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The Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN) “State of Impact Measurement and Management Practice” was published earlier this week with its second edition reflecting the increased sophistication and maturation of impact measurement and management (IMM) practices. Its first edition was published in 2017 and collected data from 169 impact investing organizations. This year’s report is the result of 278 impact investors answering questions about how they measure, manage, and report their impact¹.

According to Morningstar’s January 10^th story, “Sustainable Fund Flows in 2019 Smash Previous Records”, the famous saying, ‘the proof is in the pudding’, seems to be true. There was an estimated $20.6 billion of net flows into U.S. open-end and exchange-traded sustainable funds in 2019, smashing the previous record in 2018 by nearly four times. In fact, the fourth quarter led 2019 with the biggest flows, jumping to an estimated $7.1 billion to round out the historic year.¹ 

In this week’s blog, David Sand, CCM’s chief impact strategist shares his five impact investing trends for 2020.

From going to the gym everyday to making more time for family, many start the new year – and the new decade – by setting new goals and intentions in life, family, business, and beyond.  This year, there seems to be additional buzz around changing consumer shopping habits to support more local businesses. 

Happy Holidays! 

It's hard to believe another year is coming to an end. Below we highlight our most popular blog posts from 2019. We hope you have enjoyed reading our blogs as much as we have enjoyed writing them for you. 

Warm wishes,

- The CCM Team

In this week’s blog, Andy Kaufman, CCM’s chief investment officer, shares his 2019 economic recap highlighting three key themes: recession speculation, international trade, and U.S. politics. 

We are excited to announce that Rosenberg Apartments is the winner of CCM's Annual Impact Awards for 2019.  This year’s Impact Awards featured five impactful bond investments made during the calendar year, with participants voting for their favorite investment story. We are extremely proud of all the investments in the contest and their multiple positive environmental and social outcomes.

It’s that time of the year again! November at CCM means another month of awareness as we join the Movember movement into tackling men’s health for the third consecutive year. Created in 2003, the organization focuses primarily on raising awareness for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention among men. With a goal to reduce by 25% the number of premature deaths in men by 2030, Movember has already funded more than 1250 health projects around the world since its inception¹.

Smith's Research & Gradings has been providing recognition for the achievements and fine work of municipal professionals since 1992. Smith's Municipal All-Star Program is the only program that consistently and prominently provides recognition in the municipal space ¹. In this year’s awards, more than 400 analysts and over 100 firms participated on the nomination. Smith’s Municipal All-Star Program includes sell-side and buy-side firms, rating agencies, as well as independent research analysts. Only institutional investors can vote, and this year’s final ballot was sent out to 1,000 voters.

Plastic isn’t only bad for the environment, it’s bad for the wallet too.  Take the notorious plastic bag: with over 2.8 billion bags used in one day, these small plastic terrors add millions of pounds of pollution to the ocean every year.  As for the economic part, up to $120 billion is spent annually on waste practices for these single-use bags alone.  And with over 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic being produced since 1950, these bags are only one major problem affecting our environment.¹