ImpactAssets, an investment advisory and services company that works to channel capital into organizations that advance social and environmental progress, said in its annual report this week that it made $520 million in impact investments in nearly 300 companies and funds in 2023.
The registered nonprofit firm works with individuals, foundations, corporations and family offices. In 2023 it added $1 billion to its assets under management, which now total more than $3 billion.
“As the urgency of the challenges facing our planet and its people deepen, so too does our resolve to meet these challenges head-on,” said ImpactAssets CEO and Chief Investment Officer Margret Trilli. “By directing capital where it’s urgently needed, we’re making sure that no community is left behind in the fight for a sustainable and equitable future.”
Trilli said the 2024 Impact Report showed that health and wellbeing, climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion are the top impact themes represented in the firm’s private-investment portfolio. In addition to the portfolio investments, ImpactAssets also makes grants to nonprofit organizations; 14,000 were disbursed in 2023.
Last year, the firm launched three new thematic impact funds, “which aim to drive transformative impact and ignite systemic shifts on the pressing global challenges of climate, racial equity and gender equality.” The funds deployed $70 million in their first year alone.
Built on ImpactAssets’ research and expertise in generating positive impact through private-market investment, the proprietary impact funds offer clients of ImpactAssets’ Donor Advised Fund a way to access diversified impact funds focused on filling critical funding gaps on high-priority impact themes.
“Our clients, investees, and partners are the backbone of our impact and we continue to be inspired by their collective commitment to driving positive global change,” said Dana Cotter, managing director of impact at ImpactAssets.
Other key highlights in the 2024 Impact Report include:
- Portfolio growth: As of 2023, ImpactAssets had made more than 1,300 private impact investments spanning all 50 states, 139 countries and 30 tribal nations, with $1.4 billion invested in private companies and funds.
- ImpactAssets Capital Partners: Launched in 2023, it is an SEC-registered investment advisor that will specialize in private market impact investing for institutional investors and manages $1.7 billion.
- Supporting underrepresented leaders: 50% of ImpactAssets’ private investment portfolio dollars are invested in companies and funds led by a person of color, and 22% are invested in women-led companies and funds.
- The IA 50: ImpactAssets continued to contribute to the growth and maturation of the impact investing industry through its annual ImpactAssets 50 Fund Manager Showcase (IA 50), the free, publicly available, searchable database of global impact fund managers. The 2024 IA 50 list showcased 155 fund managers overseeing more than $97 billion in assets under management.
The report also highlights the start of ImpactAssets’ partnership with the Justice Climate Fund (JCF). JCF is a first-of-its-kind coalition representing more than 1,000 CDFIs, green banks and multiple other impact investing organizations dedicated to ensuring that communities most affected by climate change benefit directly from the federal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded JCF approximately $1 billion to scale green lending initiatives in low income and disadvantaged communities — an investment that underscores the value of public-private partnerships to drive broad, unified climate action.
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