White Paper: How to increase family office engagement in impact investing. Bertelsmann Stiftung June 2020.

ter Braak-Forstinger, Christin and Selian, Audrey (2020) White Paper: How to increase family office engagement in impact investing. Bertelsmann Stiftung June 2020. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

We are pleased to share with the impact community our review of current literature and market practice as well as direct investor feedback on how to increase impact investing activity within families and family offices. Driven by our own experience as impact investors working with families and family offices, we wanted to better understand families’ motivations and constraints when it comes to impact investing. In particular, we were interested in examining existing gaps between the impact “talk” and the actual impact “walk” of families and family offices, with a particular view upon how to overcome this gap. With this perspective, 27 (Ultra)-High Net Worth Individuals investing within their family settings have participated in a detailed survey exercise about major drivers for impact investing, existing collaboration and communication patterns within the field and more, thereby confirming that these organization still face real challenges in moving their capital towards impact. Our analysis builds on the current momentum of impact investing and the notably “hot trend” that families and family offices expect to increase their impact allocations in coming years to play an important role in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Our purpose is to help families and family offices overcome the degrees of separation between interest and actual implementation and explore a set of recommendations for practical action. Once investors have made their first impact investment, they are likely to do so again. We therefore believe: if we can help these actors increase their impact engagement activity in a practical way, few actions may be more catalytic. We would like to thank all of those who took the time to respond to our survey or who have otherwise contributed to this White Paper. We deeply appreciate their time and valuable insights. We invite your feedback and look forward to working with interested parties to continue this work.

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