A group of leading private sector investors, at a high-level roundtable on impact investing convened by the White House, has pledged $556 million to a range of social investments using a novel investment approach centered on social justice and community value creation.
On June 25, 2014, the White House hosted a roundtable on impact investing, during which some 20 new private sector commitments were made to drive more than $1.5 billion into investments that intentionally generate measurable social or environmental impact as well as financial return.
The group of investors convened by the Transform Finance Investor Network, concerned about a trend in impact investing that stops short of truly transformative impact, pledged to invest in alignment with the transformative finance principles of:
- engaging communities in the design, governance, and ownership of projects
- creating more value for communities than is extracted by investors
- fairly allocating risks and rewards between investors, entrepreneurs, and communities
The group of Transform Finance Investor Network investors includes Pi Investments, Blue Haven Initiative, New Belgium Family Foundation, ReInventure Capital, and The Working World. These members will invest across asset classes, geographies, and verticals.
“This is a novel approach that puts capital at the service of community needs. We hope that through our participation in the Transform Finance Investor Network, we can help build a vibrant community of sophisticated investors who deeply believe in empowerment and intend to consider and prioritize community benefit in every investment we make,” said Brendan Martin, President of The Working World.
Investments may span from debt funds that finance conversion of corporations into worker-owned cooperatives, to renewable energy projects that are locally owned by and benefit indigenous communities.
Andrea Armeni, Executive Director of Transform Finance, convened the group, which has grown to include impact investment leaders such as Calvert Foundation and RSF Social Finance.
“Impact investment is at the tipping point to scale, and hence it’s a cruicial time to ensure community accountability and engagement becomes common practice. We appreciate the White House’s commitment to real impact, and look forward to engaging with our investor peers, both public and private, to put the transform finance principles into action,” said Morgan Simon, managing director of Pi Investments and founder of Transform Finance.
For more information contact Andrea Armeni, Executive Director of Transform Finance, at (415) 265-0035 or andrea@transformfinance.org
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