Misplaced Pages

#46953

49-545: The Nature Conservancy ( TNC ) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia . As of 2021, it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy has over one million members globally as of 2021 and has protected more than 119 million acres (48 million ha) of land in its history. As of 2014, it

98-730: A 4-star rating, with a score of 96%, for the 2022 fiscal year. Like many large environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund , the Conservancy includes allowances for hunting and fishing within its management policies. The organization does not totally ban hunting or fishing but defers to state hunting and fishing regulations. The organization publishes The Nature Conservancy magazine ( ISSN   1540-2428 ; six issues per year). In 2003 The Washington Post ran an investigative series about

147-685: A Canadian charity in 2014, building on decades of conservation in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, the organization has field staff located across the country. Nature United supports Indigenous leadership, sustainable economic development, and large-scale conservation, primarily in the Great Bear Rainforest, Clayoquot Sound, the Northwest Territories, and northern Manitoba. In December 2015, The Nature Conservancy announced

196-582: A book of the same name, which furthered thinking about the non-financial effects of corporate production. The term "impact investing" was coined in 2005 by Mark Zapletal of Wartenberg Trust in his presentation "Impact Investing, a Door to Sustainable Philanthropy", at the Global Family Office Summit in New York . A commitment to measuring social and environmental performance, with the same rigor as that applied to financial performance,

245-821: A four-part ethical framework to endowment investments conceptualized as Human Capital, Natural Capital, Civic Capital, and Financial Capital. Foundations that make investments aligned with related philanthropic work include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , Soros Economic Development Fund , and Ford Foundation . Program-related investments (PRIs) are investments, usually by foundations, into below-market rate or concessionary investments that are primarily made to achieve charitable or "programmatic" objectives rather than financial objectives. This category includes recoverable grants, below-market-rate loans, R&D or seed stage equity investments (stock), loan guarantees and volume guarantees. For private foundations, PRIs count towards

294-432: A growing interest in impact investing from faith-based investors, as they seek to align their investments with their core beliefs. Governments and national and international public institutions including development finance institutions have sought to leverage their impact-oriented policies by encouraging pension funds and other large asset owners to co-invest with them in impact-informed assets and projects, notably in

343-469: A leading role in the development of impact investing. Under Pope Francis , the Catholic Church has seen an increased interest in impact investing. Impact investing occurs across asset classes ; for example, private equity / venture capital , debt, and fixed income. Impact investments can be made in either emerging or developed markets, and depending on the goals of the investors, can "target

392-590: A mission of conserving open space and wildlife preserves. The Nature Conservancy was incorporated in the United States as a non-profit organization on October 22, 1951. As the organization grew, the organization focused largely on buying as much land as possible in the name of conservation with little scientific research conducted on land before being purchased. Patrick Noonan served as President from 1973 to 1980 and spearheaded major land acquisitions, fundraising and decentralized growth of state programs. In 1970

441-442: A portion of their portfolio to investments that deliver financial as well as social or environmental benefits. Impact investing is distinguished from crowdfunding sites, such as Indiegogo or Kickstarter , because impact investments are typically debt or equity investments over US$ 1,000—with longer-than-traditional venture capital payment times—and an "exit strategy" (traditionally an initial public offering (IPO) or buyout in

490-513: A portion or with the entirety of their endowment . They include any type of investment that is intended and designed to generate both a measurable social or environmental benefit and a financial return. For example, after the Heron Foundation 's internal audit of its investments in 2011 uncovered an investment in a private prison that was directly contrary to the foundation's mission, the foundation developed and then began to advocate for

539-401: A range of returns from below-market to above-market rates". Historically, regulation—and to a lesser extent, philanthropy —was an attempt to minimize the negative social consequences ( unintended consequences , externalities ) of business activities. However, a history of individual investors using socially responsible investing to express their values exists, and such investing behavior

