Addressing Impact Intentionality and Accountability in Fund Formation Documents: Trends and Challenges
Impact Investing is the act of investing with the intent to measurably contribute positive social, economic, and/or environmental impacts while still achieving financial returns. The underlying concepts to Impact Investing have been part of investment ethos for over one hundred years, and socially responsible investing for even longer. Socially responsible investments took on a negative screening aspect in developed countries, particularly the US, in the Vietnam Era, amidst the protests over defense spending. In the 1970s and 1980s, socially responsible investors began including environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) requirements, as opposed to just negative screening.