17 Communications
Mission-driven marketing and communications

Research

Publications

Common and Emerging Practices in Implementation of the Impact Principles

Author: Secretariat to the Operating Principles for Impact Management

Date: Summer 2025

When the Impact Principles were first launched in 2019, the requirement for Signatories to publish annual disclosure statements was an essential step to advancing the vision of promoting transparency, discipline and credibility of impact management practice by investors. Since then, more than 500 disclosures have been published, serving as a vital mechanism for transparency and a valuable public resource for understanding the state of impact practice today. The purpose of this series of resources, Common and Emerging Practices in Implementation of the Impact Principles, is to provide an overview of the common, emerging, and nascent practices in the implementation of the Impact Principles:

  • Common practices (found in 50-100% of disclosure statements) represent where the market has approached consensus about which practices are to be expected across robust impact systems.

  • Emerging practices (25-50%) are increasingly common but not yet widespread. These practices may be context-specific for certain investors or represent efforts to raise the bar for impact practice, potentially becoming more standard in the coming years.

  • Nascent practices (<25%) are beginning to appear in a few disclosure statements and represent the potential frontier of rigorous impact practice or a gap in current practice.

This research explores how key sectors in the financial system are engaging with the transition to a sustainable low-carbon economy (SLCE). The analysis, divided into individual sector snapshots, assesses the current roles of asset owners, asset managers, market intermediaries and other players in accelerating the transition, evaluating their level of commitment, as well as reflecting on the drivers and challenges to increasing support. In-depth case studies identify and analyze the practices of leading firms who are pioneering the use of system-level investing to address systemic issues like climate change. The sector snapshots are divided into two tiers based on the availability of data. Tier 1 sectors include diversified asset managers, insurance firms, investment banks, pension funds and private equity firms. Tier 2 sectors include credit rating agencies, family offices, foundations, investment consultants, sovereign wealth funds and stock exchanges.

Scaling Solutions: The Fixed Income Opportunity Hiding in Plain Sight

Author(s): Tideline + BlueMark + Builders Vision

Date: June 24, 2025

While traditionally prized for stability, fixed income investments hold immense untapped potential to drive social and environmental change at scale. From funding vaccine access to supporting disaster recovery and affordable housing, fixed income is already addressing urgent social and environmental challenges and could vastly increase the size of the impact investing market if more capital is mobilized with greater intention. Scaling Solutions makes the case for fixed income as the next frontier in impact by presenting a new narrative for impact fixed income and offering practical guidance for investors to act using many of the same standards and frameworks that are already widely used across the impact investing market. The report includes original research on the development of the market for impact fixed income, case studies featuring leading investors, and tactical allocator resources to support market actors who are ready to unlock more capital for impact.

This report includes discrete bipartisan recommendations for how the Administration and Congress can play a leadership role in creating shared prosperity for all Americans. Acting on these recommendations will require leadership across the federal government, bringing together different departments and agencies to work towards shared goals. Even as impact investors continue to rise to the challenge on important social, environmental and economic issues, they still need federal policymakers to play their part as well. That includes continuing to champion bipartisan federal policies that make it possible for private investors to harness American capitalism to address serious systemic challenges. The recommendations are focused in three areas:

  1. Protect and strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness

  2. Fortify community investing

  3. Enable greater impact transparency

Investing in sustainable aquaculture for a resilient food system

Author: Summa Equity

Date: October 7, 2024

Aquaculture, or the farming of aquatic plants and animals, plays a vital role in addressing the growing global demand for sustainable protein sources. This report explores the opportunities and challenges within the aquaculture sector, particularly the farming of salmon. It focuses on sustainable practices that align with ecological boundaries and the broader goals of the global food system. Current aquaculture practices face sustainability challenges, such as habitat destruction, unsustainable feed sourcing and the management of pathogens and parasites. Despite these challenges, innovative solutions and technologies are emerging, including closed-loop systems, land-based farming and alternative feed ingredients. These innovations not only address environmental concerns but also offer compelling investment opportunities, particularly in the farmed salmon sector, which has grown significantly due to its efficiency and lower resource intensity compared to other protein sources.

