Navigating Toward Impact
Last week, the Omidyar Network published a new resource guide, Building an Impact Investing Team, to support family offices and foundations in their journey to expand their impact investing activities. We were appreciative and humbled to have Ceniarth featured as a case study alongside industry pioneers such as the Gates Foundation, KL Felicitas, and Mission Point Partners. When we first began our journey five years ago, these were the organizations that we called upon for guidance, so we felt a particular point of pride in having grown into peers in the industry.
When we were initially asked us to participate in this guide, we were quick to jump aboard. We feel strongly that despite the growth of the impact investing sector, new entrants to the field, particularly families and foundation with significant means and sophistication (i.e. assets in excess of $250m+ and with nuanced points of view on the impact areas that they wish to pursue) continue to be ill-served.
Yes, there are plenty of industry organizations offering solid educational resources and networking opportunities, but the majority of these gatherings cater to those that operate on a smaller scale and face a significantly different choice set than those with larger asset bases. And yes, there are a growing number of financial advisors that have added capabilities around impact investing, but most all of these advisors are financially incentivized and best trained to guide you into an expanding array of market-rate products, not to help you strategically assess how to use your capital in pursuit of specific impacts.
There is a major gap in the market for sophisticated, strategic consultancy services that have no agenda around specific products or issues areas and are first and foremost incented to help large family offices and foundations figure out how to define and achieve their goals. When we are asked who can provide this support, we shrug, and typically advise hiring a dedicated in-house resource to lead this strategic effort.
The new Omidyar guide will not solve this strategic gap that exists in the market, but it is a good start to helping families and foundations begin to ask the important mission and capabilities questions that are essential early in their journeys. We will continue to support new entrants to the field and are always open to sharing our points of view and methodology to those embarking on building their own new teams.