NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, June 26, 2014

The field of impact investing is expanding, but key barriers could still be removed and incentives put in place by the U.S. government to boost growth and promote best practices, according to a new report released on Wednesday.

Foundations and investors are bearish on impact investing and have announced $1.5 billion in investments over the next few years. The White House has also made several commitments to expanding or launching new government investments in impact investing.

The report “Private Capital Public Good: How smart federal policy can galvanize impact investing — and why it’s urgent” produced by the U.S. National Advisory Board on Impact Investing lays out a series of steps the government could take to help promote impact investing and potentially make available additional, innovative development financing.

“Impact investing is at a critical juncture, an absolutely critical juncture and government has an important role to play,” Matt Bannick, managing partner at the Omidyar Network and co-chair of the National Advisory Board, said at the launch event.