/news/oberlin-expands-impact-investment-platform-help-improve-worlds-troubled-regions <span>Â鶹ĘÓƵ Expands Impact Investment Platform to Help Improve World’s Troubled Regions</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-08-20T13:24:06-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 20, 2024 - 13:24">Tue, 08/20/2024 - 13:24</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Â鶹ĘÓƵ’s <a href="/investment/impact-investment-platform">Impact Investment Platform</a>, created in 2013 to guide socially conscious investments of Â鶹ĘÓƵ’s endowment, will expand to create experiential learning opportunities for students, uniting academics and investing in ways that directly address troubled regions and vital issues worldwide.</p> <p>The Board of Trustees’ Investment Committee endorsed the plan for expansion.</p> <p>The platform, developed to promote Â鶹ĘÓƵ’s active engagement with a range of issues, was seeded with an initial investment of $5 million of the endowment over five years and was later expanded to a target of $70 million. The Board’s approval calls for yet another target increase in impact investing—to $100 million.</p> <p>In addition, the platform will grow to include investments pertaining to the support and redevelopment of war-torn regions. Previously, the platform’s primary focus had been limited to sectors pertaining to community development, renewable energy and climate change, and education.</p> <p>“Â鶹ĘÓƵ taught me to keep my eyes and mind open to the many ways we can engage with the most difficult challenges and influence the world for good,” says Board Chair Chris Canavan ’84. “People movements are what we tend to think of first. But we should also appreciate—and try to influence—money movements as well. Investing dollars can have as much impact as mobilizing people, and even amplify the impact of movements. I’m glad to see Â鶹ĘÓƵ providing opportunities for us to learn how to do this better.”</p> <p>Â鶹ĘÓƵ’s expansion of impact investing coincides with the development and growth of the Impact Investment Advisory Group, a nine-member panel made up of students, faculty, alumni, members of the Board’s Investment Committee, and Chief Investment Officer Jun Yang.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Measures follow recent steps to increase student participation in socially conscious investment decisions.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2024-08-20T12:00:00Z">Tue, 08/20/2024 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Office of Communications</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2554">Board of Trustees</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4103">Impact Investment Platform</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4104">Impact Investment Advisory Group</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4105">Investment Committee</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2359">Administration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4107">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2392">Social Justice</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Mike Crupi</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/width_760/public/content/news/image/campus_beauty_cox_by_mike_crupi.jpg?itok=6moQtgmY" width="760" height="570" alt="bicycle rider making a turn in front of Cox Administration Building."> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-32150" class="paragraph paragraph--type--pb-el-bq paragraph--view-mode--default"> <blockquote class="blockquote--quotemark" data-text-color-red data-text-size-giant> <p>Impact investing is a natural fit with Â鶹ĘÓƵ’s mission of education and global engagement while generating necessary financial returns.” —Sean Gavin ’98, Investment Committee Chair</p> </blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-28053" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>Formed in 2022 with the goal of providing an invaluable experiential learning opportunity to Â鶹ĘÓƵ students, the IIAG serves in an advisory capacity to the Investment Committee. In collaboration with the Investment Office, the IIAG designs and implements research related to impact investing, evaluates issues and trends, makes recommendations to the committee, and educates Â鶹ĘÓƵ students and the community more broadly on impact investing and the endowment overall.</p> <p>The IIAG consists of four student members, known as IIAG Fellows. This summer, the Investment Committee appointed an IIAG Coordinator to guide the group’s efforts, recruit new members, develop the IIAG agenda and projects for the coming year, and serve as primary liaison to the committee. The inaugural coordinator, Iman Abdullah, is a 2024 Â鶹ĘÓƵ graduate who majored in Economics. She was an IIAG Fellow in 2023-24.</p> <p>A previous advisory group, the Impact Investment Platform Subcommittee, consisted primarily of members of the Investment Committee and the Board of Trustees, as well as faculty and alumni. The IIAG, by comparison, involves a greater number of students and provides rigorous opportunities to apply classroom learning to real-world challenges—and to play a key role in the future of Â鶹ĘÓƵ.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Impact investing is a natural fit with Â鶹ĘÓƵ’s mission of education and global engagement while generating necessary financial returns,” says Sean Gavin ’98, chair of the Investment Committee. “Engaging students in this process facilitates learning and gives agency to students in acting as a catalyst for good. The addition of a full time on-campus fellow facilitates this process and is a critical step in the realization of our vision.”</p> <p>Current Â鶹ĘÓƵ students may submit applications for <a href="https://jobs.oberlin.edu/postings/15543">2024-25 IIAG Fellowships</a> through August 31. Applicants are required to have completed their first year of Â鶹ĘÓƵ studies, and all majors are welcome. This year’s fellows will be announced in mid-September.</p> </div> </div> </div> Tue, 20 Aug 2024 17:24:06 +0000 eburnett 476716 at