Policy Corner
"Impact investing and public policy must operate in tandem to achieve durable, transformational and equitable change" – Fran Seegull, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance
In partnership with the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, ImpactAlpha is featuring public policy updates and expert insights to help Agents of Impact engage with government to create an enabling environment for truly impactful business and investment decisions.
Features
Photo credit: Yilun Cheng/MEDILL
Opportunity Zones | May 19, 2022
How Opportunity Zones can accelerate American Rescue Plan projects
American Rescue Plan, meet Opportunity Zones. Last year’s American Rescue Plan sent $350 billion in direct, flexible funding to state and local governments. …
Erie, Pennsylvania
Policy Corner | April 13, 2022
Keeping an eye on policymaking for impact investing
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 13 – From Opportunity Zones reform to SEC nominees, it’s been a busy few days on Capitol Hill for policy affecting impact …
Photo credit: Choctaw Nation
Policy Corner | April 7, 2022
Catalytic funding for tribal communities and small businesses at stake in Congress’s COVID-19 plan
ImpactAlpha, April 7 – The Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, the third largest Tribal nation in the U.S., has a multifaceted plan to develop a …
Signals | April 4, 2022
Build back, don’t buy back, Biden tells corporations in his budget blueprint
ImpactAlpha, April 4 – Stock buybacks are back. In the early days of the COVID disruption, it looked as if corporations might be …
Photo by Robert Ramirez on Unsplash
Policy Corner | March 30, 2022
On ESG disclosure, companies should listen to the opinion of the American public
The risk that climate change poses to business operations and investment portfolios and companies’ role in contributing to global temperature increases are now …
photo: Third Way Think Tank
Policy Corner | March 22, 2022
SEC disclosure rules signal the arrival of climate accountability
ImpactAlpha, March 22 – Better than expected. That was the consensus among advocates for greater transparency for corporate climate-related risks and impacts after …
Policy Corner | March 10, 2022
From wage earners to asset owners: A policy agenda for employee ownership
In an increasingly divided economy, how can impact investors transform the American workforce from wage earners into asset owners? Impact investors looking for …
Pro-Ukraine rally in Washington Square Park, NYC | Photo credit: Amy Cortese
Policy Corner | February 28, 2022
Sanctions are only the beginning as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine slams global networks of capital and talent
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 28 – Western allies will bar some Russian banks from the SWIFT international system for cross-border payments. Western nations will also sanction …
Policy Corner | February 25, 2022
Call No. 38: Inside the generational opportunity to reshape rules of corporate disclosure
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Bottom-up policies for access to capital in divested communities. Top-down strategies to reshape capitalism to work for all stakeholders. “We …
Illustration by Vectorfarmer (via Shutterstock)
Impact Investing | February 22, 2022
From Elon Musk and crypto cashouts, more capital flows in than flows out of donor-advised funds
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 22 – One may have gotten Elon Musk’s $5.7 billion gift of Tesla stock. Others have received hundreds of millions in …
Policy Corner | February 17, 2022
Impact investors show how ‘supply-side’ policies can leverage private capital for public good
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 17 – With no shortage of demand, the Biden administration is taking a fresh look at the other side of the economic …
Policy Corner | February 16, 2022
Agents of Impact eye corporate disclosure rules on climate and human capital
Healthy and functioning markets depend on transparency and accountability. Impact investors have long understood that this extends to a need for information on …
Capitol Building in Washington DC.
