ImpactAssets Adds New Private Debt and Equity Impact Investment Options

ImpactAssets announced in September 2017 the addition of new lower minimum, high-impact investment options within the ImpactAssets Giving Fund (www.impactassets.org), its donor advised fund.

The four private debt and equity investments are managed by leading impact investing managers and seek to generate significant social, environmental and financial returns for clients of The Giving Fund. Investment choices address a range of impact and investment themes across geographies. These ”Deep” impact investments enable clients to use philanthropic dollars to generate potentially significant social, environmental and financial returns.

“Through these professionally managed funds, donors can provide critical ‘gap-filling’ resources by channeling capital to strategies that are not typically funded by traditional capital markets or by philanthropy,” said Tim Freundlich, President of ImpactAssets. “In many instances, client investments fuel high-impact, for-profit enterprises to develop their businesses to the point where more traditional financing becomes available to them.”

“These funds appeal to donors who want a hands-on, tangible approach to impact investing with experienced asset management and solid track records,” said Sandra Osborne, Director of Investments, ImpactAssets. “The ImpactAssets Investment Committee has thoroughly reviewed each fund, bringing nearly 100 years of combined impact investment experience to the process.”

The funds, available individually for as little as $25,000, have significantly lower minimums than traditional private debt and equity, which often requires $250,000 to $1 million minimum investments. Donors can also access the funds through the turn-key ImpactAssets Impact Portfolios. The funds include:

Iroquois Valley Farms Blended Private Debt Note: A private debt fund that blends two Iroquois Valley Farms’ note offerings: a long-term note (7.5 year average duration) and the recently offered Soil Restoration Note. The long-term note supports new sustainable farmland investments. Iroquois Valley launched the Soil Restoration Note in 2017 to offer lower lease rates for its current and future farmers transitioning their farming practices to organic and sustainable practices. www.iroquoisvalleyfarms.com

EcoEnterprises Fund III Venture Fund For Nature: The EcoEnterprises fund includes private debt, mezzanine and quasi-equity holdings, and will invest in a diversified portfolio of 15-18 companies across 8 countries in Latin America. Launched in 2017, the fund takes a proven community-based, biodiversity-aware investment approach to the next level. www.ecoenterprisesfund.com

Sarona Frontier Markets Fund III: A private equity fund of funds offering that targets delivery of top-quartile returns by investing growth capital in more than a dozen private equity funds and companies that benefit local communities and the environment. Launched in 2016, the fund invests in local private equity teams who identify and help grow high-quality companies, employing progressive business strategies and operating to the highest business, ethical, social and environmental standards. www.saronafund.com

These three funds replenish more than 12 private debt and equity funds that successfully funded and closed on the Giving Fund platform. They join long-time anchor fund, MicroVest Short Duration Fund, a private debt fund that offers short- and medium-term debt and term deposits to low-income financial institutions (LIFIs), including microfinance institutions and other regulated and unregulated financial institutions in emerging and developed markets. Launched in 2010, the fund is structured to meet the demand from LIFIs for flexible short-term lending and provide investors with a liquid product in microfinance. www.microvestfund.com

ImpactAssets also added MicroVest and Iroquois Valley Farms to its Community Investment Pool, providing investors with a liquid, high impact investment option. The additions help to diversify impact and investment exposure to the pool, which includes the Calvert Foundation Community Investment Note.

 

About ImpactAssets:  ImpactAssets is a nonprofit financial services firm that increases the flow of capital into investments delivering financial, social and environmental returns. ImpactAssets’ donor-advised fund (“The Giving Fund”) and field-building initiatives enable philanthropists, other asset owners and their wealth advisors to advance social or environmental change through investment and granting.

About The Giving Fund:  The Giving Fund is an innovative donor advised fund that empowers donors to increase the impact of their giving by combining it with strategic sustainable and responsible investing to build a sophisticated philanthropic endowment. Donors recommend how The Giving Fund’s assets are invested across a range of leading impact investment options including community investment, turnkey portfolios, private debt and equity funds, seed venture and custom investments. The Giving Fund currently has $350M in total assets.