Helping Private Clients to make an Impact through meaningful Philanthropy and Deep Impact Investing

August 11, 2020

Private wealth managers are increasingly finding that clients’ priorities and expectations are changing. Concerns around the climate crisis, growing inequality across the world combined with millennial values around sustainability gaining prominence are creating greater interest in deploying capital that achieves specific purpose driven outcomes.

Moreover, wealthy millennials tend to take a more targeted and engaged approach to their philanthropic interests than previous generations. At the core of their efforts to achieve impact is a considered and strategic approach around the environmental and social outcomes they intend to achieve through their philanthropic giving and impact investment decisions.

ESG funds can go some way to answer these demands, using both positive and negative screens. Negative screens effectively use risk-based principles to screen out investments which have negative impact, whilst positive screens are used to select investments which represent best performing companies according to Environmental, Social and Governance criteria. However, there is a growing demand from next-generation philanthropists and impact investors for more targeted impact to be achieved through their deployment of capital. That is, impact-first investments or philanthropic donations that are highly intentional and measurable.

This growing market for deep impact investments with measurable outcomes requires specialist skills, bringing together the need for expertise in social and environmental development, finance and technology.

Innovest Advisory is an independent development consultancy firm which provides such services, supporting the design and implementation of market-based solutions for some of the world’s most challenging environmental and social problems.

We partner with families, family offices, foundations, charitable trusts and other stakeholders in the private wealth sector to provide a broad range of impact related services. We assist wealth managers, trustees and advisors in delivering impactful solutions to their clients, through the provision of a team of specialists to support their engagements and solutions. Support includes strategy development, product design, endowment modelling, due diligence, impact measurement and ongoing reporting.

“Historically, we have found private wealth advisors often turning to “cookie-cutter” ESG funds, in response to clients demands for impact solutions, rather than exploring more innovative and deep impact options” said Innovest Advisory, Managing Director Justin Sykes. “A good example of where we have added value has been our engagement with a Swiss based family trust to build a $5 million impact investment portfolio for a next-gen family member. This work included impact investment focussed research, sourcing opportunities screened against a set of co-designed impact investment guidelines, engagement with investors relations leads at the prospection portfolio companies, and generating impact reports for effective measurement and monitoring.”

Innovest is excited to strengthen its private wealth engagement capability by welcoming Philip Faure as an associate in the business.

Philip Faure commented “It’s a real privilege to join a team of such committed and deep specialists in an industry that is fast becoming mainstream. The world needs urgent solutions to address the growing social and environmental challenges that our generation faces. The role of the private wealth sector in funding market-based solutions to address the gaps that governments and development agencies cannot fill is becoming more and more critical. Philip continued, “I have no doubt that Innovest can provide significant support in enabling the private wealth sector to play a major role in addressing these global challenges.”

Responding to Philip’s appointment, Justin Sykes said, “At Innovest Advisory, we believe that it is only through collaboration and partnerships that we can effect the change we urgently need to see in the world. Philip brings new ideas, networks and technical skills which expand our expertise and capabilities enabling us to offer an enhanced service to private clients.”