New report reveals strong appetite for social impact investments

Impacting Investing Australia together with Melbourne University and the Asia Pacific Social Impact Centre (APSIC) at Melbourne Business School, released a report today on the demand for investments that deliver social impacts.

The Impact Investing Australia 2016 Investor Report which surveyed more than 100 investors who account for more than $333 billion of Australia’s $2 trillion funds under management, revealed that active impact investors would like to triple their allocation to impact investments over the coming five years.

While the vast majority of investors currently not active in impact investing indicate they are likely to consider the social, environmental and cultural impact as a metric for investment decisions over the next five years.

 Director of the Asia Pacific Social Impact Centre (APSIC), Brad Potter said, “The Report demonstrates the respondents are willing to increase their involvement in impact investment although there are myriad challenges to be overcome”.

“These include developing more effective measure and reporting practices for social impact as well as incubating and growing business models that deliver both close to market rate financial returns and long term social impact”.

The report was released at the Impact Investing Forum at Melbourne Business School which explores the challenges around measuring social impact when results are often not seen for years.

“There appears to be an unmet need from investors for financial services and advice that incorporate social and environmental impact. More deals at scale, more research and more data are all identified needs and are all critical for growing the market, helping more investors participate and ultimately, increasing the capital available for tackling our social challenges,” said Daniel Madhavan, CEO of Impact Investing Australia.

Stay up to date with impact investment on the Asia Pacific Social Impact Centre (APSIC) page.