SECTION 10

#1732801651047

588-508: Is a UK-based specialist in environmental impact investing, Sarasin and Partners, which has a history of pressing investee companies on sustainability issues, and Triodos Investment Management , which is a Netherlands -based manager which focuses on sustainability issues. India is emerging as a major geography for impact investors according to consulting firm, McKinsey, with over $ 1.1 billion already invested as of 2016. Impact investments occur across asset classes and investment amounts. Among

637-571: Is a critical component of impact investing. The number of funds engaged in impact investing grew quickly over a five-year period, and a 2009 report from research firm the Monitor Group estimated that the impact investing industry could grow from around US$ 50 billion in assets to $ 500 billion in assets within the subsequent decade. Such capital may be deployed using a range of investment instruments, including equity, debt, real assets, loan guarantees, and others. The growth of impact investing

686-533: Is a subsection of Impact Investing, and refers to investments which are "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the explicit intent to create a positive impact on gender". Investments which promote gender equity and address gender based issues can be made by investing in gender led enterprises, enterprises which promote gender equality through hiring, women in positions of authority, or in their supply chain, as well as supporting services which support, empower and develop capacity of women. Gender lens investing

735-782: Is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces . In this sense the environment may refer to the biophysical environment or the natural environment . The organization may be a charity , a trust , a non-governmental organization , a governmental organization or an intergovernmental organization . Environmental organizations can be global, national , regional or local. Some environmental issues that environmental organizations focus on include pollution , plastic pollution , waste , resource depletion , human overpopulation and climate change . Many states have agencies devoted to monitoring and protecting

784-649: Is an effort to plant one billion trees across the globe in forests with the greatest need and has been operating since 2008 to plant trees in Brazil, China, Colombia, Guatemala, Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, and the United States. As part of the overall campaign, The Nature Conservancy pledged to plant 25 million trees as part of the launch of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)'s Billion Tree Campaign. This campaign encourages individuals and organizations to plant their own trees around

833-405: Is partly attributed to the criticism of traditional forms of philanthropy and international development , which have been characterized as unsustainable and driven by the goals—or whims—of the corresponding donors. As of 2015, impact investing was still only a small market when compared to the global equity market, estimated at US$ 61 trillion (market capitalization of domestic listed companies) by

882-594: Is the largest environmental non-profit organization by assets and revenue in the Americas. The Nature Conservancy developed out of a scholarly organization initially known as the Ecological Society of America (ESA). The ESA was founded in 1915, and later formed a Committee on Preservation of Natural Areas for Ecological Study, headed by Victor Shelford . The primary aim of Shelford was to find areas of land that would be beneficial for long-term research. By

931-478: Is usually defined by the avoidance of investments in specific companies or activities with negative effects. Simultaneously, approaches such as pollution prevention , corporate social responsibility , and triple bottom line began as measurements of non-financial effects, both inside and outside of corporations. In 2000, Baruch Lev of the NYU 's Stern School of Business collated thinking about intangible assets in

980-499: The Conservancy a model of ethical standards for nonprofit organizations. After service as The Nature Conservancy's president for one year, Brian McPeek resigned on May 31, 2019, after a report on an internal investigation of sexual harassment was revealed by Politico and two other senior executives were ultimately dismissed based on its findings. On June 7, 2019, Mark Tercek , CEO since 2008, announced his resignation following

1029-915: The Global South . World Pensions Council and other US and European experts have welcome this course of action, insisting nonetheless that: Governments and international institutions need to do more if they truly seek to 'unlock' private sector capital in a meaningful way. They have to ask themselves the following questions: what are the concrete legal, regulatory, financial and fiduciary concerns facing pension fund board members ? How can we improve emerging industry standards for impact measurement and help pension trustees steer more long-term capital towards valuable economic endeavors at home and abroad, while, simultaneously, ensuring fair risk-adjusted returns for future pensioners? Mission investments are investments made by foundations and other mission-based organizations to further their philanthropic goals, either with

