Today marks a major milestone for impact investing. Leading corporations, banks, foundations and individuals—including Prudential, the Omidyar Network, and Capricorn Investment Group—gathered at the White House and committed to invest more than $1.5 billion in new capital into companies and funds that strive to generate positive financial and social returns.
To learn more about this groundbreaking capital commitment and how individual philanthropists, family offices, private foundations, private investment firms and venture capitalists can deploy capital through their own platforms, read the new piece by Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation, in The Huffington Post.
In addition to the private sector commitments, several U.S. government agencies, including the Small Business Administration, USAID, and Treasury, also announced programs to support impact investments and social enterprises today. The White House released additional details on the event and commitments on its official blog.
These commitments were complemented by the release of a new report from the U.S. National Advisory Board to the Social Impact Investment Task Force—Private Capital, Public Good: How Smart Federal Policy can Galvanize Impact Investing—and Why It’s Urgent. Since its creation in 2013, the Advisory Board has engaged with hundreds of stakeholders in the impact investing field—from policymakers to foundation leaders to institutional investors and many others—to surface the most compelling recommendations for policies that would support the increase of the amount of private capital that is committed to social change. The report serves as a tool for policy makers and provides recommendations for how federal policies can spur the growth of impact investing.
There is a growing number of investors who want their investment dollars to better represent their values and who are interested in exploring ways that they can do good not only through philanthropy, but also by mobilizing their investment capital. Together, we can forge a path through capital investments and policy changes to lift up market-based solutions for a more meaningful return.
Want to learn more about the Case Foundation’s efforts to support the impact investing ecosystem? Check out our Impact Investing page and follow the team on Twitter at @CaseFoundation.