NEW YORK- June 25, 2020 – Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) published “Impact Investing Handbook: An Implementation Guide for Practitioners.” Created for both those new to impact investing and those who wish to deepen existing practices, this detailed roadmap provides comprehensive frameworks and actionable tools to help asset owners better align their investments with their values.

The Handbook comes at a pivotal moment. In the midst of urgent social, economic and environmental challenges including COVID-19, a rapidly changing climate, growing economic inequity, and broader realization of systemic impacts of racism, more investors are seeking to better understand the positive and negative consequences of how they deploy capital. There is a growing realization among those who seek to influence society that they can use more of their assets to complement and even accelerate their social impact goals. Indeed, the amount of impact investing has risen rapidly over the last decade. Using one of the broadest definitions, impact investing has grown more than 300 percent in the U.S. since 2012, to a current market size of $12 trillion – representing one of every four investment dollars. Yet with all the growth and interest in impact investing, there are still limited resources available to educate and support asset owners such as families, foundations and high-net-worth individuals.

Authored by Steven Godeke, Founder of Godeke Consulting, and Patrick Briaud, RPA’s lead advisor for impact investing, the Handbook responds by providing a roadmap for the investor’s journey, from the Why (a theory of change), to the How (portfolio construction), to the So What (evaluation framework), and finally to the Now What (implementation plan). Constructed to be both accessible and comprehensive, the Handbook guides readers through a series of exercises to develop a capital deployment strategy – customized for their particular interests and holdings. Readers will benefit from a multitude of case studies, and will learn:

• How to thoughtfully merge impact goals with investment goals;
• How to use a wide array of tools and structures to build or shift an impact portfolio;
• Principles, frameworks, and standards to measure success; and
• Best practices for a variety of considerations.

“Impact investing is a powerful force that is reshaping how philanthropy defines its operating models,” said Melissa A. Berman, President and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. “Indeed, without impact investing, the kind of systems change we need to solve deeply persistent challenges and inequities will continue to elude us. That’s part of why we’re so optimistic about the next decade for this practice.”

RPA has been advising and innovating on impact investing and mission related investing since 2008 when it published its first two publications on the topic. Since then, RPA has incubated several collaboratives and associations dedicated to growing the impact investing field.

This project took two years to complete, relying on input from dozens of expert advisors and practitioners. At 180 pages, the Handbook has more depth than a primer and is more practical than a textbook. To download a copy and register for a companion webinar, visit: https://www.rockpa.org/project/new-impact-investing-handbook/.

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