Becoming involved in the impact investment space may sound good, but the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and nonprofit B Lab jointly offer an analytics platform that helps investors measure the social, environmental and financial performance of their investments.
Specifically GIIN and B Lab together promote tools that help impact investors measure and track the environmental, social and financial performance of their investments using standardized metrics for data aggregation, analyses and market intelligence.
Like Morningstar or Capital IQ analytics, these tools allow investors to analyze the impact of their investments much like they would analyze their financial risk and return.
Managed by the GIIN, IRIS is touted as a catalog of generally-accepted performance metrics that leading impact investors use to measure the social, environmental, and financial results they value. Information about IRIS metrics can be found here: http://iris.thegiin.org/iris-standards.
According to GIIN figures, as of June of 2013, the top impact objectives reported were income/productivity growth, agricultural productivity, community development and capacity-building on the social scale. On the environmental scale, top impact objectives included sustainable land use, sustainable energy, energy and fuel efficiency and pollution prevention and waste management.
And B Lab offers B Analytics, a data platform for measuring, benchmarking, and reporting on impact. B Analytics hosts a database of verified social and environmental performance data for over 1,000 companies. It is also a source of impact data from Certified B Corporations and GIIRS Rated companies and funds.
According to B Lab figures, since fall of 2011, there have been 63 funds and 409 companies from 30 countries that have made moves to become GIIRS-rated, and 21 institutional investors have declared an investment preference for GIIRS-rated investments in their impact investment portfolios. Information about the GIIRS rating process can be found here: http://giirs.org/about-giirs/how-giirs-works/166 .
Early adoption of generally accepted standards by industry leaders such as UBS and Prudential, has accelerated “the development of a more efficient and effective market for high impact investments,” according to Beth Richardson, director of product development with B Analytics.
Not at this stage yet? Still getting your feet wet in the space? GIIN also offers a site called “ImpactBase, which a is a searchable, online database of impact investment funds and products designed for investors. Accounts to use ImpactBase can be created here: http://www.impactbase.org/info/about-impactbase
Indeed, a circulation of information on all aspects of the impact investment space is needed. World Economic Forum (WEF), which recently studied the potential shift of social impact investment products into the mainstream investment sector said in a recently issued report that new players in the impact investing space, looking to take it from a compelling idea to a real investment approach, need to know how to get started in this “nascent and potentially rewarding sector.” The WEF added, that this “codified know-how and repository of best practice is currently as embryonic as the sector itself.”
