impact Investing Policy Collaborative (IIPC) strives to grow impact investing markets by building a global network for policy research and innovation. The IIPC helps investors, public officials, advocates, researchers and related communities better identify and support policies that lead to more robust and effective capital markets with intentional social and environmental benefits. The IIPC achieves these goals through the following activities: Research Research and Fellowship Awards. Both domestic and international organizations are encouraged to apply for grants to support either a fellow or research on discrete projects intended to advance global understanding of impact investing markets and where policy could support or enhance these markets. These programs intend to explore new areas – geographies and topics – to cultivate greater interest in the field and further expand the network of researchers and advocates considering impact investing policy issues. Convening Online Portal. The IIPC offers this website which serves as a central hub for researchers and policymakers, and includes a comprehensive library and resource center. The resources section hosts relevant reports and presentations, provides an outlet for members’ articles and blog posts, and offers a list of relevant upcoming events and opportunities in the field. The website also includes a forum, providing a staging ground for knowledge sharing and dissemination, idea generation, technical assistance and advisory services on key policy needs related to global impact investing markets. Annual International Conference. Held once a year at rotating international locations, these events are discussion oriented, invitation-only convenings. They are intended to foster and develop a strong network of researchers, policymakers and investors working on impact investing policy. If you are interested in receiving more information on the conferences, please sign up to become a member of the IIPC. Partnership The IIPC is convened by the Global Impact Investing Policy Project, a partnership between InSight at Pacific Community Ventures and the Initiative for Responsible Investment at Harvard University, supported by The Rockefeller Foundation. To date, the project has released two reports intended to identify the role of policy in supporting impact investing. The first report, Impact Investing: A Framework for Policy Design and Analysis, provides a mechanism to understand impact investing policies from around the globe. The second report, Impact at Scale, provides practical insights into the approaches and activities of the public and private sectors in institutional impact investing. Moving forward, the partnership will continue to create and disseminate new reports to advance the role of policy in growing impact investing markets. InSight at Pacific Community Ventures

InSight is the thought leadership and advisory practice at Pacific Community Ventures, a U.S. Community Development Financial Institution and nonprofit organization. InSight provides research on community development and impact investing to clients including The Rockefeller Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation and The California Endowment. InSight also evaluates the social and economic performance of more than $1 billion of targeted private equity investments by pension funds including the $230 billion California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), investment managers including Hamilton Lane, and foundations including the Northwest Area Foundation, and $18 billion invested by CalPERS in California across asset classes.

The Initiative for Responsible Investment (IRI), a project of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University, promotes the development of the theory and practice of responsible investment through research, dialogue, and action. The IRI encourages the development of responsible investment theory and practice across asset classes, builds communities of practice around innovative responsible investment strategies, and catalyzes new opportunities and concepts in responsible investment.

The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission to promote the well-being of people throughout the world has remained unchanged since its founding in 1913. Today, that mission is applied to an era of rapid globalization. Our vision is that this century will be one in which globalization’s benefits are more widely shared and its challenges are more easily weathered. To realize this vision, the Foundation seeks to achieve two fundamental goals in our work. First, we seek to build resilience that enhances individual, community and institutional capacity to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of acute crises and chronic stresses. Second, we seek to promote growth with equity in which the poor and vulnerable have more access to opportunities that improve their lives. In order to achieve these goals, the Foundation constructs its work into time-bound initiatives that have defined objectives and strategies for impact. These initiatives address challenges that lie either within or at the intersections of five issue areas: basic survival safeguards, global health, environment and climate change, urbanization, and social and economic security.

Impact investing is hugely important, but there are inadequate metrics to account for impact. I want to see accounting for impact on people and planet as rigorous as accounting for profit. I want to see metrics for the state, progress and performance of society and the economy as well as metrics for business profit, stock prices, GDP growth and personal money wealth. To this end I am developing Multi Dimension Impact Accounting (MDIA)

I am the main contributor to the TrueValueMetrics, Multi Dimension Impact Accounting (MDIA) initiative. I trained as an engineer, did some economics before becoming a Chartered Accountant. Subsequently I had a successful corporate management career and was a very young CFO. Later, I did consulting for the World Bank, the UN and others. Some 50 years after completing my formal education I am applying everything I have learned to develop MDIA.