Investing with the explicit goal of creating financial returns
alongside measurable social and environmental benefits is catching
fire. Wall Street's biggest players are rushing to provide clients
with access to new impact investing options, amid growing consumer
demand and evidence that the approach can be successfully executed.
Recent research on outstanding impact investing funds has revealed
a mature practice, vibrant with commercial investors, providing
stable, predictable returns to their investors as well as
supporting the creation of millions of jobs and other tangible
outcomes in markets overlooked by traditional asset managers.
And yet, the individuals and organizations committed to impact
investing are just the tip of the iceberg in a larger movement.
This includes the growing field of social enterprise, where
market-based solutions can go beyond what government and
philanthropy can do to directly address society's problems. And it
includes institutional investors who have utilized impact screens
and shareholder activism as a risk reduction strategy over the past
30 years.
Collaborative Capitalism and the Rise of Impact
Investing sees these movements as signs of a much more
fundamental shift, as finance as a whole responds to an increased
consumer demand for market transparency--the need to know
exactly what we are buying, where and how it was made, and who it
affects. By putting a lens on the underlying practices that bridge
impact investing and risk mitigation finance, the book outlines the
transformation in finance itself, driven by more cross-sector,
transparent relationships in the service of creating long-term
value for multiple stakeholders, not just shareholders.
