The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) has released its 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey, providing an update of the impact investing landscape. The report features data and insights from 294 leading impact investors—the largest group of respondents ever—who collectively manage $404 billion of impact investing assets.

As part of this 10th edition, GIIN highlighted several of the most influential impact investments made within the last decade. The Ford Foundation, a CMF member, was highlighted for its 2017 commitment of $1 billion to mission-related investments (MRIs) to reduce poverty and injustice.

The report shares that since then the Ford Foundation has committed $174 million to 12 fund managers and its affordable housing portfolio has preserved more than 16,000 units of affordable housing in the U.S.

“We need to expand our imaginations and our tools if we want to tackle the large-scale problems facing the world today. We can’t neglect the tremendous power of markets to contribute,” Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation said.

The Ford Foundation was one of three CMF members that participated in GIIN’s 2020 survey, in addition to The Kresge Foundation and JP Morgan Chase.

Highlights from the report:

• Motivations for Impact Investing: Nearly all respondents (87%) consider both ‘impact being central to their mission’ and ‘their commitment as responsible investors’ as ‘very important’ motivations. Furthermore, 81% believe that impact investing is an efficient way to achieve impact goals and 88% of respondents reported meeting or exceeding their financial expectations.

• Impact investing has grown in depth and sophistication over time: It’s clear that the market has evolved over the past decade; 69% of respondents describe the industry as growing steadily. GIIN only had 24 survey respondents in 2010 compared to the almost 300 this year.  

• Impact measurement and management practices have matured, but opportunities for refinement remain: Impact measurement and management (IMM) practices have evolved over the past decade and now reflect an increasingly strategic use of tools. In 2010, 85% of respondents used their own proprietary reporting systems whereas today, 89% of respondents use external systems, tools and frameworks for IMM. While 88% of investors believe they have increased the rigor of their IMM practices, 23% don’t compare their performance with peers, so GIIN believes opportunities for growth remain. According to the report, GIIN and Harvard are both developing methodologies to interpret and compare results.

• COVID-19: GIIN shared that the survey was conducted in February and March, with responses coming in as the pandemic began to unfold. However, GIIN was able to capture how investors were thinking about their 2020 investments. According to respondents, 57% said that they were unlikely to change the volume of capital committed to their 2020 investments, while 20% stated they are likely to commit less and 15% plan to commit more.

“The intent of respondents seems to be to respond to the crisis with flexibility and patient capital, which is a trend we’ve seen in Michigan and nationally, as I previously shared in an impact investing blog,” Jennifer Oertel, CMF’s impact investing expert in residence said. “In fact, impact investors are well-placed to support the marginalized communities that have been the most negatively affected by the pandemic and resulting economic downturn.”

In addition, GIIN reported that most respondents do not expect to change their targeted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-aligned impact themes over the next five years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data shows that within the SDG impact themes, 71% of respondents target “decent work and economic growth,” 61% target “no poverty” and 59% target “good health and well-being.”

“Racial justice and inclusive communities that work for all are integral to those goals and impact investors in Michigan and beyond are providing innovative capital to help remediate some of the inequality that was built into the fabric of our country and its financial system,” Oertel said. “Community foundations are providing bridge loans to small businesses in marginalized communities. Charitable organizations and CDFIs are providing capital and technical assistance to excluded entrepreneurs. Impact funds are funding businesses so that they may pivot to meet the new reality or develop PPE and vaccines to protect against it. Several private foundations, including CMF members, have courageously stepped up to issue bonds thereby creating liquidity that will permit them to protect their endowments while significantly increasing their grantmaking.”

Want more?

Read the 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey.

The Download