In Spring of 2018, Chris Ailman, CIO of the $200 billion pension plan for California public school teachers (CalSTRS) was mandated by his board to “prioritize engagement with makers and retailers of firearms in California” following a series of gun-related tragedies in schools. While CalSTRS had a long history of engagement and even divestment, as a fiduciary for the retirement assets of current and future teachers, calls for values-motivated screening or divestment always posed an inherently complex challenge. Having spearheaded the development of Principles for a Responsible Civilian Firearm Industry released on November 14, 2018, what if anything, should Ailman and his team do next?

Jana Partners, a well-known “activist” hedge fund, has announced the launch of a new fund Jana Impact. The basic premise is that the fund will be able to generate superior returns by using Jana’s activist approach with companies that are underperforming on ESG metrics. The case examines the history of activist investing and Jana’s proposed approach in unlocking ESG value.

After much internal debate, the VELUX Foundations of Denmark have decided to allocate a small percentage of their investment portfolio to impact investments. Cambridge Associates, one of the leading investment advisory firms in the world, has been engaged to assist them in developing and implementing an “impact strategy”. VELUX only invests in funds (as opposed to direct investments) and must now decide on fund selection criteria and on specific fund investment options that have been presented to them.

In 2015, Goldman Sachs acquired Imprint Capital, a small but well-known impact investing advisory firm - a widely touted example of impact investing going mainstream. The case examines Imprint’s integration into the asset management platform at Goldman Sachs and how the approach to clients evolved post acquisition. Students will look at impact investing in the context of the asset management industry and explore portfolio construction strategies for the firm’s clients and explore the concept of mass customization for impact investing.

By 2017, it seemed as though all major financial institutions were racing to position themselves as the leader in the fast growing sustainable investing market; yet what it would mean to succeed remained ambiguous. This case examines the emergence of an “investing for impact” platform at a major financial institution following the financial crisis, including an analysis of core products: green bonds, ESG-based equity research, and a variety of advisory products.

It is March 2017 and TPG Capital, a global alternative investment firm with $74 billion assets under management, is in the process of establishing its inaugural impact investing fund—the $2 billion Rise Fund. In an effort to “take the religion out of impact investing,” Rise Fund CEO Bill McGlashan and Partner, Maya Chorengel have partnered with The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit consultancy, to develop an evidence-based methodology for quantifying the impact of prospective Rise investments. Bridgespan’s framework generates an impact multiple of money (IMM); if an investment fails to meet the IMM threshold, Rise will not invest in it. As the Rise team considers making its first investment in EverFi, an educational technology company, McGlashan wonders: will his attempt to insert scientific rigor into impact measurement succeed?

In May 2017, Blue Haven Initiative (BHI) Co-Founder and Principal Liesel Pritzker Simmons and Director of Private Investments Lauren Cochran were deciding whether to participate in a Series B round for PEGAfrica, which sold solar home systems in Africa via pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing plans that allowed customers to make small payments via mobile money to pay off the solar equipment over time. BHI engaged in direct and indirect investments that generated positive environmental and social impacts alongside healthy financial returns and had already invested in PEG’s Series A round the previous year. Should BHI commit to the Series B round?

Before launching Omidyar Network (ON), in 1995 Pierre Omidyar founded the online marketplace that would become eBay. Following the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in 1998, Omidyar became a billionaire and shortly thereafter, he and his fiancée Pam agreed they would use their newfound fortune in an altruistic fashion. Financial Inclusion at Omidyar Network goes behind the scenes of a pioneer and thought leader in impact investing. A team of investors at Omidyar Network shared two different investment possibilities in the budding financial inclusion space, using their investment framework to consider the opportunities available for both investments—each with highly divergent financial and impact potential.

It is 2014 and Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF) Partners, a U.K.-based venture capital firm, has an opportunity to invest in a privately-held U.K. company that manufactured engineered composition leather extracted from waste leather using an environmentally-friendly process. The end product looked, smelled and felt like natural leather. Scalable marketplace adoption of E-Leather’s products looked promising, but was just that— promising. And the company’s success would largely depend on management’s ability to significantly improve the efficiency of its manufacturing operations. ETF needed to figure out E- Leather’s value, but the absence of suitable “comps” complicated the valuation process.

State StreetGlobal Advisors was the investment arm of State Street Corporation, one of the largest custodians and asset managers in the world with over $2.3 trillion in assets under management. Inspired by demand from a large pension fund client for better gender diversity investment products, SSGA had created the first gender diversity ETF in 2015. However, despite an auspicious launch, the ETF had yet to attract the level of institutional capital SSGA had anticipated. What should be the strategy to market and grow this important product?

Pi was a large family office pioneering the concept of 100% portfolio impact investing. Tasked with preserving capital, generating moderate returns and advancing the family’s social justice goals – Pi’s Managing Director’s had to identify appropriate products across asset classes. In this case, students will be required to assess an investment in HCAP Partners Fund III from the perspective of Pi and whether such an investment meets the family’s core criteria.