Directory of Impact Investing Asset Managers Gets an Update

Financial advisors with clients invested in or interested in direct impact investments can access the latest ImpactAssets 50 online database of 50 private capital fund managers specializing in social and environmental impact investments.

Managers included in the list must have over three years of experience in impact investing, at least $10 million in assets under management, accept U.S. investments, and manage assets that are recoverable, among other criteria.

The IA 50 2019 collectively manage an estimated $28.5 billion in assets. They include six managers with an AUM six with an AUM of $10-$50 million, and the remainder with assets from $100 million to just under $1 billion.

Most of the managers invest in private equity and/or private debt, including absolute return notes, but some also invest in commodities and real estate. Two-thirds of the IA 50 have been operating for more than 10 years and nearly nine in 10 report that women and/or minorities account for 25% or more of their investment professionals.

Most important for many advisors, more than 75% of the managers target gains equal or greater than market returns and 94% have either met or exceeded their initial target returns.

Also important for advisors is the review committee that decides who’s included in the IA 50. That committee includes executives from wealth managers like Stephanie Cohn Rupp, managing director and partner at Tiedemann Advisors, and Matthew Weatherley-White, a co-founder and managing director of The Caprock Group, a multifamily office. Also on the review committee are Kathy Leonard, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at UBS and Fran Seegull, executive director, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance and Ford Foundation.

“As impact investing continues its inexorable rise, it is critical to provide investors with a curated, objective evaluation of impact fund managers,” said Jennifer Kenning, CEO and co-founder of Align Impact and IA 50 senior investment advisor, in a statement. “The IA 50 is built to filter out the noise that is growing louder in impact investing and help investors focus on deep, meaningful impact.”

The IA 50 list includes information about a manager’s AUM, investment asset class and focus among the 17 UN sustainable development goals. In addition, the list includes details about a firm’s history, leadership teams and impact tracking.

ImpactAssets, the creator of the IA 50, also operates a donor-advised fund, the Giving Fund, which represents more than 300 impact investment positions and has $425 million in assets. It was created in 2010 as a spinoff from Calvert Impact Capital.

— Check out Sustainable Investing Segues From Niche to Mainstream on ThinkAdvisor.