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Impact Investing Lessons for NGOs: Mercy Corps’ Scott Onder Discusses its Social Venture Fund
We don’t typically associate NGOs, particularly humanitarian organizations like Mercy Corps, with impact investing. But since 2015, Mercy Corps has run the Social Venture Fund, which invests in and accelerates the growth of innovative, scalable ventures that can positively impact millions in the developing world. NextBillion interviewed Scott Onder, managing director of the fund, about Mercy Corps' experiences as an investor, the rationale behind this ground-breaking approach – and lessons for other NGOs that may be considering a similar move.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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A closer look at impact investing
The mistaken rap on this kind of “social” investment is that returns are weak and realizing them takes too long.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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Breaking the Catch-22 of Poverty: What’s Next for the Graduation Model?
People in extreme poverty are trapped in a catch-22: They're poor because they can't build a livelihood, and they can't build a livelihood because they're overwhelmed by the crises of poverty. The graduation approach can break this cycle – but though research has demonstrated its effectiveness, it's difficult to scale. Evelyn Stark of MetLife Foundation and Jaya Sarkar of Trickle Up discuss Trickle Up's efforts to adapt the model to achieve mass scale and sustainability.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Why It’s So Hard to Invest With a Social Conscience
For those so inclined, the good news is this: There are more opportunities than ever to invest with a conscience. One firm, Wealthfront, will even let you strip individual American companies that rub you the wrong way from one of the index-fund-like portfolios it creates for you.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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New Women-Led RIA to Focus on Impact Investing: Portfolio Products
“Nia Impact Capital is the next step in our evolution and is inspired by our mission to create world-class impact investing solutions with an emphasis on women,” Hull said in a statement. “Our team is focused on supporting wealth professionals to meet the growing interest from their clients to align their wealth and their values.”
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- Investing
- Region
- North America
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Press release: ImpactUs’ mission continues through strategic acquisition by MissionPoint
Their shared interest was to build the necessary infrastructure to connect private impact investments with institutions, individuals and financial advisors. Many of the equity partners will remain connected through an Impact Advisory Group that the new venture plans to establish to provide insight around product sourcing and impact.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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#MeToo spurs investors to move money to companies that support women
Investment industry insiders say they've fielded increased interest from clients about putting their money toward supporting investments focused on women's issues.
- Categories
- Investing
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Want strong stocks that also have a positive impact on the world? Morgan Stanley has 30 candidates
According to a Thursday note, the 30 were selected by the investment bank’s sustainability team, which evaluates securities through the lens of ESG investing. ESG stands for environmental, social, and corporate governance; strategies that evaluate companies on these issues and use those scores to form portfolios are sometimes called socially responsible investing.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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