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Can Index Funds Be a Force for Sustainable Capitalism?
The investment industry is changing. Among other things, there is growing demand from both retail and institutional investors to align their capital with better environmental and social outcomes, and more resources going into index fund or quasi-indexing products. These two trends may seem separate—or, some people believe, incompatible—but together I believe they have the power to improve finance’s role in the world. Index funds can be a force for sustainable capitalism.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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Could this investment strategy help keep convicts from returning to prison?
Could a financial institution invest in solving some of the nation’s biggest social challenges — and reap a return? This was a question Goldman Sachs faced when approached to invest in a program to reduce recidivism among teenage inmates at New York City’s Rikers Island prison.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North America
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Do-Good Investors: Watch Out For What These Funds Hold
If you listen to the marketing hype, assets devoted to ESG—industry jargon for investments sensitive to environmental, social and governance issues—account for some $8.7 trillion, double the amount just five years ago. That's great news for the planet, right? Not so fast. Much of the growth is a matter of semantics. What were once run-of-the-mill value or growth funds are being reclassified as sustainable or ESG-friendly.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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USAID Announces A New Development Impact Bond
Launched Thursday, the Utkrisht Impact Bond, named for the Hindi expression for excellence, will fund maternal and newborn health in the Indian state of Rajasthan. DIBs are results-based contracts, in which investors — in this case UBS Optimus Foundation, a grantmaking organization focused on improving the lives of children — provide financing for social programs upfront.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- impact investing
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Ford Foundation hires Swan to lead Mission Investments portfolio
The Ford Foundation announced today the appointment of Roy Swan as director of its Mission Investments team based in New York. Swan will lead a dedicated team managing the portfolio announced in April, when Ford committed to invest $1 billion over the next ten years in mission-related investments (MRIs).
- Source
- Press Release
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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Alibaba launches US$1.5 billion fund to help fight poverty in China
At a conference attended by the company’s 36 partners at its headquarters in Hangzhou, executive chairman Jack Ma announced it would set up the Alibaba Poverty Relief Fund, with the money to be donated over the next five years.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Zurich Insurance ups ‘impact investment’ target to $5 billion
The target forms part of a move by insurers to tackle the causes of climate change and other social issues for which they often pick up the bill, including healthcare costs associated with tobacco use.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
- Tags
- impact investing
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Press release: Dana K. Bezerra Named President of Heron Foundation
Bezerra offers a breadth of experience that spans the philanthropic and for-profit sectors. She joined Heron in 2006 and has been responsible for deal-sourcing, identifying and developing relationships across a spectrum of investors, syndicating capital when possible, and cultivating opportunities to deploy the full range of Heron’s “toolbox” (including grants, program related investments, and market-rate mission related investments).
- Categories
- Investing
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