BlueMark has released its 3rd annual Making the Mark report, and this year, they’ve included a ‘leader board’.
The leader board highlights the stand-out performers with the strongest impact management practices. At the top, were five of BlueMark’s clients that scored in the top quartile against the core features of the Operating Principles for Impact Management (Impact Principles).
The top managers were: Bain Capital Double Impact, Finance in Motion, LeapFrog Investments, Nuveen Private Equity Global Impact, and Trill Impact.
To make the cut, investment firms need to have received an advanced score on Principles 1, 2, 4, and 5, and a score of High or above on Principles 3, 6, 7, and 8 (there are 9 ‘Impact Principles’ prescribed by the IFC).
BlueMark’s annual report offers an insight into the impact measurement and management practices of some of the world’s leading practitioners. The firm offers impact verification services that focus on the requirement of the Impact Principles for investors to carry out a third-party verification of their processes.
This year BlueMark doubled the number of verifications carried out, from 30 to 60, a cohort representing $160 billion in AUM. According to the GIIN, this would represent about
22% of the total $715 billion impact investing market.
“We continue to see healthy competition among impact investors seeking to demonstrate best practices in impact management and learn valuable lessons from their peers,” says Christina Leijonhufvud, BlueMark CEO.
“BlueMark’s verification approach and dissemination of aggregated findings and benchmarks are designed to facilitate a race to the top by encouraging impact investors to adopt industry best practices and address shared challenges.”
In addition to the leader board, the report includes a series of case-studies that review leading practice from a selection of managers operating in a range of geographies, covering various asset classes.
It also highlights some standout statistics that offer a snapshot of the state of impact practice in 2022.
It was observed this year that while 85% of investors had developed an impact thesis, only 15% have strong evidence to support it, few firms are clearly backing up the link between their investment strategy and impact outcomes with a robust supporting evidence-base.
And, only 17% of those verified were implementing all 5 dimensions of the IMP’s ABC Framework (Who, What, How Much, Contribution, and Risk).
BlueMark is a specialist impact verification firm that was spun-out from Tideline, their position in the market gives them a unique perspective on the evolution of how impact management practices are being implemented, as well as an ability to aggregate impact performance results.
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