Policy Corner | February 11, 2022
Progress on a dozen policies to mobilize private capital for public good
There is no shortage of challenges facing leaders in Washington. The coming midterm elections will increasingly dominate the headlines. But impact investors must …
From The Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Climate Finance | February 8, 2022
Positive externalities: Carrots as well as sticks for the carbon era
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 8 – Putting a price on carbon is only the beginning. With prices on Europe’s emissions trading scheme topping $100 a ton …
Policy Corner | December 16, 2021
How business, investors and government are working together to drive equitable economic growth
It’s not every day that leaders from government, business and finance come together to advance a shared vision of how to make economic …
Policy Corner | December 14, 2021
Policy Corner: Clarifying the fiduciary duty of pension fund managers
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 14 – The Department of Labor is proposing rules to once again green-light managers of pension funds and retirement accounts to consider …
Policy Corner | December 8, 2021
Policy Corner: Inclusive U.S. federal procurement
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 8 – The U.S. government buys more goods and services than any other purchaser in the world. President Biden has directed federal …
Protestors in Milan on October, 1, 2021
Climate Finance | November 1, 2021
Finance takes center stage at global climate summit
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 1 – After a year’s delay, the COP26 kicked off in Glasgow amid protests, stormy weather and diminished expectations. The U.S. …
Climate Finance | October 14, 2021
Yawning ‘ambition gap’ threatens global climate summit
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 14 – The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook is full of stark warnings just 18 days before a make-or-break global …
Policy Corner | September 27, 2021
U.S. lawmakers call on Biden to prioritize new rules for stakeholder capitalism
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 27 – Dozens of investors and business groups led by The U.S. Impact Investing Alliance and B Lab have been pushing …
Climate Finance | September 23, 2021
The sky-high value of cutting methane emissions is attracting policymakers – and investors
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 23 – Carbon dioxide has gotten most of the attention in the fight against climate change. But it is another compound, …
Climate Finance | September 22, 2021
China pledges to end (foreign) coal financing
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 22 – With less than six weeks until the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, global leaders are stirring to (modest) action. …
An ad for Climate Week NYC in Brooklyn
Climate Finance | September 20, 2021
It’s Climate Week in New York as global leaders convene to bridge ‘the ambition gap.
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 20 – Climate Week NYC kicks off today with hundreds of sessions meant to showcase climate solutions – and spur action …
Inclusive Economy | August 26, 2021
UK’s Nick Hurd on the “window of opportunity” for a green and inclusive transition
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 26 – Nick Hurd, the former MP and government minister, is heading the Impact Taskforce, created under the U.K.’s presidency of the …
Climate and Clean Tech | August 11, 2021
Infrastructure investments promise to move U.S. from climate pledges to progress
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 11 – Finally, it really is Infrastructure Week. The Senate’s passage of the $1 trillion package to shore up the nation’s …
Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on Unsplash
Policy Corner | July 30, 2021
Policy Corner: Beyond coal, Native housing, banking the unbanked
ImpactAlpha, July 30 – ImpactAlpha is working with the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance to keep Agents of Impact apprised of policy developments. Among this …
Policy Corner | July 23, 2021
Policy Corner: Reforming CRA, worker power and sustainability standards
ImpactAlpha, July 23 – “We believe the most durable change will happen at the intersection of government action and private sector partnership,” says Fran …
Climate Finance | July 15, 2021
Carbon markets are set to expand in Europe and China
ImpactAlpha, July 15 – Prices on Europe’s carbon trading system jumped almost 5%, to €55, after the European Commission laid out plans to …
photo: Matt Rourke, AP
Community Finance | July 14, 2021
Investing in marginalized communities to drive the COVID recovery
ImpactAlpha, July 14 – The two-track recovery threatens to leave distressed communities even further behind. Consider Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood: “A community that was …
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash
Call Recording | July 9, 2021
Call No. 29: Capitalism reimagined for fair gainsharing and equitable prosperity
ImpactAlpha, July 9 – Elevating the power (and wages) of low-income workers is not typically at the top of investors’ agenda. But a fairer …
Policy Corner | July 2, 2021
Ensuring equitable access to relief funds
ImpactAlpha, July 2 – The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 channels nearly $20 billion in economic relief to small, mostly rural towns. …
Jocotenango, Guatemala | Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash
Smallholder Agriculture | July 1, 2021
