We can't call ourselves impact investors unless we measure impact. And we can't build an asset class without credible, comparable metrics.
GIIRS is working with partners in the impact investing space to help scale impact investing. Learn more about the launch of B Lab's GIIRS Impact Rating System in our 2011 progress report.
Progress Summary
25 GIIRS Pioneer funds agreed to have 200 of their portfolio companies participate in the GIIRS World Beta and be the first to receive a GIIRS Fund Rating
The Beta:
Through spring 2011, the GIIRS team will be on-site in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and North America, working directly with 200 of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs and fund managers, to beta test the Global Impact Investing Rating system.
The Standards:
The 27 members of the independent GIIRS Standards Advisory Council have been working for a year to ensure GIIRS includes IRIS integration, a disclosure questionnaire to flag negative practices, a fund assessment, and a version of the assessment appropriate for emerging markets.
The Partners:
GIIRS helped establish and is integrating IRIS (Impact Reporting and Investment standards) taxonomy into its rating system. GIIRS also formed partnerships with Investors’ Circle and Mission Markets, Case at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, Deloitte, the Rockefeller Foundation, Prudential Financial and USAID.
Impact Investing: Challenges and Opportunities to Scale
There is a significant opportunity to direct large sums of money to support the world’s leading social enterprises that address a broad spectrum of challenges, from poverty alleviation to environmental degradation. The key question is how will market players respond to the significant challenges which may prevent impact investing from reaching its potential?
Impact Investing's Tower of Babel: IRIS and GIIRS Working Together
Impact investors require a common language to describe social and environmental performance and to ensure that this performance can be consistently measured across portfolios
Building a Credible Rating System
The most important criteria for a good rating system is that it’s developed using a balanced, multi-stakeholder approach to ensure continuous improvement.
Leaders of Impact Investing
The GIIRS Pioneer Funds are the pioneers of impact investing, not only because of their trailblazing individual work, but because they recognize the importance of their collective action to define what JPMorgan calls the emerging asset class of impact investing.