What to Read This Week: The GIIN Annual Impact Investor Survey 2017
A roundup of analysis and findings from the GIIN’s latest Impact Investor Survey.
Last week the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) released its 7th annual Impact Investor Survey, taking stock of the state of the field. The GIIN interviewed more than 200 impact investing organizations and professionals involved in foundations, fund management, pension funds, family offices, and more, gaining descriptive perspectives on the current impact investing market.
There have been a handful of valuable analysis and summaries of the 84 page report. Here are resources we have been using to better understand the findings of the survey.
1.Amit Bouri, co-founder and CEO of the GIIN, restates the Executive Summary of the 2017 Impact Investor Survey for the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). His insights from the report:
- There are many different ways to be an impact investor, and these different roles along the spectrum of impact investing will need to be further explored and defined in order to reach the greatest “collaborative potential” of the diversity in the market.
- The bar is set high on large firms entering the impact investing industry, and intent and commitment to impact must be demonstrated.
- ‘Multi-national initiatives’ like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the 2030 Agenda, and the Paris Climate Agreement are reaching out to private investment and building a common framework that is driving demand for impact investments.
2. Dennis Price and David Bank of Impact Alpha break down the numbers behind the GIIN’s findings, specifically highlighting the methodology behind the GIIN’s finding of ‘$114 billion in actual impact investing assets under management,’ a 47% increase since last year. How accurate is the snapshot of 208 Survey respondents?
3. Private Wealth magazine summarized the survey’s findings from the perspective of larger professional firms looking to enter the impact investing space. The article collects quotes from Amit Bouri that illustrate the increased demand for impact investing products from larger clients.
“ Asset managers and intermediaries are trying to develop product to support the demand. I think there’s a real fear that they’ll lose clients to players who can establish a leadership role in impact investing.” — Amit Bouri, the GIIN
4. Also, the GIIN has provided interactive dashboards and charts to explore and visualize the data.
