Featured GIIN Publication

2023 GIINsights

Global Impact Investing Network June 27, 2023 Dean Hand, Sophia Sunderji, Natalia Maria Pardo

As the impact investing industry continues to evolve and mature, investors are increasingly allocating assets to impact and exploring approaches to manage their portfolios toward greater impact. The 2023 GIINsight series offers a comprehensive overview of the impact investing industry, with actionable insights on impact investing activity and impact measurement & management practice. Each report seeks to fill a gap on impact investing insights in the market, reflecting data and perspectives from a diverse sample of 308 impact investors globally who collectively manage USD 371 billion in impact investing assets. These reports also explore trends over time, by offering a five-year comparison among 88 repeat respondents of the 2018 Annual Impact Investor Survey and 2023 GIINsights.

"This seminal research provides impact investors and the impact-curious with key insights on market vitality. Most importantly, this year, investors show increasing diversification, strong growth and viability of their impact approaches – all healthy signs of a maturing impact investing market and the importance of capital being used to solve for the social and environmental challenges we face." – Dean Hand, Chief Research Officer, GIIN

The briefs aim to provide key insights on the industry:

  • 2023 GIINsight: Impact Investor Demographics: Provides an overview of impact investor characteristics, including where they are based, target financial returns, organization types and geographic focus.
  • 2023 GIINsight: Impact Investing Allocations, Activity & Performance: Offers insight on how impact investors allocate their assets across geographies, sectors, stages of business and asset classes, and critically provides an overview of financial performance.
  • 2023 GIINsight: Impact Measurement & Management Practice: Explores impact investors’ approaches to measuring and managing their impact, including how impact investors set targets, accountability mechanisms, and stakeholder engagement approaches.
  • 2023 GIINsight: Emerging Trends in Impact Investing: Dives into impact investing market trends such as climate solutions as a relevant market topic, and the challenges faced by investors and perceived areas of progress in the industry. 

To enable continued responsible industry growth, enhance market transparency and strengthen investor decision-making, investors are encouraged to explore these actionable insights as they consider implications for their own investing strategies.

The 2023 GIINsight briefs build upon the GIIN's previous flagship reports, the Annual Impact Investor Surveys, with a focus on identifying key insights and actions for investors.

Learn more by downloading the first four GIINsights to the right.

Engage with the data

Explore the data behind each of the Key Findings.

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Key Finding 1

The impact investing industry remains diverse

308 Impact investors

Organization type

n=308

Headquarter locations

  • East Asia
  • Eastern Europe, & Central Asia
  • Latin America & Caribbean
  • Middle East & North Africa
  • Oceania
  • South Asia
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • U.S. & Canada
  • Southeast Asia
  • Western, Northern, & Southern Europe

Target financial returns

n=307

Note: 'Other' organizations include corporations, sovereign wealth funds and diversified financial institutions.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Investor Demographics

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Key Finding 2

Investor allocations to impact strategies have increased, with significant growth in public markets, housing and technology investments reflecting broader global trends

Proportion of AUM allocated to each region
Proportion of investors allocating any AUM

AUM = USD $198 billion

n = 303

U.S. & Canada
Western, Northern & Southern Europe
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America & Caribbean
South Asia
Eastern Europe, Russia & Central Asia
Southeast Asia
East Asia
Oceania
Middle East & North Africa

Note: Excludes five outlier organizations based on AUM. Respondents may allocate to multiple regions.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Investing Allocations, Activity & Performance

Proportion of AUM allocated to each sector
Proportion of investors allocating any AUM

AUM = USD $198 billion

n = 303

Energy
Financial services (excl. microfinance)
Healthcare
Microfinance
Food & agriculture
Infrastructure
Housing
Information & communication technologies
Forestry & timber
Manufacturing
Water sanitation & hygiene
Education
Arts & culture
Other

Note: Excludes five outlier organizations based on AUM. Respondents may allocate to multiple regions. Other sectors include waste recycling, social tourism, aquaculture and cross-cutting lenses that apply across sectors, such as quality jobs, circular economy and climate solutions.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Investing Allocations, Activity & Performance

Proportion of AUM allocated to each asset class
Proportion of investors allocating any AUM

AUM = USD $198 billion

n = 303

Private equity
Private debt
Real assets
Public equity
Public debt
Equity like debt
Deposits & cash equivalents
Other

Note: Excludes five outlier organizations based on AUM. Respondents may allocate to multiple regions. Other asset classes include social impact bonds, pay-for-performance instruments and guarantees.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Investing Allocations, Activity & Performance

Proportion of AUM allocated to each stage of business
Proportion of investors allocating any AUM

AUM = USD $198 billion

n = 303

Mature, private companies
Growth stage
Mature, publicly traded companies
Venture stage
Seed/Start-up stage

Note: Excludes five outlier organizations based on AUM. Respondents may allocate to multiple regions.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Investing Allocations, Activity & Performance

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Key Finding 3

Capital is increasingly flowing from asset allocators to managers, especially from pension funds and insurance companies

Investment activity

(2017 and 2022)

n=88 repeat respondents

capital invested in USD millions

Proportion of total AUM across sources of capital for investment managers

(2017 and 2022)

n=49

Note: These figures represent a subset of repeat respondents from the 2018 Annual Impact Investor Survey and 2023 GIINsight briefs.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Investing Allocations, Activity & Performance

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Key Finding 4

Impact Investors have become increasingly sophisticated in their impact measurement and management approaches

Most investors assess their impact performance at least once a year

n=308

Impact investors set quantitative impact targets at various levels

n=308

Note: Respondents could select multiple levels for setting impact targets.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Measurement & Management Practice

Impact investors use impact data in the investment process to...

n=308

Investors compare their impact performance relative to...

n=308

Note: Respondents could select multiple uses of impact data. Respondents could select multiple comparison points.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Measurement & Management Practice

Investors incorporate impact goals into investment terms by...

n=308

Third-party accountability mechanisms on impact practice & performance

n=289 (Impact practice); n=271 (Impact performance)

Note: Respondents could select multiple approaches.

Source: Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), 2023 GIINsight: Impact Measurement & Management Practice

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