Ron Cordes, co-chairman of Genworth Financial Wealth Management, has teamed up with longtime social investing advocate Tim Freundlich of Calvert Funds to launch Impact Assets (www.impactassets.org). The site is rife with information on impact investing for both individuals and financial advisors and includes the ImpactAssets 50, a global database of leading private debt and equity fund managers that deliver social and environmental value in addition to financial returns. Cumulatively, these managers represent some $9 billion of capital invested across multiple asset classes, geographies and impact areas (including microfinance, community development, Fair Trade, and other popular impact investing sectors).

This is something the impact investing industry has been waiting for. As the field of impact investing grows, advisors and their clients are "increasingly looking for ways to make sense of the complex landscape," the Impact Assets site notes. Its mission is for "advisors to help investors connect their portfolios with their passions and allocate capital to impact investments," Cordes says.

While the Global Impact Investing Network (thegiin.org) has ImpactBase, another manager database, Impact Assets is more of a screening service that I see as becoming more of an index for the impact investing industry.

Investors can invest directly with these managers, but the focus is really for financial advisors seeking managers. A donor advised fund, managed by Calvert, is offered for those who are looking to meet charitable goals.

The site appeals to advisors, donors, investors and the media.

What I like best is the ImpactAssets 50. The site describes this as "a gateway into the world of impact investing for investors and their financial advisors, offering a clear, frictionless way for potential investors to identify experienced impact investing firms and work either independently or with their advisors to explore their potential investment options."  It notes that the list of 50 managers is the first "open source," publicly published list of private debt and equity impact investment fund managers and offers investors a starting place for the discussions and due diligence that must take place before making any impact investment decision.

This site is a fantastic tool for advisors to get up to speed on impact investing, and home plate for them to get in the game.