Impact Investors Optimistic Amid Pandemic: Survey

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The maturing global impact investing market has grown to $715 billion in assets under management, with investors generally optimistic even amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Global Impact Investing Network’s 10th annual investor survey.

This year’s survey comprised 294 leading investors, who collectively manage $404 billion in impact investing assets.

GIIN noted that although the assets of the respondent sample do not represent the full market size, this year’s report also includes an update to the market sizing figure it provided a year ago.

“Last year, the GIIN took on an unprecedented effort to estimate the total size of the impact investing market,” GIIN’s director of research Dean Hand said in a statement. “This year’s updated estimate of $715 billion improves upon the rigorous methodology of its previous figure with a strengthened database that includes over 1,700 impact investors.”

The survey found that the industry’s robust performance over time — in both impact and financial terms — was motivating investment activity and driving market growth. 

Eighty-eight percent of respondents reported that they had met or exceeded their financial expectations, and virtually all said they had met or exceeded their expectations for impact since inception.

GIIN found that the industry has made considerable progress over the past decade in the area of impact measurement and management practices. Sophisticated impact measurements practices enable investors to show real results.

They also ensure accountability against impact washing, which may occur when a fund or company makes impact-focused claims in bad faith, not having truly demonstrated positive social or environmental impact.

At the same time, the study noted that as the market matures, opportunities remain for greater depth and refinement, especially for impact performance comparison and verification of results.