The first and only nonprofit exchange traded fund platform, Impact Shares, has secured an initial investment grant from The Rockefeller Foundation to partner with other nonprofits in plans to craft social issue-focused investment strategies later this year.
With a secured $300,000 grant from one of the nation’s foremost philanthropies, Impact Shares will be launching the first of its innovative social issue-related ETFs in late 2017, according to a note.
ETF industry veteran Ethan Powell of Impact Shares will partner with other nonprofits working toward social missions and direct all profits from its proposed suite of ETFs back to the partner nonprofit organizations.
Powell told ETF Trends on a phone call that investors “can still gain equity market exposure with social alpha – meaning you can invest in the market and achieve your financial goals while pursuing specific social objectives.”
“The rise of impact investing, coupled with the growth opportunity within ETFs, creates an opportunity for organizations and charitable groups to bridge capital to their cause while generating more awareness for and additional revenue to support their mission,” Powell said in a note. “As we’ve shared our intentions with some of these groups, we’ve been pleased with the interest and response. We are already engaged with several leading nonprofits in the areas of minority rights, affordable housing, the arts and conservation.”
Charities working with Impact Shares would specifically select ETF components based on environmental, social and governance, or ESG, principles that matter the most to them, Reuters reports.
“The Rockefeller Foundation saw an opportunity for socially-conscious organizations to generate awareness and engagement while simultaneously introducing new revenue streams to be used in advancing social good,” Adam Connaker, program associate at The Rockefeller Foundation, said in a note. “Impact Shares is the first nonprofit entity to sponsor exchange-traded products—a framework that fits the Foundation’s vision of how capital markets can help the social initiatives we support.”
Related: Taking a Bottom Up Approach to ESG ETF Investments
The financial industry is increasingly pushing the ESG theme in an attempt to appeal to younger investors and institutions like university endowments that seek to align investments with their core values. Over the past year, U.S. fund managers have launched 22 so-called socially responsible ETFs, compared to 13 a year ago and just five the year prior.
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