Impact investors step up to the migration challenge in Central America
ImpactAlpha, July 1 – The confluence in Central America of extreme weather events, gang violence, corruption, and poverty – exacerbated by COVID – is …
Photo credit: PolicyLink
Capitalism Reimagined | June 24, 2021
Turning pledges into policies to invest in Black Americans and multi-racial prosperity
ImpactAlpha, June 24 – Investors and executives can lead in many ways as they seek to fulfill their often heartfelt pledges to do …
Capitalism Reimagined | June 22, 2021
Turning the renewed power of workers into a lasting pillar of stakeholder capitalism
These days, American workers could well be saying, as Richard Fariña wrote and Nancy Sinatra sang, “Been down so long it looks like …
Photo credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Community Finance | June 3, 2021
Corporates emerge as new source of capital for community investment
ImpactAlpha, June 3 – With the closing of its $250 million Black Economic Development Fund, LISC showed off the opportunity to tap corporations as …
U.S. President Joe Biden | Photo credit: Numena Studios
Policy Corner | May 4, 2021
Agents of Impact see transformation – and trouble – in Biden’s first 100 days
ImpactAlpha, May 4 – More than 230 million COVID vaccine shots. Nearly $2 trillion in economic stimulus. A return to the Paris climate agreement. …
Increase in global CO2 emissions
Climate Finance | April 28, 2021
That feeling when investors realize carbon is going to $100 a ton sooner than they expected
ImpactAlpha, April 28 – Carbon hasn’t attracted as much attention as GameStop or Bitcoin, but the price of a ton of CO2 topped …
Policy Corner | April 27, 2021
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe put ESG fund managers on notice for “greenwashing”
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 27 – A sure sign that environmental, social and governance performance has arrived: governments want to regulate it. In Europe, the Sustainable …
Image credit: Maurens, Dordogne/France
Clean Energy | April 22, 2021
2030 is the new 2050 as countries and companies compete on climate ambitions
ImpactAlpha, April 22 – Call it The Great Acceleration. Goals for cutting carbon emissions that seemed ambitious when the Paris Agreement was forged …
U.S. President Joe Biden | Photo: Nuno21
Policy Corner | April 8, 2021
Stakeholder-economy coalition presses White House for ‘new rules’ for American capitalism
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 8 – More than 50 business leaders and investor groups are calling on the Biden-Harris administration to implement new rules and incentives …
Policy Corner | April 8, 2021
Jamie Dimon calls for a carbon tax, the end of the carried interest loophole and a modern-day Marshall Plan
ImpactAlpha, April 8 – In his 66-page annual shareholder letter, the JPMorgan chief lays out his views on the economy (get ready for …
Edisun Microgrids | Photo: Business Wire
Green Infrastructure | March 31, 2021
Transformation of electricity grids shows this isn’t your grandparents’ infrastructure upgrade
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 31 – The giant infrastructure investment plan to be unveiled by U.S. President Joe Biden today is expected to include as …
Oakland, Calif. | Photo: trekandshoot
Policy Corner | March 25, 2021
Spurred by stimulus checks, guaranteed income gains steam as an anti-poverty policy
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 25 – Dozens of mayors across the U.S. have committed to piloting guaranteed income programs that put regular, no-strings-attached cash payments into …
Opportunity Zones | February 22, 2021
Opportunity Zones await makeover – and impact
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 22 – Tens of billions of dollars have been raised by opportunity funds. But most of the nearly 8,000 low-income opportunity …
Policy Corner | January 28, 2021
Say it again: climate action means job creation
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 28 – President Biden marked his first week in office with 30 executive orders aimed at tackling the climate emergency. “Today …
Photo credit: Workforce Connect Manufacturing Sector Partnership
Policy Corner | January 28, 2021
Opportunity Zone deals flow as investors eye new rules
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 28 – The Trump administration touted Opportunity Zones among its policy achievements. President Biden is proposing changes to make them work …
Policy Corner | January 21, 2021
And that was just Day One of Biden’s climate agenda
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 21 – It was the executive order heard ‘round the world. “Welcome back to the Paris Agreement!” tweeted French president Emmanuel …
Policy Corner | January 11, 2021
Biden’s nominee for secretary of labor is a champion of ESG investing in Boston
ImpactAlpha, January 11 – The Department of Labor in the Trump administration has issued a series of rules hostile to consideration of environmental, social …
Policy Corner | December 15, 2020
Impact investors are wonking out on policy
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 15 – The spate of recommendations greeting the incoming Biden administration is the fruit of years of work in the fields …
Policy Corner | December 14, 2020
Bumper crop of green policy proposals await Biden administration
Tis the season … for climate policy frameworks. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the Paris climate agreement on Day One and …
Policy Corner | November 10, 2020
How far will the pendulum of ESG guidance swing back in a Biden administration?