SECTION 20

#1732801651047

1078-950: The Guatemala–Mexico border . They brokered the protection of 370,000 acres (1,500 km) of tropical forest in Calakmul . In another program, TNC is working to protect wildlife habitat in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In 2007, the Nature Conservancy made a 161,000-acre (650 km) purchase of New York forestland from Finch Paper Holdings LLC for $ 110 million, its largest purchase ever in that state. In June 2008, The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land announced they reached an agreement to purchase approximately 320,000 acres (1,300 km) of western Montana forestland from Plum Creek Timber Company for $ 510 million. The purchase, known as

1127-569: The Gulf oil spill . Writer and activist Naomi Klein has strongly criticized The Nature Conservancy for earning money from an oil well on land it controls in Texas and for its continued engagement with fossil fuel companies. The Nature Conservancy responded by arguing that it had no choice, under the terms of a lease it signed years prior with an oil and gas company and later came to regret. In 2020, Bloomberg published an article claiming that some of

1176-537: The Montana Legacy Project , is part of an effort to keep these forests in productive timber management and protect the area's clean water and abundant fish and wildlife habitat, while promoting continued public access to these lands for fishing, hiking, hunting and other recreational pursuits. As a follow-on, in 2015 The Nature Conservancy made a $ 134 million transaction to purchase 165,073 acres (668.03 km) – of forests, rivers and wildlife habitat in

1225-718: The Natural Heritage Network , a network of state natural heritage programs. The Nature Conservancy's efforts include conservation in North America , Central America , and South America , Africa , the Pacific Rim , the Caribbean , and Asia . The Nature Conservancy and its conservation partner, Pronatura Peninsula Yucatán, to halt deforestation on private lands in and around the 1.8 million acre (7,300 km) Calakmul Biosphere Reserve , along

1274-583: The 1930s, Shelford and his colleagues such as Aldo Leopold increasingly sought to advocate for conservation. The divide in viewpoints regarding scholarship or advocacy led the Society to dissolve the committee and in 1946, Shelford and his colleagues formed the Ecologists' Union. The latter group eventually took the name "The Nature Conservancy", in emulation of the British agency of that name, which pursued

1323-895: The Cascade Mountain Range of Washington and in the Blackfoot River Valley in Montana. The Conservancy also acquired this land from Plum Creek, including 47,921 acres (193.93 km) in the Yakima River Headwaters in Washington and 117,152 acres (474.10 km) in the Lower Blackfoot River Watershed in Montana. Nature United is the Canadian affiliate of The Nature Conservancy. Nature United was founded as

1372-582: The Conservancy's CEO, Jennifer Morris, charging that The Nature Conservancy was overly supportive of logging interests and the use of wood products as a natural climate solution . TNC is a member of the Forest Climate Working Group alongside wood product companies like Weyerhaeuser and Enviva , and other conservation organizations like the Trust for Public Land and American Forests . The Charity Navigator gave The Nature Conservancy

1421-485: The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Financing for this effort was organized by The Nature Conservancy's impact investing unit called NatureVest. NatureVest was created in 2014 with founding sponsorship from JPMorgan Chase with the stated goal of sourcing and putting to work at least $ 1 billion of impact investment capital for measurable conservation outcomes over three years. For their work on

1470-522: The Nature Conservancy with allegations of improper dealing and other improprieties that the Nature Conservancy contested. In part, the Post alleged the Conservancy had, time and again, bought ecologically significant tracts of land, attached some development restrictions and then resold the properties to trustees and supporters at greatly reduced prices. The sales were part of a program that limits intrusive development but generally allows buyers to build homes on

1519-507: The SPDR Gender Diversity ETF from State Street are publicly traded and hence available to anyone with a stock brokerage account. MSCI offers 11 environmental, social and governance index ETFs, including popular low-carbon and sustainability indexes. Groups of angel investors focused on impact, where individuals invest as a syndicate also exist. Examples include Investors' Circle in the US, Clearly Social Angels in

