Solutions

Impact integration

Our approach to impact investing builds on our conviction that we can deliver positive outcomes for people and the planet alongside financial returns. Using our rigorous measurement framework, we evaluate every investment in our portfolio for impact, prioritizing managers and investments with the potential to solve pressing social and environmental problems. We partner with clients to integrate impact into their investment portfolios, building total portfolios that align to their impact objectives and institutional values.1,2

Why we measure impact

Our approach

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Integrated team

Impact investing is fully integrated within GEM’s investment process and infrastructure, in contrast to firms where impact is separate and often secondary to the core work of the firm. Our impact team sits within GEM’s investment team, where they underwrite the impact of every investment to better inform portfolio decisions.2

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Rigorous

Rigor is critical. Developed in 2019, the GEM Impact Management Project (IMP) Framework provides a structure through which we can proactively assess the impact of every investment on key stakeholders — customers, employees, supply chain, communities, and the planet — regardless of whether the impact is financially material. We also measure the diversity and racial and social equity of every investment at GEM.1, 2, 3

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Scalable

We operate with the size and scale of a large endowment. This provides organizations of varying sizes looking to integrate impact within their portfolio the scale and research capabilities necessary to underwrite a sophisticated impact investment approach and portfolio. Our approach helps enable clients to scale their impact allocation from as little as a small portion of a portfolio to their total portfolio allocation while building on our conviction that returns do not have to be sacrificed.4

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Returns-focused

Simply put, institutional investors cannot invest for impact at the expense of financial returns. We place impact outcomes alongside investment returns and pursue both simultaneously, including what we believe to be alpha-rich opportunities that have been overlooked or underappreciated by traditional investors.4

Impact at GEM focuses on three core elements5

How we measure impact

In 2019, we partnered with the team at Bridges Impact Advisory to create the innovative GEM IMP Framework. The partnership established our firm as a leader in rigorous, authentic impact investing, and plays a key role in supporting our clients focused on values-based investing. We apply the framework to measure the impact of investments on five key stakeholder groups.

Learn about our framework

5 stakeholders

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Customers

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Planet

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Employees

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Supply Chain

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Community

GEM Impact Report

Read our most recent Impact Report to learn about the state of impact investing at GEM and explore several key initiatives.
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2022 Impact Report

Vision to Action: Delivering outcomes for people and the planet

Read the report

Diversity and equity in our portfolio

We’re committed to addressing the investment industry’s traditionally homogenous composition and exclusionary history by working with more diverse managers and promoting equity in our investments. We consider diversity and equity within our GEM IMP Framework process, but also as a stand-alone feature. Today, 40% of our impact investments are led by diverse teams as of 9/30/23.3
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Diversity

We seek managers from a variety of backgrounds, identities, and cultures, particularly individuals who identify as non-white and/or non-male.

Equity 

We consider how racial and social identities affect opportunities for groups historically excluded or harmed by the investment industry, such as women, Black, African American, Afro-Latino, Native and/or Indigenous, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Case studies

Leading by example: How one foundation mobilized its assets to advance diversity and equity

The 16th oldest community foundation in the United States, the Winston-Salem Foundation partners with individuals and organizations to improve the quality of life in Forsyth County and beyond.

Connect with us

Let’s start a conversation about how we can help.

1 Returns are not guaranteed. To select impact investments, GEM utilizes the GEM IMP Framework, a comprehensive model adapted from the Impact Management Project’s Impact Management “norms” and Impact Classes and applied by GEM to assess impact by evaluating investment strategies and managers, including but not limited to the impact of portfolio companies on key stakeholders and investment managers’ contributions to impact. For more information on the Impact Management Project, please see https://impactfrontiers.org/norms/. For the avoidance of doubt, GEM reserves the right to modify the GEM IMP Framework and its application.

2 GEM generally considers environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) factors when evaluating third-party managers. However, GEM may determine to allocate assets to a third-party manager notwithstanding the results of its ESG evaluation for certain portfolios, and GEM is not subject to any firm-wide policies or procedures relating to ESG. Defining and implementing ESG considerations into investment evaluation processes is an inherently subjective exercise, and it is likely that other managers or investors would define and implement ESG considerations differently than GEM.

3 Managers are considered as having a racial or social equity lens if they score a 1 or 2 on GEM’s proprietary equity scales, the details of which can be provided upon request. Managers are considered diverse if (a) 25% or more of the firm founders/owners are non-white and/or non-male and/or (b) 25% or more of the key decision-makers for the strategy in which GEM invests are non-white and/or non-male.

4 Returns are not guaranteed.

5 Opinions expressed herein are based on GEM analysis, assumptions and data interpretations