ImpactAssets, a nonprofit financial services firm that focuses on increasing capital for impact investment projects, is lowering its minimum investment and its fees, the firm announced Thursday.
Investment minimums on its private debt and equity investment options have been lowered to $10,000 from $25,000, and administrative fees have been lowered to a flat 0.4 percent. Previously, fees were tiered based on assets and 0.4 percent was the lowest tier.
The new rates went into effect March 1 and apply to donors within the ImpactAssets Giving Fund, its donor advised fund.
The change in policy is designed to open up the products to more investors, according to ImpactAssets.
“Unquestionably, interest in impact investing has mushroomed, but investors remain daunted by significant financial hurdles, including investment minimums that can be as high as $250,000 to $1 million,” Sally Boulter, senior engagement officer at ImpactAssets, said in a statement. “We believe flat fees and lower minimums will lead to greater engagement with financial advisors and individuals who want to ‘toe-dip’ into impact investing.”
“There’s a real hunger among many investors, partly driven by the current political environment, to tap investment strategies that address critical systemic problems,” Boulter added.
In addition to dropping fees and minimums, ImpactAssets launched two new private debt funds that allow investments in ecoforestry, climate change solutions, sustainable food and agriculture, underserved small business owners and the growing middle-class in emerging markets, ImpactAssets said.
The new funds are Ecotrust Forests III (EFIII), a long-term investment vehicle targeting commercial forests in the western U.S.; and Community Investment Management (CIM), an institutional impact investment firm providing strategic debt capital to scale and demonstrate responsible innovation in lending to small businesses and underserved borrowers in the United States.