Chris Privett
Duke University
The Fuqua School of Business
100 Fuqua Drive
P.O. Box 90120
Durham, NC 27708-0125
Tel +1.919.660.8090
Like this page
New Program Explores, Supports Development of Impact Investing
September 08, 2011
DURHAM, N.C. -- A new program that explores and supports the development of impact investing is being launched by The Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
"CASE i3: The CASE Initiative on Impact Investing" is focused on establishing a rich set of resources and activities for students, entrepreneurs, investors, funders and academics.
"Impact investors seek to generate environmental and social impacts in addition to financial returns," said Cathy Clark, a professor at Fuqua and director of CASE i3. "This emerging investment strategy, subject of a White House conference in June 2011, has developed as a way to expand the ability of for-profit and some nonprofit ventures to scale their impacts on critical problems such as energy, health and education. JP Morgan estimates that this market offers the potential for invested capital of $400 billion-$1 trillion and profits of $183-$667 billion over the next 10 years."
As part of the initiative, CASE faculty members, in collaboration with the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, are writing new teaching cases on the subject and are working with practitioners in the field to develop the new kinds of intermediary infrastructures to support entrepreneurs.
For more than a year, CASE has been working to coordinate global research for the nonprofit organization B Lab and its subsidiary, the Global Impact Investment Rating System, which is the first ratings system of impact investing funds.
"One of the critical needs of this emerging field as an academic discipline is high quality data," said Clark. "We have been working with partners to develop one of the most comprehensive databases in the world on the impact objectives and practices of for-profit, privately-owned social ventures and the impact investment funds that invest in them.
"Within strict privacy guidelines, CASE i3 will continue to engage a broad research community in using the national and global data to answer essential questions about how impact investors generate financial returns and social impacts."
In many ways, the field is still in its infancy. CASE i3 will focus on several important efforts to help drive the field forward: knowledge development, disseminating knowledge to improve practice, improving readiness and infrastructure, and developing the talent pipeline.
To help guide its efforts, CASE i3 has established an advisory board, with John M. Buley Jr., managing director of JP Morgan Social Finance, serving as chair.
_ _ _ _
More information about CASE is available at www.caseatduke.org.
Share this page