The Nature Conservancy - Misplaced Pages Continue

1568-776: The Seychelles debt restructuring , The Nature Conservancy and JPMorgan Chase were given the FT/ITC Transformational Business Award for Achievement in Transformational Finance. The award is given by the Financial Times and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) for ground-breaking, commercially viable solutions to development challenges. The Nature Conservancy's "Plant a Billion Trees" campaign

1617-561: The United Kingdom and the global investor network Toniic. Web-based investing platforms, which offer lower-cost investing services, also exist. As equity deals can be prohibitively expensive for small-scale transactions, microfinance loans, rather than equity investment, are prevalent in these platforms. MyC4 , founded in 2006, allowed retail investors to loan to small businesses in African countries via local intermediaries, though

1666-631: The World Bank. Impact investors managed US$ 114 billion in impact investing assets, a figure that serves as a best-available "floor" for the size of the impact investing market, according to GIIN's 2017 Annual Impact Investor Survey . The largest sectors by asset allocation were microfinance, energy, housing, and financial services. Many development finance institutions , such as the British Commonwealth Development Corporation or Norwegian Norfund , can also be considered impact investors, because they allocate

1715-419: The atmosphere and stabilize global climate. The Nature Conservancy has over one million members across the world as of 2021. As of 2014, it was the largest environmental non-profit organization by assets and revenue in the Americas. The Nature Conservancy has ties to many large companies, including those in the oil, gas, mining, chemical and agricultural industries. As of 2016, its board of directors included

1764-1524: The best-known mechanism is private equity or venture capital. " Social venture capital ", or "patient capital", impact investments are structured similarly to those in the rest of the venture capital community. Investors may take an active role mentoring or leading the growth of the company, similar to the way a venture capital firm assists in the growth of an early-stage company. Hedge funds and private equity funds may also pursue impact investing strategies. Impact investment "accelerators" also exist for seed- and growth-stage social enterprises. Similar to seed-stage accelerators for traditional startups, impact investment accelerators provide smaller amounts of capital than Series A financings or larger impact investment deals. Most "impact investment accelerators" are nonprofits, raising grants from donors to pay for business development services; however, commercially orientated accelerators providing investment readiness and capital-raising advisory services are emerging. Large corporations are also emerging as powerful mechanisms for impact investing. Companies that seek to create shared value through developing new products/services, or positively impacting their operations, are beginning to employ impact investments through their value chain, particularly their supply chain. Impact investing can help organizations become self-sufficient by enabling them to carry out their projects and initiatives without having to rely heavily on donations and state subsidies. There has been

1813-513: The companies (such as JPMorgan Chase, Disney , and BlackRock ) that purchase carbon credits from The Nature Conservancy were purchasing carbon credits for forests that did not need protection. In 2021, The Nature Conservancy partnered with Amazon to compensate local farmers for restoring and protecting rainforests in Para, Brazil . In 2022, a group of 158 conservation, environmental, and social justice non-profit organizations signed an open letter to

1862-673: The environment: These organizations are involved in environmental management , lobbying , advocacy , and/or conservation efforts: These organizations are involved in environmental management , lobbying , advocacy , and/or conservation efforts at the national level: Impact investing Impact investors actively seek to place capital in businesses, nonprofits , and funds in industries such as renewable energy , housing, healthcare, education, microfinance , and sustainable agriculture . Institutional investors, notably North American and European development finance institutions , pension funds and endowments have played

1911-653: The finalization of the first ever debt swap in Seychelles aimed at ocean conservation. The new protected area increases the country's marine protected waters from less than 1 percent to more than 30 percent including support for the creation of the second largest Marine Protected Area in the Western Indian Ocean. The debt swap deal was made possible through a partnership with the Seychelles Ministry of Finance, support of debt-holding nations including France, and grants from private organizations led by

1960-603: The for-profit startup sector) may be non-existent. Although some social enterprises are nonprofits, impact investing typically involves for-profit, social- or environmental-mission-driven businesses. Organizations receiving impact investment capital may be set up legally as a for-profit, not-for profit, Benefit corporation , Low-profit limited liability company (L3C), Community interest company , or other designations that may vary by country. In much of Europe, these are known as " social enterprises ". The main activists in this market have been Impax Asset Management Group , which