People in Scope

Author: Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD)

Date: September 2024

This document provides an overview of the proposed scope, approach, governance structure, and work plan of the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD). It was developed in 2024 by the Taskforce's Founding Partners and informed by input from more than 1,000 stakeholders — including experts from business, finance, civil society, labour, international organisations, academic and research institutions, and consultancies and data providers — on the market need for a taskforce on social-related issues. The TISFD initiative is the result of the collective efforts of the TISFD Founding Partners, a global coalition of companies, financial institutions, labour, civil society, and international organisations, that believes in the fundamental need for businesses and capital providers to integrate people and society into decision-making, alongside climate and nature.

Can Foundation Endowments Achieve Greater Impact?

Author(s): Capricorn Investment Group + Bridgespan Social Impact

Date: February 2024

Philanthropy has a rich history of addressing the most pressing issues facing humanity. To continue building on its commitment to the social good, philanthropy must go beyond grantmaking to also embrace impact investing. The challenge is that little is known about how much of foundations’ endowments are being allocated to impact investments. To address this challenge and highlight opportunities to increase allocations to impact, the authors conducted a study to create a benchmark metric that foundations could use to measure their progress against their peers. Based on an analysis of 65 foundations and interviews with philanthropic leaders, the study found that just 5% of the investable assets held by foundations are being allocated to impact investments, far short of the 100% mark embraced by some philanthropic leaders as a signal of their all-in commitment to impact. This article also provides several practical solutions for foundations to consider as they look to ramp up their allocations to impact investments. These solutions include integrating impact into the endowment’s investment strategy, incorporating impact investments that align with but extend beyond the foundation’s mission, adopting a diversified approach toward their impact investing portfolio, and tracking impact investment allocation as a key metric.

New Frontiers in Value Creation

Author(s): Tideline + Impact Capital Managers

Date: February 7, 2024

Impact value creation refers to the actions that investors take as owners, lenders, and influencers to enhance impact efficacy (i.e., the degree of scale, depth, or duration of the measurable social or environmental benefit), often with the goal of driving a commensurate improvement in financial returns. However, evidence substantiating the value generated by impact investors has historically been limited. To address this gap in the market, this research sought to identify the key considerations that are foundational to impact value creation as well as the levers of action frequently utilized by impact capital managers as part of their impact managemnet playbooks. The research, which also includes case studies featuring leading impact investors, is designed to help private markets impact managers to develop, communicate, and execute their value creation approaches with greater rigor, consistency, and results.

A Field Guide: Impact Due Diligence and Management for Asset Allocators

Author(s): BlueMark + CASE at Duke University

Date: November 7, 2023

This guide aims to drive more rigor and consistency in how asset allocators evaluate and manage private market funds that invest for positive impacts on people and the planet. The guide draws from the experiences and practices of experienced LPs and GPs investing in diverse strategies, and is informed by interviews with 50+ Limited Partners (LPs) and General Partners (GPs) worldwide, along with desk research. It provides guidance that is broadly applicable across sectors and impact themes based on practitioner wisdom and existing market best practices. It also highlights the blind spots and learning hurdles that newer LPs face when entering the world of impact investing.

This report examines corporate impact investing, or the leveraging of a corporate’s balance sheet or investment capital to advance positive social, economic and environmental outcomes alongside financial considerations. “Impact at Work” provides an overview of the current state of corporate impact investing, with a focus on the best practices and opportunities for companies to develop durable strategies that advance positive outcomes for stakeholders in line with their business’ priorities. The report also highlights several recommendations and best practices for corporates seeking to build durable impact investing strategies, such as:

  • Build champions early. Committed corporate leadership and board support are critical to the launch and continuation of a successful impact investing strategy.

  • Leverage existing structures. Strategies that build on existing business lines, priorities and practices can lead to more seamless alignment, buy-in and longevity across corporate teams.

  • Prioritize investment expertise. Effective strategies require the right teams with the appropriate investment expertise to source, diligence and manage investments.

  • Tie impact to strategy and/or financial return. Durability is most apparent with impact investment strategies that generate strong financial returns and/or clearly align with strategic value for the business.

  • Develop an accountability strategy. Transparency, authenticity and ultimately, accountability, can drive durability and credibility. Corporates should consider how they will track and disclose their progress to stakeholders when building strategies.

