Corporate ‘impact investing’ expected to see substantial growth
| Date | 01 January 2017 |
| Published date | 01 January 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30270 |
JANUARY 2017
7
NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved
DOI: 10.1002/nba
Industry News
Corporate ‘impact investing’
expected to see substantial growth
New research released by the CECP nds that busi-
nesses’ support for impact investing—that is, investing
in initiatives and ventures designed to achieve nancial
returns as well as a positive economic, social or environ-
mental impact—is likely to see tremendous growth over
the next decade, offering nonprots new sources and
forms of possible support from their corporate partners.
The study found that large corporations cur-
rently invest about $2.4 billion each year to impact
investing—or roughly 4 percent of the entire impact
investing market, which stands at about $60 billion
worldwide. That total is expected to grow to some
$2 trillion by 2025, the CECP said, meaning that
if trends continue, corporations can be expected to
allocate about $79 billion annually to such efforts
within 10 years.
The report outlines six types of support that com-
prise impact investing:
• Direct investments—when a company provides
funds from its own balance sheet for a social enterprise.
• Self-managed funds—when a company creates a
captive fund or investment company that invests in a
social venture.
• Third-party funds—when a company makes in-
vestments through a syndicate or a fund as a limited
partner to support a social venture.
• Strategic alliances—when two companies join
Bucking the trend of millennials and Gen Xers
being less generous than their predecessors, young
single women today are giving at levels on par with
their counterparts 40 years ago—those of the Silent
Generation, according to the newest report in the
Women Give series by the Women’s Philanthropy In-
stitute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School
of Philanthropy.
According to the WPI, conventional wisdom says
that millennials and Gen Xers are less generous than
their predecessors. But a closer look reveals that giv-
ing by young single women Gen Xers/millennials is
holding steady. Instead, it is giving by single men and
married couples that is dropping in comparison to
the pre-boomer generation.
The Women Give 2016 report investigates how
charitable giving has changed across generations,
given that women’s roles within the family and within
society have changed. The report compares chari-
table giving patterns of single men, single women
and married couples, and it also looks inside mar-
riage at the role of husbands and wives. Decision-
making styles about charitable giving have shifted
over time, the research shows. The percentage of
Gen X/millennial couples in which women inuence
charitable giving has grown compared to pre-boomer
couples, as has the level of giving by those woman-
inuenced couples. Compared to pre-boomers, Gen
X/millennial married couples where the woman has
an inuence on the household’s giving tend to give
higher amounts than when the man alone makes
giving decisions.
Findings from the study are of interest to donors
and fundraisers alike, the WPI said.
“Women’s changing roles within society and within
the family have implications for philanthropy,” said
Debra Mesch, director of the WPI. “Women donors
should understand that they have an inuence over
their personal and household giving. Nonprot lead-
ers and fundraisers must recognize the importance
of single and married women as donors; fundraisers
who don’t know how to raise money from women
simply will not be as successful as Millennials and
Gen Xers step fully into their giving.”
To access the report in full, go to http://bit.
ly/28TneS2. ■
Research shows young single women
holding their own in charitable giving
(See GROWTH on page 8)
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