2009-687: The land. The buyers then gave the Conservancy cash that was roughly equivalent to the amount of the discounts. That allowed the new owners to take significant tax deductions for charitable gifts. The Nature Conservancy suspended a range of practices shortly after the articles ran including these sales, licensing its logo to corporations whose executives sat on the Conservancy's governing board and council, all new logging and other "resource extraction activities" such as oil and gas drilling on its nature preserves, and all new loans to employees. The Conservancy launched an independent review that issued its final report in 2004, calling for sweeping reforms aimed at making

The Nature Conservancy - Misplaced Pages Continue

2058-471: The organization hired its first staff scientist, Robert E. Jenkins Jr., who helped the organization refocus its mission to conserving natural diversity. With Noonan's support, in 1974 Jenkins began to partner with state governments to develop state-by-state inventories which assembled and stored data on the "elements" of nature (e.g. rare species and natural communities) and on "element occurrences" (the specific locations where they occur), which later morphed into

2107-1054: The required 5 percent annual payout. Mission-related investments (MRIs) are investments, generally made from endowments, into mission-driven organizations that are expected to generate market-rate financial returns comparable to an ordinary investment of a similar type and risk profile. MRIs are designed to have both a positive social impact and contribute to the endowment's long-term financial stability and growth. Examples of MRIs include loans to mission-aligned non-profit organizations (e.g., charter schools, hospitals or research centers) that are expected to pay back loans with interest, as well as investments in for-profit social impact companies, social impact funds, socially responsible fixed income (bond) funds, impact-oriented private equity funds and public equity portfolios (stocks). Impact investing historically took place through mechanisms aimed at institutional investors. However, there are ways for individuals to participate in providing early stage or growth funding to such ventures. Exchange-traded funds like

2156-549: The resignation of McPeek. On June 10, Luis Solorzano, executive director of The Nature Conservancy's Florida-based Caribbean chapter, became the fifth senior official to depart the organization. On June 11, The Nature Conservancy's board chairman Thomas J. Tierney announced that board member and former US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell would serve as interim CEO, effective September 2019. Environmental organization An environmental organization

2205-451: The retired chairman of Duke Energy , and executives from Merck , HP , Google and several financial industry groups. It also has a Business Council which it describes as a consultative forum that includes Bank of America , BP America , Chevron , Coca-Cola , Dow Chemical , Duke Energy , General Mills , Royal Dutch Shell , and Starbucks . The organization faced criticism in 2010 from supporters for its refusal to cut ties with BP after

2254-517: The service permanently closed in 2019. Microplace was an early United States provider of such services which ceased taking on new loans in 2014, stating that its results "haven't scaled to the widespread social impact we aspire to achieve". Impact Investing in Asia is a burgeoning sector with many funds currently in play. In South East Asia, from 2007 to 2017, US$ 904 million impact capital was deployed by Private Impact Investors (PIIs) and US$ 11.9 million

2303-427: The world and record this action on the website as a tally. Its "Plant a Billion Trees" campaign in Brazil aims to restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest by planting native trees on 2.5 million acres (10,000 km) that have been deforested . The Plant a Billion Trees campaign has also been identified as a tool to help slow climate change with forest restoration being an effective way to help regulate emissions in

2352-524: Was created in response to the difficulty which woman face in accessing capital, as women globally have less access and higher barriers to obtaining capital. Female entrepreneurs have routinely struggled to attract capital from male investors. In 2019 Fortune magazine reported that just 2.2% of all venture capital went to female founders. Taken together, all female founders raised less in capital than one e-cigarette manufacturer. Some have gone to great lengths to avoid experiencing gender discrimination. In 2017

2401-543: Was deployed by Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). Impact investing organizations and funds also make equity investments like traditional private equity and venture capital funds, but only investments with developmental impact. According to a 2021 study by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania venture capital has been dominating the impact investment space. Gender lens investing

#46953