US National Advisory Board on Impact Investing

 

Cathy Clark, Adjunct Professor and Director of Fuqua’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship Impact Investing Initiative (CASE i3), has performed extensive research into the best practices of impact investing, the practice of investing for both financial gain and societal good.  After the 2013 G8 Leaders Summit, an international push was launched to determine how impact investing could help accelerate economic growth and address some of society’s most challenging problems.  As a result, 27 people, including Clark, were asked to serve on the United States National Advisory Board on Impact Investing (“The NAB”) to provide guidance to a new Global Taskforce on Social Impact Investing.  On June 25, 2014,  the NAB  released recommendations  at the White House and on Capitol Hill for how U.S. policymakers could encourage more of the approach, which also included announcements of more than $1.5 billion in new private commitments to impact investing as well as several significant government commitments.

CASE agreed to independently track the progress of the new impact investment commitments made at the White House, and make that information publicly available.

Read Fuqua’s Q and A here, or see below for releases, blogs, videos and press coverage. If you have other links to suggest, please email us at carrie.gonnella@duke.edu.

UPDATE: September 14, 2016: CASE i3 releases First #NABtracker report on 2014 Commitments

 

For more information on the work of the US National Advisory Board, see:

• US National Advisory Board website
• Download the report: Private Capital, Public Good. 
• US NAB Twitter Feed: @ImpactInvestUS

For Updates from Global Taskforce on Social Impact Investing, established by the G8:

• Social Impact Investment Taskforce website
• Global Learning Exchange: Links to all Taskforce, National Advisory Board, subject reports, and press coverage.

UPDATES: Policy Results in 2015

• 6 minute video of US Labor Secretary Tom Perez Bloomberg interview talking about the new ERISA guidance, released in October 2015: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-10-22/the-labor-department-s-new-guidelines-for-retirement-plans 
• US Dept of Labor Interpretive Bulletin, Oct 26, 2015: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/10/26/2015-27146/interpretive-bulletin-relating-to-the-fiduciary-standard-under-erisa-in-considering-economically 
• New IRS Guidance on Mission-Related Investments Is a Step in the Right Direction: http://blog.enterprisecommunity.com/2015/09/guidance-investments-direction (September 2015)
• IRS Guidance: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-15-62.pdf

2014 Releases and Blogs

• CASE: Impact Investment Clean Energy and Climate Solutions: 2015 Sector Highlights Report (June 16, 2015)
• White House: Executive Actions to Accelerate Impact Investing to Create Jobs and Strengthen Communities
• White House: Background on the White House Roundtable on Impact Investing (includes details of the $1.5 Billion committed by public and private sources)

• Abacus Wealth Partners: White House Roundtable Leads to New Commitment to Impact Investing
• Abacus Wealth Partners: White House Takes Notice of Impact Investing
• B Lab: B Corps Featured in Impact Investing Policy Recommendations
• Case Foundation on Huffington Post: Impact Investing: $1.5 Billion in Commitments and a New Resource for Policymakers
• Case Foundation: A New Chapter for Impact Investing
• Duke University: Encouraging Investing Beyond Financial Returns
• Imprint Capital: Imprint Capital Clients Announce $233 Million in New Impact Investing Commitments
• MacArthur Foundation: MacArthur to Provide $25 Million to Finance Energy Efficiency Improvements in U.S. Multi-Family Housing
• McKnight Foundation: McKnight Announces Impact Investment Commitment of $200M to Support Transition to Low-Carbon Economy, Regional Development.
• Mission Measurement on Herald Online: Mission Measurement Announces $1 Million Investment in Social Impact Genome at White House Impact Investing Conference
• Omidyar Network Release: The US National Advisory Board Issues Policy Recommendations to Encourage Impact Investing
• Omidyar Network Blog Post: How Can Private Capital Work for Public Good?
• Prudential on MarketWatch: Prudential Financial Commits to Build $1 Billion Impact Investment Portfolio by 2020.
• Sustainable America: Sustainable America and its Founder Announce New Impact Investment Programs
• Transform Finance Investor Network: Transform Finance Investor Network Launches With Pledge of $556m in “Transformative” Investments
• US SIF: Statement from Lisa Woll, CEO of US SIF

2014 Press Coverage:

• Center for Global Development: Impact Investment: the Movement is Growing 
• Charity News XPeredon: Impact Investing: Ambitious Growth Plans
• Christian Science Monitor: Do-Good Investing Gets White House Boost — and $1.5 Billion in Private Pledges
• Chronicle of Philanthropy: Corporate, Philanthropic Leaders Pledge $1.5-Billion in Impact Investments
• Council on Foundations: 5 Things Your Foundation Should Know About Impact Investing
• Devex Impact: 10 Tips to Boost Impact Investing (slide show)
• Devex Impact: How the US Government Can Spur Impact Investing
• FastCompany: What’s Holding Back Impact Investing?
• Forbes: How the US Government Can Boost Impact Investing and Social Enterprise
• Forbes: Social Impact Bonds Go to Washington
• The Hill: Private Capital, Public Good
• Impact Alpha: Private Capital, Public Good, Federal Policy
• Inc.: Can $1.5 Billion Transform Social Entrepreneurship?
• Inside Philanthropy: Impact Investing Hits the Big Time
• Investment News: Impact Investing Gets a Boost from the Obama Administration
• Next Billion: A New Day for Impact Investing?
• NonProfit Times: Social Impact Investment Get Boost From White House
• Philanthropy News Digest: Public-Private Partnership Launched to Boost Impact Investing
• Pro Bono Australia: Business & Philanthropic Leaders Pledge $1.5 Billion in Impact Investments

2014 Videos

• Antony Bugg-Levine, Nonprofit Finance Fund
• Curtis Ravenel, Bloomberg, LP
• Tracy Palandjian (Social Finance)
• Andrea Phillips, Goldman Sachs
• Adva Saldinger, Devex Impact

Quotes from NAB members about the report:

Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation

“When the country’s needs are so great and so urgent, we can’t afford to leave capital and talent sitting on the sidelines. By making prudent public policy changes, we can bring more financial resources to meet ongoing social and environmental needs, and leverage the extraordinary skills, inventiveness, determination and discipline that the private market has in such abundance.”

Luther Ragin, Jr., CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network

“In recent years, the impact investing market has seen tremendous momentum, with increased investor interest and activity addressing a variety of social and environmental challenges. With additional collaboration between government, private sector investors, and philanthropic organizations, we can further accelerate the growth and effectiveness of impact investing.”

Curtis Ravenel, Head of Sustainability, Bloomberg LP

“Impact investing is increasingly an important part of a broad and diversified investment strategy. We are hearing from customers that there is a growing need to understand how social outcomes are influenced by investment decisions. The NAB Task Force has developed a framework to help investors measure those outcomes and use them as part of the investment criteria. This will certainly help our customers make more informed investment decisions, increase capital flows to social enterprises and bring the power and scale of financial markets to bear on our most pressing social challenges. We are excited to contribute to this ground-breaking effort.

Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation

“This is a breakthrough moment for impact investing—and will help unleash the huge potential of markets to effect social change. We know that the public good will be enhanced greatly by smart, cross-sector investing that creates opportunities and transforms communities. These cumulative investments have the potential to bring innovative ideas and critical infrastructure to scale in a way that will improve real lives across the country.”