finance

This week's Economist has an interesting article on the recent trend of mixing philanthropy with innovative "impact investing".

 The Clinton Global Initiative launched the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), comprising of twenty members representing big banks (including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank), donors (Gates, Rockefeller), the Acumen Fund and Generation Investment Management (which is Al Gore's green company). If this group succeeds in agreeing on a common language for social investing and lobbying for helpful laws and regulations, impact investing could grow to $500 billion, which accounts for around 1% of the world's total assets under management in 2008.

 Social investment is not new in itself. But the success of ideas like microfinance, which combines do-good with profit, has inspired mainstream financial institutions and investors to become interested.

 For example, Social Finance, a social investment firm in Britain, has introduced the "social impact bond," where funds raised by bond purchases contribute toward organizations with social missions.  Social Finance plans to try out this bond for several public services like rehabilitating released prisoners and improving community health services.

The Clinton Global Initiative is coming to a close and as I sit here listening to Gordon Brown talk about the importance of the global economy and the gap between the rich and poor, I find myself also thinking about the images of Drew Barrymore, Matt Damon, Muhammad Yunus, Bono, Bill Gates, Wylclef Jean and Bill Clinton on my camera, and last nights performances of James Taylor and Yousoo Ndour's.  Waking up from my day dream, I realize that this conference could have easily succumbed to three days of a star-studded, papparazzi-riddled social affair.  And perhaps in some ways it is.  

But as I go through the notes I've taken over the last three days, I am quite pleasantly surprised by the amount of substance and the breadth of issues and innovations covered over the last three days. Indeed, I'm so impressed that I find myself at the end of this conference in 30 minutes unwilling to end my blogging on its sessions and commitments.  Over the next week, I plan to continue providing commentary on CGI sessions, issue areas and commitments. Here is a sampling of topics I plan to cover:

• Asset Building Beyond Microfinance? The Forgotten Bottom and the Missing Middle
• Rural Finance: a New Frontier for Global Asset Building?
• Technology, Information and the New Age of Access
• Energy, Climate Change and Sustainable Development: An Opportunity for Microfinance?
• Food Prices Shifting Microfinance Focus?
• CGI Commitments:  My Top 10 List