Impact investors tend to be younger, better educated and wealthier than the general population, according to the latest report from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute.
Although men and women are likely to be equally aware of impact investing -- putting money into projects that produce financial returns and have a positive social effect on the world -- women want to know more about the subject.
The study, "How Women and Men Approach Impact Investing," was conducted by the institute, part of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and included 1,435 households with an annual income of at least $200,000 or assets of at least $1 million.
Eighty-two percent of men and 81 percent of women said they were aware of impact investing. But 16 percent of women said they wanted to know more about the subject, while 13 percent of men expressed the same wish, a difference the study called statistically significant.
Gen Xers and millennials are more likely to engage in impact investing (nearly 43 percent) compared with baby boomers (35 percent) and the Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation (23 percent).
Boomer women participate in impact investing at a higher rate than men. However, for Gen Xers and millennials, men were more likely to participate in impact investing than women. The results suggest a gender difference related to age, but the samplings are small when subdivided this way and further study is needed, the institute said.
The wealthier the household, the more likely the members were to invest in projects that have a positive impact on the world. Thirty percent of those with incomes of less than $200,000 were impact investors, 36 percent of those with incomes of $200,000 to $500,000, and more than 43 percent of those with incomes of more than $500,000. (Some households qualified for the study by having at least $1 million in assets, but did not have incomes of $200,000 a year.)
The largest difference between genders was found in the $200,000 to $500,000 income group with 33 percent of men and 39 percent of women participating in impact investing. But again, the difference may not be statistically significant given the small sample size in the breakdowns.
Education level has a similar influence with 36 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or more engaging in impact investing, 27 percent of those with some college and 22.6 percent of those with a high school diploma or less. For the under $200,000 group, men are much more likely to be impact investors (29 percent) than women (17 percent). The middle group is divided almost equally, and among the better educated, women (44.5 percent) outperform men (33.6 percent).
One fear among charities is that once people learn more about impact investing they will substitute that for their philanthropic giving, and there is some evidence that this is true, according to the institute.