PCV, in partnership with Bridges Fund Management and the Impact Management Project, are excited to announce the launch of the Impact Due Diligence Initiative. This project will identify best practices in impact due diligence, which we’ll build into a free, practical toolkit for investors across sectors – including foundations, faith-based organizations, CDFIs, equity fund managers, institutional investors, and others – seeking to assess the expected social impact of their investments but who may not know where to start. The impact investing industry has been focused primarily on assessing the social and environmental impacts of investments after capital has been deployed. Through PCV’s research and consulting engagements with numerous investors across geographies, asset classes, and impact themes over the past 10+ years, we’ve learned that the social and environmental performance reported by financed companies to investors has, in many cases, little to no influence on investment decisions. Why? First, it’s difficult for … Read More
What’s New In Impact Investing? August Roundup
Impact investing is about using markets and money for social good. Impact investing is built on the belief that private capital can play a powerful role in solving the massive global challenges of our day, and that capital markets should work for good as well as profit. This vision is realized through investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Every month, PCV will give you a roundup of what’s new in the field, what conversations are taking place, and how you can get involved. Here are some highlights from August: Earlier this month, Nuveen TIAA Investments released Responsible Investing: Delivering Competitive Performance. After assessing the leading socially-responsible investing (SRI) equity indexes over the long term, the firm “found no statistical difference in returns compared to broad market benchmarks, suggesting the absence of any systematic performance penalty. … Read More
What’s New In Impact Investing? July Roundup
Impact investing is about using markets and money for social good. Impact investing is built on the belief that private capital can play a powerful role in solving the massive global challenges of our day, and that capital markets should work for good as well as profit. This vision is realized through investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Every month, PCV will give you a roundup of what’s new in the field, what conversations are taking place, and how you can get involved. Here are some highlights from July: The United Nations estimates that achieving its 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 will require trillions of dollars. The global goals aren’t the only way to measure our challenges, but they do paint a clear picture: given the scale of the problems the world faces, it’s … Read More
What’s New In Impact Investing? June Roundup
Impact investing is about using markets and money for social good. Impact investing is built on the belief that private capital can play a powerful role in solving the massive global challenges of our day, and that capital markets should work for good as well as profit. This vision is realized through investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Every month, PCV will give you a roundup of what’s new in the field, what conversations are taking place, and how you can get involved. Here are some highlights from June: This past month the global efforts to combat climate change suffered a blow in Washington. But follow the money — signals for climate action are in the capital markets, not the Rose Garden. BlackRock Investment Group —with $5 trillion in assets, is bullish on electric cars … Read More
California Initiative 2016 Report
The twelfth annual report examining CalPERS’ California Initiative, a $1 billion private equity, economically targeted investment (ETI). The California Initiative seeks to invest in companies located in traditionally underserved markets, primarily, but not exclusively, located in California. The California Initiative’s primary objective is to generate attractive financial returns, meeting or exceeding private equity benchmarks. As an ancillary benefit, the California Initiative was designed to focus investment in California’s underserved markets and invest in portfolio companies that: Have historically had limited access to institutional equity capital Employ workers who reside in economically disadvantaged areas Provide employment opportunities to women and minority entrepreneurs and managers
CalPERS For California 2016 Report
The seventh annual report documenting the California Public Employees Retirement System’s $27.3 billion of investments in California as of June 30, 2016. The report provides an examination of the broad ancillary benefits of all CalPERS investments in California across the asset classes of public equity, fixed income, private equity, real estate, and infrastructure. CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund, with assets totaling $300 billion as of June 30, 2016. They have a strong track record of long-term returns, and of mobilizing financial capital in new and innovative ways. Ancillary benefits of CalPERS investments described in this report include the creation and support of jobs, infrastructure for communities and commerce, and business expansion and related economic activity.
Economically Targeted Investments by U.S. Pension Funds
U.S.-based public and private pension funds have been making Economically Targeted Investments (ETIs)—investments that generate societal benefits in addition to the investment return—since the 1960s. Over this time, pension funds have sought risk-adjusted returns for their plan’s participants and beneficiaries through investments in worker-friendly affordable housing, in-state businesses, infrastructure, and other projects. The practice of pension funds making ETIs has continued amidst challenges, such as the politicization of some ETIs in the 1980s and 1990s and economic downturns that significantly impacted the U.S. economy. More recently, new types of investments such as those that incorporate environmental social governance (ESG) factors and impact investments have emerged for consideration by pension funds, and the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals are being utilized by some as a guide to investment. To be sure, amidst these developments pension funds must continue to invest prudently and carry out their fundamental obligation of paying their … Read More
What’s New In Impact Investing? May Roundup
Impact investing is about using markets and money for social good. Impact investing is built on the belief that private capital can play a powerful role in solving the massive global challenges of our day, and that capital markets should work for good as well as profit. This vision is realized through investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Every month, PCV will give you a roundup of what’s new in the field, what conversations are taking place, and how you can get involved. Here are some highlights from May: CDFIs were perhaps the first impact investors in America, and as an industry we’re continuing to pioneer new ways to align investors and capital with social good. This month, after the recent news that our friends at LISC had issued the first-ever CDFI bond, we’re seeing … Read More
Public Policy and Investments in Good Quality Jobs
Despite years of economic growth and a declining unemployment rate, the economy – from the perspective of many Americans – is far from healthy. For decades, wages for everyone but the top quintile of earners have remained stagnant or declined, while Americans’ participation in the workforce is at its lowest level in nearly forty years. At Pacific Community Ventures, we believe that community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and the broader impact investing industry are ideally positioned to tackle this issue by supporting businesses that create high-quality jobs offering decent wages, benefits, career and wealth-building opportunities, and fair and engaging workplaces. Yet America’s jobs problem is too large and complex for individual businesses and investors to confront on their own. Without a concerted effort by government to improve job quality in partnership with businesses, investors, and the social sector, we cannot credibly expect to see changes in the economic trends that … Read More
What’s New In Impact Investing? April Roundup
Impact investing is about using markets and money for social good. Impact investing is built on the belief that private capital can play a powerful role in solving the massive global challenges of our day, and that capital markets should work for good as well as profit. This vision is realized through investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Every month, PCV will give you a roundup of what’s new in the field, what conversations are taking place, and how you can get involved. Here are some highlights from April: The big news this month was The Ford Foundation’s announcement that it was putting $1 billion dollars of its endowment toward social impact investments. Foundations pioneered impact investing – or mission investing – with their program dollars, but it’s taken the maturation of the field for … Read More