Making the Mark

Author: BlueMark

May 16, 2023

The annual Making the Mark series provides data and insights on best practices in impact management based on BlueMark’s verifications of investors across a variety of investment strategies, investor types and thematic focus areas. Each report in the series includes case studies on best practices as well as a Practice Leaderboard featuring those investors with best-in-class impact management practices.

  • 2025 (153 verifications for investors with a combined $209bn in impact AUM)

  • 2024 (111 verifications for investors with a combined $234bn in impact AUM)

  • 2023 (84 verifications for investors with a combined $209bn in impact AUM)

  • 2022 (60 verifications for investors with a combined $160bn in impact AUM)

  • 2021 (30 verifications for investors with a combined $99bn in impact AUM)

  • 2020 (13 verifications for investors with a combined $70bn in impact AUM)

Alpha in Impact: Strengthening Outcomes 

Author(s): Impact Capital Managers + Morrison Foerster

Date: May 8, 2023

This report is the second in a series that explores different aspects of impact investing and how an impact-focused approach can generate alpha for investors. The first-of-its-kind study of 230 distinct impact exits showed that almost two-thirds (65%) met or exceeded financial performance expectations. The analysis also found that when it comes to impact performance, 42% of impact exits outperformed impact expectations, 39% were “at target” and 19% underperformed. The report also includes 11 deep-dive case studies featuring specific Impact Capital Managers (ICM) member portfolio companies, three of which focus on how instituting employee ownership structures can drive both financial returns and impact.

What does it mean to be a climate impact investor? Despite rigorous debate on this topic and the beginning of regulatory action, there remains widespread confusion about the difference between an investor that considers climate-related factors versus an investor that prioritizes making a positive impact on the climate. This guide attempts to address this market confusion by laying out how the core characteristics of impact investing — intentionality, contribution, and measurement — can be integrated into a climate investment strategy to affect change. Featuring case studies on the Brookfield Global Transition Fund and British International Investment, this guide offers best practices that “every climate investor must master to withstand market scrutiny and maintain a position as a leader in the fight to address climate change.”

The Raising the Bar series is aimed at improving the quality and usefulness of impact performance reports produced by impact investors. To conduct the research, BlueMark first analyzed a sample of 31 recent impact reports published by private market general partners (GPs) to identify trends and common practices. BlueMark then consulted with 57 diverse industry stakeholders—via both one-on-one interviews and focus groups—to gain insights into the challenges and opportunities related to producing and consuming impact reports. The first report summarized the key elements of quality impact reporting and also asked stakeholders how the field might move toward better reporting and what stones need to be laid to pave the path. The second report builds on this initial work by exploring what a verification framework for impact reporting should look like and how it can work in practice. To test the feasibility and benefits of this refined verification methodology, BlueMark partnered with Impact Frontiers (a peer learning and market-building collaboration for asset managers and asset owners) on a pilot project to test the verification methodology with impact investors representing a diverse set of strategies and asset classes.

Asset managers must address an ever-growing list of rules and expectations from regulators, investors and other stakeholders about their approach to sustainable investing. From the passage of anti-greenwashing rules in Europe to the launch of new standards for sustainability reporting, it can be a daunting task for investment firms to keep up with the market’s rapidly evolving requirements. This report shows that there are several areas of overlap between regulatory frameworks and market-based frameworks, and offers a four-step roadmap that any asset manager can use to align and comply with these frameworks. These four steps include:

  1. Clarify the specific label or classification used for the sustainable investment strategy;

  2. Identify the practices necessary to substantiate the execution of the strategy;

  3. Identify applicable financial regulations and validate that existing practices and disclosures meet the relevant requirements; and

  4. Verify that practices and disclosures align with prevailing standards.

The Beta Steward Proxy Review 2021: Progressing Toward Authentic Value Creation

Author: The Shareholder Commons

Date: August 16, 2021

This report includes results and insights from The Shareholder Commons’ (TSC) first proxy season campaign engaging with companies on a systems-first basis. In total, TSC supported 24 shareholder resolutions at 23 companies during the 2021 proxy season, 17 of which went to a vote and 11 of which met the 3% vote percentage required for provisional resubmission. The proposals focused on:

  1. Asking companies to disclose the costs imposed on society (i.e., externalized) by a company’s contribution to specific systemic risks, and

  2. Pushing signatories to the Business Roundtable Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation to convert to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) structure.