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 10 – Investors poured nearly $50 billion into ESG-focused exchange-traded funds in just two days last week as the U.S. election …
Policy Corner | November 2, 2020
Investor protests fail to stop Trump administration rule squelching ESG investing
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 2 – It’s final – at least until it’s reversed. The U.S. Department of Labor finalized an unpopular rule aimed at …
Policy Corner | September 9, 2020
Another rule from the Department of Labor, another attack on ESG investing
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 8 – The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking to sharply curtail the ability of private sector retirement funds to engage …
Policy Corner | July 14, 2020
Trump administration seeks to turn back the ESG tide
ImpactAlpha, July 14 – Investors are flocking to funds keyed to environmental, social and governance factors, or ESG. The Trump administration is trying …
Policy Corner | July 8, 2020
Preparing an impact investing policy agenda for the next administration
ImpactAlpha, July 8 – Eight small grants from the $14 million Tipping Point Fund on Impact Investing suggest the outlines of a 2021 …
Policy Corner | August 26, 2019
Nine policy wonks on how to catalyze private capital for public good
ImpactAlpha’s What’s Next series, produced in partnership with the Global Impact Investing Network, provides a platform for practitioners and experts to reflect on the …
Policy Corner | July 30, 2019
From resistance to revival: Can the Democratic debates mobilize support for America’s inclusive economic agenda?
ImpactAlpha, July 30 – Democratic candidates have a chance to turn resistance into revival. In this week’s debates in Detroit, policy wonks will spot …
Impact Voices
Policy Corner | April 25, 2022
Expanding the ‘S’ in ESG to account for the full scope of corporate impact on workers and communities
ImpactAlpha, April 25 – From the Great Resignation to the historic worker-organized unionization of an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, N.Y., worker empowerment …
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Capitalism Reimagined | March 22, 2022
How the SEC’s rules will – and won’t – solve climate change
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed landmark climate-related disclosure requirements for public companies to inform investors about the risks a changing …
Photo credit: Justice Funders
Policy Corner | March 16, 2022
ACE Act is a growth opportunity for impact investing
ImpactAlpha, March 16 – The bipartisan Accelerating Charitable Efforts, or ACE, Act would “reform” the laws that govern donor advised funds, the tax-advantaged …
Policy Corner | November 24, 2021
Congress must keep path clear for SEC to require corporate political spending disclosure
ImpactAlpha, November 24 – In these challenging times, we must celebrate the wins where we can. After years of conservative obstruction in Congress, …
Photo credit: Getty
Impact Voices | October 29, 2021
Institutionalizing the racial reckoning in Community Reinvestment Act reforms
After a tumultuous two years of unraveled reforms, the Community Reinvestment Act, known as the CRA, has a real chance of being modernized …
New York, NY
The Reconstruction | October 13, 2021
Racial equity planks in a new Community Reinvestment Act can expand the American Dream
When most Americans think about civil rights, we think about the violence perpetrated upon Black Americans and the nonviolence movement that finally helped …
Policy Corner | September 27, 2021
Global standards for sustainability accounting must be holistic and inclusive
When global leaders converge on Glasgow in November for the COP26 climate summit, all eyes will be on the pledges that politicians make …
Community Finance | August 12, 2021
Now is the time to accelerate investments in community development financial institutions
For impact investors, one of the many takeaways from the last 18 months should be this: incrementalism will not get us where we …
Policy Corner | August 12, 2021
Policy Corner: A partnership between the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance and ImpactAlpha
