ImpactAssets, a nonprofit financial services company, has updated its manager database for advisors and investors allowing people to better find impact investment managers.
Critics of the impact investing industry say there are too few places to discover investment data and vehicles. ImpactAssets addresses this challenge with its 2012 launch of the IA 50, listing managers and providing research and resources for impact investors.
The IA 50 is comprised of 50 managers selected by ImpactAssets in myriad categories. Fund managers included in this year's IA 50 manage a combined $10.2 billion in assets within the impact investing market, a 15 percent growth over assets represented in the IA 50 last year, ImpactAssets said.
"ImpactAssets's mission is to help investors and fund managers gain access to the resources they need in order to help people double the impact of their capital, and is why we produce the annual IA 50," explains Jed Emerson, ImpactAssets' chief impact strategist and chair of the ImpactAssets 50 selection committee.
To be considered for the IA 50 2012, fund managers needed to meet multiple criteria, including having at least $5 million in assets under management, more than three years' experience with impact investing, and demonstrated commitment to impact.
The IA 50 illustrates the breadth of impact investment fund managers operating today: from firms with years of experience to newer players, from large asset managers operating within traditional investment organizations to smaller players specializing in impact investing, and from smaller and newer entities to those with scale, ImpactAssets said in a release. Members of the selection committee include executives from JP Morgan, Calvert Foundation, McKinsey & Company, UBS, Toniic and Labrador Ventures.
"We've seen firsthand the growing interest in investments that have both financial and social ROI," said selection committee member Kathy Leonard, vice president and senior portfolio manager at UBS Financial Services. "Impact investing has emerged as the dominant global trend that will drive future financial market opportunities."
Indeed, The Calvert Fund recently reported that 72 percent of financial advisors express interest in offering impact investing products to their clients, while surveys commissioned by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu show that 92 percent of millennials and 71 percent of business leaders agreed that the success of a business should be measured by more than profit.
Having a go-to manager database for impact investors should be a welcome resource for advisors looking to service increased demand.
The full list of 2012 IA 50 managers can be found at ImpactAssets.org.
-Thomas M. Kostigen
