This year marks the 10th anniversary of High Water Women, a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2005 by senior women from the hedge fund and investment communities to connect business professionals with high-touch volunteer opportunities.

The group, whose more than 3,500 members are mostly based in the greater New York City area, partners with dozens of nonprofits, schools and public agencies to provide thousands of volunteer hours each year.

“We grew from about 50 active members to more than 1,000 who participate in our programs and initiatives annually,” says HWW board chair Anna Snider, head of global equity due diligence at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and a member of Merrill Lynch’s ESG Council.

HWW’s programs include financial literacy education for low-income youth age 13 to 21 (a campaign it launched with Wall Street icon Muriel Siebert), an annual backpack drive for low-income children, a consultancy for microfinance institutions and NGOs and, since 2013, education on impact investing.

Among other things, HWW volunteers help the organization’s nonprofit partners conduct career days and job-search workshops, mentor at-risk women and youth and support women trying to start small businesses.

HWW’s microfinance efforts go back to its early days. Shortly after Bangladeshi professor and economist Muhammad Yunus and his microcredit-focused Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, HWW helped develop a training program for participants in Bankers Without Borders, the Grameen Foundation’s volunteer initiative. HWW volunteers have also gone overseas to work on Grameen projects.

HWW has worked with microfinance institutions in Colombia, the Philippines, Haiti, Ghana, Liberia and Kenya, says Snider, who over the past few years traveled to the last three countries to help institutions evaluate their growth plans and risk management capabilities.

HWW views its focus on impact investing education as an extension of its training and thought leadership in microfinance. Snider and others noticed that on the East Coast there were few places where people could discuss and learn about impact. The past two Octobers, HWW held an Investing for Impact Symposium in New York City. Hundreds of investors, advisors, impact experts and practitioners attended.

Investors are most interested in learning how to convert traditional portfolios into impactful ones. “I don’t think anyone is under the illusion that the whole world is going to wake up tomorrow and move their portfolios into impact investing,” Snider says. “But it’s being discussed more among boards, investment committees and individuals.”

Interest is especially prevalent among younger investors and females. According to the U.S. Trust 2014 Insights on Wealth and Worth survey, 75% of millennials and 63% of women feel their investment decisions are a way to express their social, political or environmental values.

HWW isn’t looking to analyze specific impact investments, says Snider. Instead, it’s gathering experts and current and prospective investors. “Our goal is to have open, honest discussions about the opportunities and challenges in this space,” she says.

As a result of some feedback received from its recent symposium, HWW is starting to research how to train women to participate in impact investing. “It’s in the nascent stages,” she says, with regard to scope, content and audience, “but I think it’s going to be something we’re focused more on doing in 2015.”

As with other new ways of investing, Snider says everyone won’t jump on the impact investing bandwagon at the same time. But the movement “is gaining momentum,” she says, “and I think it has legs as well.”

She invites financial professionals interested in learning about HWW membership and volunteering opportunities to visit www.highwaterwomen.org. Membership is free.