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Impact Investing Cleared for Take-Off: Merrill Lynch Whitepaper Tracks Key Developments in the Sector
Two major hurdles to the broader adoption of impact investing are being cleared by structural changes in the capital markets and new guidance issued by the Department of Labor that makes it easier for retirement plans to offer environmental, social and governance (ESG) solutions to investors planning for retirement.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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Ford Foundation Spells Out Cuts to Make Way for Its Shift in Focus to Inequality
Under a new strategy announced today, the Ford Foundation will double the amount it provides to grantees to cover administrative overhead costs and steer $1 billion over five years toward strengthening social-justice organizations. At the same time, it will cut its support of several initiatives, including LGBT rights in the United States, direct cash transfers in Latin America, and microfinance.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- microfinance, philanthropy
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NexThought Monday: And the big winners in the move to SDGs are … why not everyone?
As we move from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the transition process is filled with a mix of excitement, expectation and guarded optimism. Perhaps some of the early hesitation voiced by various stakeholders, in both the public and private sector, trying integrate the SGDs will come to pass. However, the flourishing ecosystem of large companies diligently working in corporate social responsibility, shared value and in the inclusive business arena is encouraging.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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From ‘Nice to Have’ to ‘Need to Have’: The GIIN’s Kelly McCarthy discusses the growing momentum – and ongoing challenges – of impact assessment
IRIS Senior Manager Kelly McCarthy at the Global Impact Investing Network believes that “the impact investing community is embracing the value of social and environmental impact data, which is very encouraging.” McCarthy spoke about the momentum behind impact measurement, investors’ changing attitudes toward it, and the challenges of getting companies on board in the Q&A.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Weekly Roundup 10-23-15: Impact Investing Recovers from ‘The Cooties’
Most people don’t associate Department of Labor policy changes with excitement. But this week’s announcement of changes to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) has primed the impact investing movement to party like it’s 1994. We explore the move in this roundup, along with some inspiring words on what every social entrepreneur should ask themselves, and some critical points on business school ethics.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Does Divestment Work?
Beginning in the early nineteen-eighties, students on college campuses across the U.S. demanded that their universities stop investing in companies that conducted business in South Africa, in protest of the apartheid system. As an example of social activism, the campaign was a phenomenal success: by the end of the decade, about a hundred and fifty educational institutions had divested. But did the campaign succeed in pressuring the South African government to dismantle apartheid? The answer is less obvious than you might think. The economists Siew Hong Teoh, Ivo Welch, and C. Paul Wazzan studied how U.S. divestment movements affected the South African financial market and the share prices of U.S. companies with South African operations. Divestments were expected, on average, to decrease share prices, but the study found that, in fact, political pressure turned out to have no discernible effect on the shares’ public market valuations. According to the authors, a possible explanation of this finding is that “the boycott primarily reallocated shares and operations from ‘socially responsible’ to more indifferent investors and countries.”
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Will This ‘Back to the Future’ Move Put The Pedal To The Metal For Impact Investing?
A Return To 1994 Policy Guidance Clears Way For Pension Fund Fiduciaries To Consider Social Impact.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing, Technology
- Tags
- impact investing
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ImpactAssets Releases Annual IA 50 Impact Investment Fund Showcase
ImpactAssets has released its 2015 impact investing showcase, the ImpactAssets 50 (IA 50), a free online resource for investors and financial advisors. The fifth annual guide features fund managers representing private debt and equity investments that deliver social and environmental impact as well as financial returns.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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