This how-to guide is designed for investors seeking to define their approach to sustainable investing. The guide introduces the Tideline Framework for Impact Labeling, which compares and contrasts different approaches to sustainable investing according to the degree to which those investment approaches integrate three core pillars of impact investing:

  • Intentionality – Explicitly targeting specific social or environmental outcomes, such as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

  • Contribution – Playing a differentiated role to enhance the achievement of the targeted social or environmental outcomes; and

  • Measurement – Monitoring and reporting impact performance based on measurable inputs, outputs and outcomes.

This report examines key trends in the community investing field, such as increased corporate engagement, the leveraging of donor advised fund capital and innovative, participatory models for community wealth building. Impact in Place seeks to spark a conversation around the future of community investing, offering recommendations to investors and others who work to spur economic development across local Main Streets. The report also includes five case studies on corporate and nonprofit actors engaged in community investing.

ESG 2.0: Measuring & Managing Investor Risks Beyond the Enterprise-level

Author: Predistribution Initiative

Date: April 6, 2021

This working paper from the Predistribution Initiative explores how the growth of institutional investors (asset owners and allocators) and certain asset allocation strategies can be in conflict with ESG objectives. The authors concluded that many of the existing ESG and impact investing frameworks focus on issues at the portfolio company level, but they do not take into account potential negative impacts from capital structures and investors’ influence in shaping them. For long-term, diversified institutional investors, or “Universal Owners” of the market, these dynamics eventually translate into lower financial returns. For workers and communities, these dynamics translate into greater precarity and inequality.

For most firms across the alternative asset management industry, increasing workforce diversity has been a priority for at least two decades. Yet, despite the significant effort and resources devoted to the goal of greater workforce diversity, the data consistently shows little progress has been made. To understand why progress has been limited, it is important to recognize why so many well-intentioned diversity initiatives have failed to achieve the desired results. This paper explores the data and concludes that good intentions are not enough. Like so many other business objectives, successful diversity initiatives require proper design, implementation, maintenance, measurement, and refinement. Each of those efforts require data – quantitative and qualitative information that can be used to highlight challenges and identify opportunities. Reliable and timely data is also essential to helping firms benchmark against competitors, analyze hiring and retention practices, identify biases in workplace culture, and report progress to investors.

Private Inequity: How the Private Equity Industry Needs to Improve When Addressing Systemic and Systematic Risks

Author: 17 Communications + Predistribution Initiative

Date: November 16, 2020

This research report involved analyzing how private equity firms responded to the ongoing triple crises of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice. A research team analyzed 100 of the largest PE firms according to eight different categories or response types for a total of 2,400 potential responses (or 800 responses per crisis) that PE firms could have made between June 2019 and July 2020. Out of this total, researchers found publicly available evidence for only 264 responses (11.0%), suggesting a significant and urgent need for improvement. More than a third (38%) of reviewed PE firms took no public action of any kind in response to the crises. The report also includes recommendations on specific actions that PE firms could take to address systemic and systematic risks, including:

  • Demonstrating that policies are supported with effective implementation (e.g., procedures, responsible parties, incentive structures, KPIs, targets and deadlines, grievance mechanisms, disclosure and accountability mechanisms, etc.)

  • Conducting third-party audits of existing practices

  • Adopting principles of predistribution to more adequately compensate workers and communities for the value that they create and the risk that they take

  • Disclosing political spending and lobbying activities

Sustainable investing: fast-forwarding its evolution

Author(s): KPMG, CREATE-Research, AIMA, and CAIA Association

Date: February 6, 2020

In this report, the authors examine recent trends in sustainable investing with a focus on the hedge fund industry, including current attitudes towards sustainable investing, key challenges in adopting sustainable investing approaches and what steps hedge funds should take to meet growing investor demand. The research includes insights from 135 institutional investors, hedge fund managers, long-only managers and pension consultants in 13 countries across key markets.