The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) was established in 2009 as a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting effective impact investing globally.

From inception, the GIIN has been dedicated to promoting infrastructure, activities, education, and research that enable effective impact investing with a view to contribute to a coherent and well-developed impact investing marketplace. It seeks to achieve this by providing the support to investors in several ways, including:

• GIIN Membership: a network for like-minded organisations and investors seeking to develop their engagement within the impact investing market.
• Research Centre: a repository for key industry publications and GIIN-authored research to provide information and data that will assist the reader better understand both the depth and diversity of the impact investing market.
• Training Program: Delivery of specially designed practical coursework for investors looking to both develop and deepen their practice. Specific focus here is on impact measurement and management.
• Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS): A catalogue of generally accepted performance metrics for measuring, managing, and optimising impact that many impact investors use to measure social, environmental, and financial success.
• Faith-Based Investors Hub: A space for faith-based investors and their service providers supporting faith-based investors to engage in learning, leading, and collaboration.

The GIIN’s current strategy is as follows:

• Mobilising more capital for impact investment globally, by raising awareness through education, resources and through accelerating development of fit-for-purpose investment products.
• Safeguarding the integrity of impact investing by establishing and promoting values and expectations of behaviour, including sound impact measurement and management practices and strengthening the industry’s credibility by providing rigorous evidence about the impact and financial performance of impact investments.
• Fuelling the global impact investment movement to change mindsets about the role of capital in society.

Vision:

The GIIN’s vision is of a world where financial markets serve all members of society and where finance plays a central role in solving the social and environmental challenges facing the global community. In this future, investors integrate impact considerations into all decisions, building strong communities, a healthy environment, and a sustainable future for all people.

Purpose:

As the global champion of impact investing, the GIIN is proud to play a leading role in transforming the future of financial markets to create a world where impact is integrated into all investment decisions and to ultimately drive greater results for people and the planet.

The GIIN is a membership-based organisation. In addition to membership fees, the GIIN lists a number of supporters on its website that provide financial support, industry expertise and strategic collaboration. These include government entities, investment managers and asset owners. The current list of supporters can be found here.

Founding members include: Acumen Fund, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Calvert Foundation, Capricorn Investment Group, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Equilibrium Capital, Generation Investment Management, Gray Ghost Ventures, IGNIA, J.P. Morgan, Lundin for Africa, Lunt Family Office (Armonia), Omidyar Network, Prudential, The Rockefeller Foundation, Root Capital, Shorebank/NCIF, Trans-century, Triodos Investment Management, and Wolfensohn & Company.