Impact Investing Partnership with USAID, Rockefeller, Deloitte, and Prudential
Yesterday, at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, the Obama Administration announced the U.S. Government’s support for B Lab’s Global Impact Investing Rating System (“GIIRS”). 
GIIRS (http://giirs.org/) will facilitate the flow of impact investment capital to entrepreneurs who use business to address the world’s most challenging problems.
The announcement of support at the Summit was meant to signal the Obama Administration’s desire to drive investment capital to entrepreneurs in the developing world. We are gratified that as part of this announcement, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) made a significant financial commitment to GIIRS on behalf of the U.S. Government.
Along with funding from the pioneer of the impact investing industry, the Rockefeller Foundation, these grants catalyzed support from two strategic private sector partners, Deloitte and Prudential – it is fantastic to have this kind of support from Deloitte and Prudential.
GIIRS is being built on the credibility of the existing B Impact Rating System that has been used to assess over 1,000 companies on their social and environmental impact and to certify nearly 300 B Corporations.
Importantly, twelve Pioneer GIIRS Fund Managers have committed to pilot testing GIIRS with their portfolio companies throughout the developing world during 2010. We want to thank each of them for their commitment. These Pioneer Fund Managers include Acumen Fund, African Agricultural Capital, Agora Partners, Business Partners Limited, E+Co, Fanisi, Grassroots Business Fund, Grassroots Capital, IGNIA Partners, Root Capital, Small Enterprise Assistance Funds, and New Ventures at the World Resources Institute. In the next two months, we’ll be announcing an equal number of Pioneers working in developed economies in North America and Europe. GIIRS will be launched as a publicly available investment product in early 2011.
The press release about GIIRS is below and available for download here. Also, USAID’s release of top global entrepreneurship priorities can be found here.
We want to thank all of you for your incredible support. Coming on the heels of Maryland’s passage of Benefit Corporation legislation and on the verge of 300 Certified B Corporations, the support for GIIRS is a sign of a movement building for the use of business to solve social and environmental problems.
All the Best,
The B Lab Team
Impact Investing Partnership with USAID, Rockefeller Foundation, Deloitte, and Prudential to support Entrepreneurs in the Developing World
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