Jessie Smith Noyes Joins Investor Letter Campaign to SEC for Increased ESG Disclosure

By organizing a webinar and sign-on letter, Confluence brought some much needed attention to how foundations can take action in a campaign for more disclosure of ESG data.  

http://www.confluencephilanthropy.org/-Sign-Onto-Confluence's-Letter-To-The-SEC-Advocating-Effective-ESG-Disclosure

I was excited to be interviewed for the NYU Stern's Investment Research and Management Club's student publication (eValuation) on the state of the impact investing industry.  

It also includes interviews with a couple of my former students who are now working in the field.


https://nyustern.campusgroups.com/upload/nyustern/2016/doc_372153_evaluation_june_2016_710163726_710163726.pdf

Impact Investing Can Help Foundations Avoid Obsolescence

I am pleased to share a new op-ed I have written with Bill Burckart on impact investing and its role in the transformation of philanthropy.

https://philanthropy.com/article/Opinion-Impact-Investing-Can/228569

Cutting off Capital to Mountain Top Removal

Long recognized as bad for the environment and bad for communities, mountain top removal coal mining is now being challenged by investors who are telling the banks that finance the activity to stop.  This engagement tactic has also been used with banks on other project finance activities through the Equator Principles.  

The big question is does cutting off the bank lines stop the activity?  

http://nyti.ms/1Ac6hrP

A New Twist on Social Impact Bonds to Rehabilitate Housing

The Richmond Community Foundation in California has come up with a great idea to sell SIBs to rehabilitate housing and engage Bay Area impact investors. 

http://nyti.ms/1Bc2Sx7

Peer-Pressure Philanthropy and Donor Advised Funds

Interesting article about young (and old) philanthropists and the role that DAFs can play.

http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/peer-pressure-philanthropy

Social Impact Bonds: Moneyball for Government?

Social Impact Bonds: Phantom of the Nonprofit Sector - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

DBL: Impact Fund with a Track Record

Having an established record on financial and impact performance, DBL is trying to keep the magic alive as they go forward.

http://nyti.ms/1Dmho2O

Cleantech, Renewables and Environmental Opportunities (CREO) Group of Private Investors Pledge $300 Million

Exciting to see a coordinated effort in pulling together these private sources of environmental financing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bank/creo-investors-pledge-300_b_5797346.html

Where's the Impact Investing Beef?

The NYT's Wealth Matters column touched on impact investing recently to describe how the asset class is expanding.  It was great to hear more about Paul Herman's HIP Investor rating system, but I am a bit tired of the large financial institutions getting quoted on the bright future of impact investing even though they do not have lots of options for their clients today.

http://nyti.ms/1lFwvkU

Is the Peterborough SIB a Success or a Failure or Too Early to Tell?

While the initial results of the Peterborough SIB did not trigger payments to the investors, the many factors driving this first SIB's success or failure are still up in the air.  This report from NPQ outlines the various positions and opinions.  Perhaps most telling is that the UK government has decided not to continue the program as a SIB but rather to revert to a more standard pay for performance contract without outside investors.

I think the role/need for investors in SIB structures remains unclear.

First Social Impact Bond Fails to Meet Halfway Mark Performance Target - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

Bipartisan Social Impact Bond Bill Introduced in the House

http://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2014/06/26/bi-partisan-bill-would-allocate-300m-for-social-impact-bonds/

Motivating Corporations to Do Good???

Eduardo Porter provides a nice summary of the history of what we now call corporate social responsibility.  He chronicles the increasing power of shareholders and equity-compensated managers over the last 50 years and calls on government to make sure corporations are good citizens.

Unfortunately, government does not exist in a vacuum and has increasingly lost power and resources versus corporations.  Shareholders (but primarily the senior corporate managers who control them) have used their additional power and money to fight government, labor , communities and all of the other stakeholders in our society.  We are now seeing the fruits of this 50 year transition.  

http://nyti.ms/1qdiQ6H

Modest Expectations and Consistent Followthrough

This Upshot piece in today's NYT offers the hope that maybe we can focus on social programs that actually work as a good middle ground between the "all government is bad" ideology of the right and the "more money will solve all problems" from the left.

While this approach can attract bipartisan support, it also requires reasonable expectations and consistency over long periods of time - not typical characteristics of our political process.

http://nyti.ms/1rcQNUl

Cognitive Dissonance, Creativity and Social Progress

David Brooks' op-ed calls out the important work of B corporations in overcoming the contradiction of well-intentioned but ineffective charity and the short-sighted, short-termism of corporate shareholders.  

http://nyti.ms/1zlf2lr

Prudential Financial Commits to Build $1 Billion Impact Investment Portfolio by 2020

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140625-906307.html

Data and Knowing

David Brooks' recent op-ed on how data points are not knowledge - especially when looking at human behavior - made me appreciate the immense challenges we face when seeking to shift human behavior through interventions and programs.

http://nyti.ms/1g9XnXz

Tilting at Fossil Fuel Windmills?? Maybe Not. Complete Divestment is Now an Option

Complete divestment from fossil fuels has always been viewed as a somewhat naive socially-responsible investment approach.  But it appears that several environmental foundations are in fact pursuing this goal.  What was unthinkable a couple of years ago has moved to center stage in the climate change risk debate due largely to Bill McKibbon's grassroots organization 350.org.

Bill McKibben, president and co-founder of 350.org, said he had been encouraged by the spread of the argument “that fossil fuel companies as they’re currently incarnated are essentially rogue companies, that they have in their reserves far more carbon than any scientist thinks it’s safe to burn.”

http://nyti.ms/1a2DRcD

Scaling Up Year Up

I was able to attend the graduation ceremony of Year Up in New York two weeks ago and saw what these students can do.  Year Up is at the forefront of how young people can be viewed by corporate American as valuable resources rather than cost burdens.   How can we get Year Up to work with all of the disconnected youth in our country as soon as possible?  60 Minutes had a great segment on Year Up.  http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/jobs-program-benefits-fortune-500-and-underprivileged-youth/

100,000 Homes Campaign on 60 Minutes

It is great to finally see the 100,000 Homes Campaign that puts long-term homeless people into housing presented as a cost-effective and socially beneficial approach on 60 Minutes.  Rosanne Haggerty has taken the supportive housing model and in now amplifying it around the country.  It draws on existing resources in communities to take on this major social issue.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/100000-homes-housing-the-homeless-can-save-money/