Blue Haven Initiative

We know that voting is critical to our democracy, but we don’t hear enough about the role business can play in driving voter engagement. This recent Forbes piece by Civic Nation outlines some effective ideas and examples for how companies can integrate voter participation into their values and offerings.   Companies including Patagonia and Salesforce have taken proactive steps to encourage voting, from paid days off to social media campaigns and public involvement webinars. These initiatives aren’t just the right thing to do for democracy—they also drive worker engagement, add brand value, and can align with more broad corporate social responsibility efforts. https://bit.ly/3YbMAWu

What’s the proper way to measure ESG investing? It’s an important question with ESG investing predicted to surpass $50 trillion by 2025, according to this article from Harvard Business Review. It addresses the “measurement trap” and offers solutions to escape it. In our work, we try to keep impact measurement simple and flexible, but every investor needs to adopt a framework that works for them. https://bit.ly/4d3euYV

Our Liesel Pritzker Simmons and Ian Simmons recently spoke with Sarah Murray of The Financial Times about supporting initiatives and organizations that build up the strength of US democracy ahead of the upcoming election.   “Any impact we want to have will be undermined if we don’t live in a functioning democracy,” said Liesel, speaking to the broad mission of Blue Haven Initiative. https://bit.ly/4cUj5wt 

This piece from The Brookings Institution highlights the opportunity Africa has to lead the fight against climate change as countries on the continent undergo an energy transition with the goal of becoming carbon neutral. With investment in African countries, there is the potential to “decarbonize the world, halt, and eventually undo climate damage” while also growing Africa’s economy. Africa is home to 30% of the world’s critical minerals and has one of the fastest growing workforces across the globe, putting it in position to take the lead on green global manufacturing while building up the domestic economy. And Africa’s energy transition is about creating sustainable livelihoods—not just reaching net zero by a target date. Check out the piece for more. https://bit.ly/3Laodkb  

"Bipartisanship is essential for this work in impact investing and using policy to achieve our aims," Jim Sorenson said during a conversation with our Liesel Pritzker Simmons at the recent Sorenson Impact Summit. "We all need to be anxiously engaged in a civic responsibility perspective to improve our world and community." Check out the link for more insights from their session as well as wisdom from the event's other engaging speakers and panels. (A big thank you to Fran Seegull for moderating!) https://bit.ly/3L7AyFK

As the term "ESG" turns 20, Morningstar looks back on how the acronym and the idea values-based/sustainable investing have evolved over the years, and reflects on what we can expect in the next two decades. https://bit.ly/4cjsUnE 

Our Ian Simmons weighs in on why an extension of Trump's tax cuts should concern investors who are focused on the long term. "It’s about policies that grow the economy for the long term versus policies that don’t," he writes in Forbes. 

BlueMark recently published “Making the Mark V,” its fifth annual report detailing data and insights based on 111 verifications for clients managing $234 billion in combined impact AUM. As impact investing continues to grow, many investors are still grappling with the “how”—how to measure, manage and monitor. BlueMark's report reveals an increased adoption of core impact management practices, and breaks these practices down across different market segments. Check out the full report for a deep analysis of best practices and trends in impact management. https://bit.ly/3VpBcTW

Thrilled to have moderated a thought-provoking discussion on the role of impact investors in policymaking at the Sorenson Impact Summit. Many thanks to impact investing pioneers Jim Sorenson, Sorenson Impact Foundation, and Liesel Pritzker Simmons, Blue Haven Initiative, for the opportunity! To meaningfully address the intersecting, system-wide challenges we face today, we need the public, private and philanthropic sectors working together in tandem. Public policy engagement is essential to catalyze the flow of impact capital, to ensure our impact is durable, and to contribute to building a society, economy and environment where all can thrive. #impinv

More than half of the global workforce is engaged in the informal economy—think street vendors, unregistered ride shares, domestic workers and handicraft makers—according to the International Labour Organization. That amounts to about 2 billion workers across the globe. The informal economy represents an average 35% of GDP in low and middle-income countries. Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa have the highest levels of informality, so investors interested in these areas need to be aware of and understand what it is and how it works. https://bit.ly/4c49YsA