Message by Sir Ronald Cohen:

Dear Friends,

I hope you have each had a happy and healthy start to 2018!

The GSG had a very busy – and productive – last quarter, making advances toward Tipping Point 2020, due in large part to the work of our National Advisory Boards (NABs), partner organizations, and a growing number of impact leaders around the world.

I’m glad to say we have continued to recruit talented people. With Krisztina Tora on board as Director of Market Development, based between Paris and London, we have now recruited a Programme Manager based in Delhi and a Director of Communications based in Washington, DC, and hired two part-time resources in India for research and finance.

In Italy, the Italian NAB has been successful in its effort to establish the first Italian Outcome Fund. This 25 million euro Fund is designed to pay out for pay-for-success instruments and other evidence-based initiatives.

The work that we initiated in 2015 around establishing Outcome Payment Funds (OPFs) has accelerated. Support from The Education Commission for a $1 billion Education Outcome Payment Fund for Africa and the Middle East has led to a joint effort to establish this Fund. This initiative, which I chair, and of which Gordon Brown chairs the Advisory Board, is led by Dr. Amel Karboul, a former Tunisian Minister of Tourism. A similar effort is underway in India. The GSG sees OPFs as a key impact investment tool amongst others (like Impact Wholesalers and Fund of Funds) that can lead us to Tipping Point 2020.

In Brazil, due in large part to NAB efforts, the Brazilian President signed a decree creating a National Strategy for Impact Investment, while in Argentina, our former colleague Sebastian Welisiejko, now in the Cabinet Office, is in charge of the Inclusive Business track of the G20 agenda and in this capacity is working to position impact investment in the agenda for discussion at successive G20 meetings through the year.

A policy statement from the Israeli Ministry of Finance in December required all institutional investors to report on their ESG and impact investing activity. This comes as a result of significant efforts by the Israeli NAB and Social Finance Israel.

Finally, I hope you noticed the recent announcement by Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, a $6 trillion investment firm, that he expects the CEOs of companies in its portfolio to deliver impact as well as financial results. The march toward Tipping Point is clearly accelerating.

All best,

Do Good, Do Well!

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