Varied Choices
Imprint, which has roughly 85% of the assets it advises in private investments, invests either directly in projects and companies or in private debt funds, private equity and venture capital. Sectors where it's helped clients deploy capital include green technology, community development, social enterprise, sustainable real assets (land, buildings and forestry), sustainable consumer products and environmental markets, which includes carbon finance and other applications.
Imprint's clients currently have a large focus on investments that serve the base of the pyramid (those people making less than $3 per day in the developing world). Two such examples, which it invests in through funds, are a housing development company that provides home loans in India and a company that builds and manages small, low-cost hospitals in rural India.
Natural resources investments that sustainably manage grassland, farmland, timberland and fisheries are another big focus. Imprint's clients are also invested--both directly and via funds--in investments related to helping unbanked and underbanked U.S. households.
Unbanked households don't have checking or savings accounts; underbanked families have these accounts but also rely upon alternative financial services including nonbank money orders, check cashing services and pawn shops. Jordan notes that a lot of new companies are trying to serve this market, including community development financial institutions, or CDFIs.
Imprint is also actively invested in health, education and energy. For a sampling of impact investments, he suggests visiting the Web site of nonprofit financial services company ImpactAssets (www.impactassets.org).
Wetherby Asset Management has worked with Imprint on both a consulting and co-managing basis, depending on client needs. "Some clients really want to do a deep dive beyond our skill set," says Michael Alpert, who recommends that investors enter this space slowly. "It takes a long time to find great investments, what we call 'mission bull's eye.'"
Most returns that Alpert sees on the debt side of impact investing are in the 2% to 5% range. As for the equity side, he notes that compensation should be well north of 10% if a person is going to take that much risk.