Impact investments are investments made with the goal of both a financial and a social return. We are exploring different ways for funders to create an impact with their financial investments. Today, Kate Barrett, Project Manager for a new initiative at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for High Impact Philanthropy, gives readers a preview of her team’s latest findings.

A “gender lens” can be used in impact investing to identify investment opportunities that will have a positive impact on the lives of women and girls. This has generally been done through investing in businesses or models that provide access to capital for women; investing in businesses whose products or services benefit women and girls (e.g., a company that sells sanitary pads, especially to a hard-to-reach market); and investing in companies that promote equity in the workplace between males and females (e.g., through promotion/hiring of women into leadership positions, or a commitment to equal pay for equal work).

Approaches to Gender Lens Investing are also expanding into other areas, such as divesting from companies that operate in countries that don’t protect the rights of women, examining a company’s supply chain practices toward women, or pushing more women to be active investors themselves, in order to reduce gender bias in the world of finance...

Read the full article at impact.upenn.edu