C-SocPhil VC data cited in BusinessWeek
C-SocPhil data on social and environmental venture capital funds were cited today in BusinessWeek’s special report on social enterprise.
BOSTON - According to the Center for Social Philanthropy, venture capital and other private equity firms — as well as other alternative investment vehicles — that incorporate explicit criteria related to environmental and social issues manage an estimated $7.3 billion in capital. As part of BusinessWeek’s special report on social entrepreneurs, the data were cited in John Tozzi’s article, “More ‘Patient Capital’ for Social Ventures.” Given the lack of disclosure requirements by alternative asset managers, C-SocPhil views this as a conservative estimate for the capital that has been raised by approximately 100 different funds and firms involved in Community Development Venture Capital, green and cleantech investing, labor-friendly investments, and other “double-bottom-line” private equity deals, which seek both social and financial returns.
The Center anticipates that the responsible private-equity space is poised for considerable growth, with the recent announcement by the US-based Private Equity Council that its members will begin incorporating the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. The Private Equity Council includes some of the largest private-equity firms, including Bain Capital Partners, the Blackstone Group, the Carlyle Group, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Institutional investors and groups such as the Center for Social Philanthropy will be closely monitoring how these firms will be implementing the UN principles, which call for the incorporation of environmental, social and governance critieria into investment decisionmaking and active ownership strategies encouraged by the Center for Social Philanthropy.
For more information on the Center for Social Philanthropy’s databanks, which track hundreds of mission-related social and environmental investment funds and firms across all asset classes (as well as the growing number of foundations involved in mission-related investing and active ownership strategies), contact the Center’s director Joshua Humphreys at (617) 710-2853.
