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New Impact Investing Benchmarks to Arrive
The global-investment firm Cambridge Associates will unveil in a couple weeks real-asset impact-investing benchmarks in real estate, infrastructure, and timber. The new benchmarks “focus on the financial performance of the private funds, categorizing them by year and size,” says Jessica Matthews, managing director at Cambridge Associates.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Embrace Your Liberalism, Impact Investing: A Q&A with a ‘Biblically Responsible Investor’
Inspire Investing, a leader in the “Biblically Responsible Investing” movement, recently launched two funds targeted at conservative Christians. The funds, which screen out companies that participate in abortion, gambling, alcohol, pornography or “the LGBT lifestyle,” attracted $42 million in assets in just the first two weeks, demonstrating a clear appetite for alternatives to the “politically liberal agenda" of most SRI funds, Inspire founder Robert Netzly says in this podcast. Should traditional SRI just accept this growing politicization and embrace its liberal roots?
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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The case against ethical investing
Don’t get me wrong: I’m a huge fan — to a problematic degree, some might argue — of socially responsible companies. That said, giving up on ‘good’ companies and embracing the 'bad' and the 'ugly' has its merits – both from a financial standpoint and an ethical one.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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A new asset class is gaining ground as investors turn socially and environmentally conscious
In one of its latest efforts to raise funds, Singaporean real estate developer City Developments Limited issued a green bond — a fixed income product with proceeds used to finance projects or activities that help the environment.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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Ford Foundation Sends Message to Those Still on Impact Investing Fence: A Q&A with Darren Walker
Earlier this month, Ford Foundation President Darren Walker announced the 81-year-old organization is putting "our money where our mouth is" and investing $1 billion over the next 10 years in affordable housing and financial services for people in developing countries. In this email Q&A, Walker talks about why the foundation made the shift and the signals he hopes it sends.
- Categories
- Investing
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Home Sweet Home: Mobilizing Microfinance for Housing
Only 2 percent of microfinance portfolios consist of housing loans. Why? The authors say it's because housing languishes in the “household spending” category; it's not income generating, so it's somehow less deserving. It will soon be in the spotlight, however, as the eighth European Microfinance Award focuses on what financial institutions serving the world’s poor can do to address their housing needs.
- Categories
- Investing
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Impact investor Acumen to launch India-dedicated fund
Global impact investor Acumen is planning to launch an India-dedicated fund, as the investor looks to double down on its most significant geography, said a senior executive of the firm.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Dear Critics: Here’s Why the Off-grid Energy Industry Needs Impact Investment
Off-grid lighting trade organization GOGLA responds to a recent post from Ceniarth critical of "hype" in the energy access sector. Consider the off-grid market within the context of the wider world and economy around it, say John Keane and Laura Sundblad, and remember that millions of households around the globe live with unreliable, dangerous, inadequate and ultimately extremely expensive means of lighting and basic energy.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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