The first Australian Impact Investment Activity and Performance Report

Released by Impact Investing Australia, the Benchmarking Impact: Australian Impact Investment Activity and Performance Report 2016 presents the findings from analysis of impact investment activity and performance for a data-set of Australian impact investments active as at 30 June 2015.

With a total product value of $1.2 billion, the report reveals past activity and provides insights about the choices, frameworks and practice being applied and to what effect. The data describes what practitioners in the field are choosing to do and how they rationalise their choices.

This report is the first attempt to capture impact investment data in the Australian context and suggests a rich tapestry of diverse investment activity touching the lives of thousands of people and also shows investments in the data set are meeting financial returns for assets since inception.

Impacts were reported across nine outcome areas and covering 60,000 beneficiaries; they are highly varied and include, in aggregate:

* 126 schools supported
* 319 jobs created
* 1,072 people with disabilities supported
* 4,493 tons of e-waste diverted
* 11,501 MWh renewable energy created
* 3.9 tons of CO2 avoided
* 669 mental health sessions delivered

"This is a pioneering report, presenting the first set of aggregated, market-based data on the performance of Australian impact investment products," said Rosemary Addis, co-author of the Report and Chair of Impact Investing Australia, and the Australian Advisory Board on Impact Investing.