Chair Impact Enterprise Fund Deputy Chair New Zealand National Advisory Board.

This report by Giving Architects is a welcome addition to the growing literature around the development of impact investing in Aotearoa New Zealand over the last two years. Putting into context where the New Zealand market sits alongside the Australian and wider international markets, it helps us see the progress we have made and the opportunities open to us to do more.

As acceptance of responsible investment generally grows, those of us working at the impact end of the capital continuum see the opening to pick up the chain between philanthropy and public SRI investments – this is where the sharp end of impact is important. It enables the financing of deals that might otherwise not be feasible because they fall between the interest areas of certain investors, yet these are transactions which intentionally create real and measurable impact and are additional to other forms of finance. We need these kinds of investment in New Zealand as we move towards meeting our part of the SDG goals – in both environmental and social impact finance.

Giving Architects provides a very useful and timely look at where we are and where we still need to go.