To make progress toward addressing our shared social, economic and environmental challenges, we must proactively engage with the public sector to create an …
Impact Voices | August 12, 2021
To build inclusive, community-scale funds, modernize the Investment Company Act of 1940
A growing number of Americans who never considered themselves impact investors are now taking a long hard look at the wealth they’ve amassed …
Place-Based Investing | July 14, 2021
There’s no building back better without investing in underserved communities
Between record levels of government stimulus, an unprecedented vaccination campaign and a buzzing economy, it’s easy to see reasons for optimism as America …
Fabric shop owner | Photo credit: Mavo
Community Finance | May 19, 2021
A lifeline for relief, CDFIs are even more essential now for the recovery of under-banked businesses
When the initial COVID shutdowns hit a year ago, community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, were critical in getting small businesses quick relief …
Carmen Rojas of The Marguerite Casey Foundation | Photo credit: The Nonprofit Times
The Reconstruction | May 4, 2021
100 Days of President Biden: Progress and peril on the road to a just economy
As the Biden administration completes its first 100 days, I am both surprised by the ambition of this administration and disappointed by its …
US Securities and Exchange Commission | Photo: AevanStock
Sustainable Snapshot | April 27, 2021
Standards are on tap for ESG investing after a ‘risk alert’ from the SEC
Editor’s note: ImpactAlpha is partnering with Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC to provide timely market snapshots of trends and developments affecting the sustainable investing market. …
Annie Donovan, Local Initiatives Support Corp.
Policy Corner | February 18, 2021
How impact investors can challenge three fallacies of legacy finance
In The Price of Inequality, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz notes the moments in history when people rise up to say something …
Impact Voices | February 17, 2021
‘Pay for success’ can help the Biden administration build back better
With Democrats now in control of both the House and Senate, the Biden Administration has a once in a generation opportunity to “build …
Features | October 5, 2020
With policy prompts, private equity fund managers can drive social benefits, too
Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, an economy officially in recession, and a stock market that seems increasingly divergent from the experience …
Dealflow
Policy Corner | December 21, 2021
Tipping Point Fund for Impact Investing promotes impact transparency and accountability
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 21 – The half-dozen grantees of the Tipping Point Fund for Impact Investing will split $950,000 to advance impact investing market infrastructure …
Dealflow | November 10, 2021
Equitable economic growth tops agenda at Commerce Department convening
ImpactAlpha, November 10 — Top officials across the Biden administration committed to advance economic equity for communities of color and underrepresented groups, at …
Community Finance | September 23, 2021
Microsoft and Truist Financial anchor federal fund for community banks with $120 million
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 23 – Microsoft and Truist Financial are anchoring a new federal fund for community banks. The Mission-Driven Bank Fund from the Federal …
Podcasts
Policy Corner | July 29, 2019
Memo to candidates: Impact investors have a quality jobs agenda
Even the chairman of the Federal Reserve wants to share the wealth. The headline of the New York Times’ account of Jerome Powell’s message …
Calls
Policy Corner | February 25, 2022
Call No. 38: Inside the generational opportunity to reshape rules of corporate disclosure
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Bottom-up policies for access to capital in divested communities. Top-down strategies to reshape capitalism to work for all stakeholders. “We …
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash
Call Recording | July 9, 2021
Call No. 29: Capitalism reimagined for fair gainsharing and equitable prosperity
ImpactAlpha, July 9 – Elevating the power (and wages) of low-income workers is not typically at the top of investors’ agenda. But a fairer …