Kim Wright-Violich is a Managing Partner at Tideline, an impact investing consulting firm, and a member of the ImpactAssets Board of Directors. Her career in financial services, philanthropy, and academia have given her a unique and informed perspective on the rapidly growing world of impact investing.

Many family offices seek ways to address the critical issues of the day — from climate change to the coronavirus pandemic to the racial injustice exposed by the murder of George Floyd. To find some answers, Sally Boulter, Senior Engagement Officer at ImpactAssets, sat down with Kim to discuss how family offices can invest in solutions to address these critical societal problems.

SB: How will the pandemic and Black Lives Matter affect impact investing?

Even before the pandemic and awakening of persistent racism, when there was low unemployment and economic growth, many Americans felt opportunities were not available to them. Impact investing and the thesis on which it was built — that business has an important role to play in addressing social and environmental ills — is needed if capitalism is to survive the current pressures. The question becomes, how can capitalism evolve to preserve the best of its characteristics, but be modified to ensure stakeholders share in prosperity? Along with policy changes, I think one of the first answers is bound to be impact investing.

SB: How are individual philanthropists and investors responding to the hardships facing our country?

KWV: When there is as much pain and fear, as there is right now, the impulse to help, is profound. Family offices and philanthropists are taking all sorts of action.

For example, at ImpactAssets, grant activity is up 400%, and investing activity has doubled, with more than $170 million deployed across 100 impact investments in just the first half of this year.

Read the full article about how impact investing can address COVID-19 from ImpactAssets at Medium.