Final update for 2022
Message from IIA’s new CEO
Welcome to IIA’s final update for the year. I am pleased to be writing my first newsletter message to you since joining IIA as CEO a few weeks ago.
About this time last year, I began a project for the IIA Board to conduct a strategic audit and review of the organisation and the impact investing sector. Once that work was complete in mid-2022, the Board undertook a search for a new CEO; I elected to put my hat in the ring and was delighted to be offered the role. Now I have commenced in the CEO role, my focus over the coming months will be to lead IIA into our next phase of developing impact investing infrastructure, growing market participation and working with Government in order to scale the market.
I’m looking forward to working alongside our Board in our discussions with the Federal Government as it considers the updated recommendations of the Impact Investing Taskforce. You’ll read more on this below, along with other important updates as we close off the year.
Looking ahead to 2023, as momentum grows around the role of capital markets in solving social and environmental problems, I am confident that we can collectively achieve so much.
The team and I look forward to sharing our plans for 2023 with you in our next newsletter.
Best wishes
David
David Hetherington, Chief Executive Officer
Impact Investing Australia
Update on Impact Investing Taskforce
In September 2022, the Prime Minister wrote to the Impact Investing Taskforce with a request that it review its final report recommendations from 2020, in line with the Albanese Government’s policies and priorities, and recent developments in the sector.
The Taskforce’s original recommendations included the Government co-financing an impact investment wholesale fund to catalyse and scale for-purpose solutions, and setting up a social enterprise growth fund in order to develop a pipeline of businesses tackling social and environmental issues.
The Taskforce members, who are all IIA Board members, have completed the update of recommendations and submitted them to the Government for review.
We look forward to the Government’s response and working with it to help drive measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes.
Our collaboration with Mexico, Indonesia, Korea and Turkey
One of David’s first official duties as IIA CEO was meeting with impact investing leaders from the five G20 member nations, where the Joint Forces for Impact Investing report was launched.
The report highlights the current status of impact investing in the MIKTA countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia), as well as key challenges and opportunities locally. It also provides a set of recommendations for policymakers.
The MIKTA report launch is the result of a collaborative process to promote cooperation between mid-sized G20 economies, championed by Turkey’s Impact Investing Advisory Board and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG). IIA is Australia’s representative on the GSG.
At the meeting, each country leader presented an update on the status of impact investing in their country. The group also discussed the relevance of impact investment in MIKTA countries and the potential for future collaboration.
Wrapping up 2022
While there have been many achievements over the past 12 months, we wanted to share some of the highlights:
Research
We launched A Roadmap for Australian Investors – How to invest to achieve gender equity, racial equity, diversity and inclusion in partnership with Capital Human. This comprehensive resource helps investors adopt gender lens investing to improve operational and investment performance, uncover investment opportunities and reduce risks while contributing positively to gender and racial equity, and diversity and inclusion outcomes. The Roadmap was launched at the Impact Investment Summit Asia Pacific and has received resoundingly positive feedback from sector colleagues and the media.
We thank the report authors – Sally McCutchan, Sabina Curatolo and Manita Ray – for their expertise and dedication in bringing the Roadmap to life.
IIA Board
We welcomed Danny Gilbert AM, Michael Traill AM and Dr Catherine Brown OAM to our Board of Directors during the year, joining fellow Impact Investing Taskforce members Sally McCutchan OAM and Amanda Miller OAM. All members of the Taskforce are now IIA Board members.
We are grateful to the members of our Board who continue to give their time, knowledge and expertise to drive the impact investing market forward.
Growth Grants
While IIA Growth Grants (funded through the Department of Social Services’ (DSS) Sector Readiness Fund) concluded in June, funding of the grants and reporting will continue until June next year. During the four years of DSS-funded grants, we have awarded 76 grants (including 18 Resilience Grants), totalling $6.1 million. This has supported capital raising of over $73 million.
We acknowledge and thank DSS for its support of Australia’s social enterprises.
Federal budget
We made a pre-budget submission to the Federal Government early in the year, focusing on the unique role that government can play in enabling the right market building infrastructure to catalyse and accelerate private capital and investment around structural reform. We then responded to the Morrison Government’s May budget and the new Government’s October budget.
We welcomed the Albanese Government’s announcement of a national Housing Accord that will see governments, investors and industry come together to help deliver up to one million affordable homes over five years (from 2024). We also welcomed the Government’s investment of $20 billion to establish Rewiring the Nation (to provide concessional loans and equity to invest in transmission infrastructure projects) that will help strengthen, grow and transition Australia’s electricity grids.
Capital raising success for Growth Grantees
We congratulate these two social enterprises on their success in raising capital during 2022, through the support offered by an IIA Growth Grant.
Nightingale Housing is a not-for-profit organisation building apartments that are socially, financially and environmentally sustainable.
Nightingale raised $14.05 million from an institutional investor to support its ongoing mission of delivering housing at cost without an incentive for profit. The funding helped Nightingale not only fund another triple bottom line community, but also to advance its work in reducing the hurdles to home ownership faced by many.
Circonomy (formerly World’s Biggest Garage Sale) maximises the value of goods already in the economy through the circular principles of recycle, repurpose, reuse and re-commerce, therefore diverting landfill and drawing wealth from waste (which is invested back into our local communities). The social enterprise also creates employment opportunities for underemployed and vulnerable segments of the community.
Circonomy successfully raised $4 million in equity investment, exceeding its target capital amount of $3 million. This growth capital will be used for people resourcing, technology and opening new locations. It has been a big year for Circonomy, having announced in February that Officeworks had acquired a significant stake in its business.