Impact investing has evolved significantly in the last year, with more companies entering the market to support the segment and more family offices re-evaluating their approach, moving away from the outdated perceptions of impact investing not needing to deliver returns on par with other investment categories.

As wealth moves to a new generation of custodians, investment allocated to deliver social and environmental returns alongside financial ones increases, with the market surpassing the trillion US dollar mark and much discussion focused on reaching ‘the next trillion’ as rapidly as possible.

But it’s not only about the next generation - even though the next gen are the ones leading the fight here. At the recent GIIN Impact Forum, held in Copenhagen several investors weighed in on the discussion. Geraldine Leegwater, CIO at PGGM framed it nicely, “It’s not only about pensioners having enough money to retire with, but also a liveable world to retire to.”

In Simple’s latest review on sustainable and impact investing from a family office perspective, it’s easy to see how the industry continues to gather momentum within the family office ecosystem and how family offices are well-suited to shape its future.

The saying ‘every company is a tech company’ rings equally true across the impact investment sector. Emerging technologies are allowing more streamlined processes and enhanced data analytics capabilities, many companies are using artificial intelligence to dramatically increase the efficiency with which investors can gather insights. But beyond the normal ESG data provider platforms, new tools are also starting to make inroads. Giving Place is one such a platform that despite its name goes beyond philanthropy and helps define values-based strategies that could be used for both impact investing and philanthropic giving to help family offices optimize their impact initiatives and also connect with emerging impact investment opportunities that match their values.

Read the full article about impact investing and family foundations by Francois Botha at Forbes.