Une alternative au microcrédit | 2012-02-27.
Encore dans l’enfance, l’«impact investing» s’offre comme nouvelle manière de financer des projets de éveloppement de manière responsable, durable et rentable. En Suisse, il est promu par un descendant de banquiers privés rompu à l’exercice, Cédric Lombard.

Investing for Impact | 2012-02-02.
Credit Suisse Research Institute: The growing interest in impact investing is hard to miss. Today, more investors and entrepreneurs than ever are proactively investing their capital in solutions designed to generate a positive social or environmental impact, while also having the potential for some financial return. In practice, such opportunities are emerging in most parts of the world, across nearly all asset classes, and at many different levels of risk and return.

Insight into the Impact Investment Market | 2011-12-14.
The report finds that the majority of the 52 surveyed impact investors have tempered optimism about the impact investing industry: they believe it is “in its infancy and growing.” The investors plan to invest almost USD 4 billion over the next year, and most expect that 5-10 percent of typical investors’ portfolios will be allocated to impact investments in ten years. This report expands on the 2010 report Impact Investments: An emerging asset class. The analysis was done by J.P. Morgan and relied on survey data collected by the GIIN. Supporting last year’s findings, impact investors’ expectations for financial returns range from concessionary to market-beating, indicating there is room in the market for a range of performance. The report also finds that investor use of third party systems for impact measurement has increased by 10 percent since 2010. The lack of track record of successful investments is identified as the industry’s biggest challenge, with the biggest risks around investment illiquidity and uncertainty of financial returns. Increased government activity and infrastructure development are helping to address these challenges by increasing market information and promoting growth.

Impact Investments An emerging asset class |2010-11-29.
Investments intended to create positive impact beyond financial return Impact investments are investments intended to create positive impact beyond financial return. This definition captures the key themes characterizing impact investments as illustrated in Figure 1: impact investments provide capital, expecting financial returns, to businesses (fund managers or companies) designed with the intent to generate positive social and/or environmental impact.

It's Time to Standardize Integrated Reporting of Financial and Sustainability Performance | 2010-08-02.
Two groups dedicated to sustainability — the London-based Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) and the Amsterdam-based Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) — today announced (pdf) the formation of an organization to develop and promote global standards for companies to report both their financial performance and their performance in the areas of environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and governance in an integrated fashion. This is important because integrated reporting is the best way to ensure that companies have sustainable strategies; define them in financial, economic, social, and governance terms; and then communicate the results.

Money for Good | 2010-05-02.
The US Market for Impact Investments and Charitable Gifts from Individual Donors and Investors.

Investing for Impact: Case Studies Across Asset Classes | 2010-04-16.
Impact Investment, often referred to using other terms such as social investment or sustainable investment, is defined as “actively placing capital in businesses and funds that generate social and/or environmental good and a range of returns, from principal to above market, to the investor.”1 By leveraging the private sector, these investments can provide solutions at a scale that purely philanthropic interventions usually cannot reach. Investors in Impact Investment Funds include high-net-worth individuals, institutional investors, corporations or foundations, who invest in a wide range of asset classes. The intention of Impact Investment vehicles to make a social/environmental impact is a primary qualifying criterion; investments that unintentionally result in social good are not regarded as Impact Investments. Impact Investment is closely allied to but differentiated from Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) which generally employs negative screening to avoid investing in harmful companies or shareholder activism/advocacy to encourage corporate social responsibility practices.

Better Returns in a Better World The Role of Institutional Investors in Private Equity Investing in Developing Countries | 2010-04-07.
On 27 January 2010, the sixth Better Returns in a Better World workshop took place at Lambeth Palace in London. It focused on the role of institutional investors when investing in Private Equity (PE) funds that invest in developing countries. The focus was primarily on learning from the experiences of institutional investors, particularly CDC, the UK’s Development Financial Institution (DFI) which has a long record investing in developing countries, as well as from PE fund managers Actis and Aureos. Two case studies were used to frame the discussion, one on Sub-Saharan Africa from CDC, the second on India from Actis.

Impact Investing Newsbrief | 2010-02-16.
This Newsbrief provides an update of the work of the Rockefeller Foundation’s initiative Harnessing the Power of Impact Investing. Over the past three years, we have met with many of you and benefited from your insights while drawing inspiration from your work. We are now planning to send updates about our initiative in order to convey a better understanding of where our work is going. We also hope to highlight insights and opportunities for collaboration. 

Book Review: Solutions for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation | 2010-02-14.
Published in November 2009 by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the monograph Soluti ons for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation asserts that the “sharp dichotomy between profit-maximizing financial investment and ‘give-it-away’ charity is gradually losing its edge.” Authors Steven Godeke and Raul Pomares choose the term “impact investing” to describe a dual investment goal of producing a socially beneficial impact while seeking an appropriate investment return as well. Although investment strategies among impact investors may differ—the range of strategies can extend from those that seek to optimize financial returns to those that prioritize social or environmental benefits—a “well-considered investment strategy and a rigorous execution process” is essential for success, whatever the investment approach.