In theory, impact investment balances positive social and environmental returns with competitive profits to investors. But mandating competitive profits for investors often reduces the potential social and environmental impact of investees. What if the focus shifted from maximizing profit to maximizing impact, or profiting only modestly enough to make the financial investment sustainable?
This is a critical question for charitable foundations such as SK2 to consider as they pivot to deploy more of their sizable endowments to impact investments. Many are not even aware of the universe of private sector impact investment options out there beyond the stock market—or claim not to have the resources to research them.
Our colleague Jen Astone of Integrated Capital Investments has done that research and taken it a step further. She’s compiled a Transformative 25 list of cutting edge impact investment funds helping to redefine impact investment by focusing first and foremost on investees and the social and environmental good they create. If you represent a foundation or are a citizen investor interested in aligning your money with your values, you’ll find this list a rich trove of the best impact funds out there right now.