IIP 009 - Will Morgan: The Impact of Defining, Evaluating and Measuring Impact Investment Portfolios

The Impact Investing Podcast

I've had the great pleasure of speaking with many incredible people since I started this Podcast, and this month is no different. I'm calling it the Sonen series – and both episodes this month will be with leaders from Sonen Capital – an impact investing firm based out of San Francisco that I have great respect for.

Sonen Capital is a specialized investment management firm dedicated to investors seeking financial returns with lasting social and environmental impact. They offer multi-manager, multi-themed investment solutions via pooled vehicles, portfolio strategies and customized mandates. Sonen is also a certified B Corp and GIIRS certified.

Furthermore, they share an incredible amount of information and in my opinion, are top thought leaders in the public impact investing field. With quarterly market reports, white papers and investing strategy frameworks being published on their website – Sonen Capital aims to share their knowledge with all who want to learn.

Our first episode this month is with Will Morgan - the Senior Impact Analyst at Sonen Capital who leads the effort to define, evaluate and report impact across Sonen’s public and private market investment strategies, and for some of Sonen’s most highly targeted and customized impact investment portfolios. Will provides top-down impact frameworks that inform the investment underwriting process, focusing on identifying thematic social and environmental outcomes and how those outcomes can be achieved through specific investment activities.

As part of communicating the results of Sonen’s investments, Will works with underlying investments and managers to improve impact evaluation and measurement systems and processes to enhance the quality and depth of impact data reported to clients. Under Will’s leadership, Sonen integrates third-party ESG data into public markets investment impact evaluation, as well as other emerging industry standards such as GIIRS and the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS).

He was also one of the earliest practitioners of IRIS, and has helped some of the largest US and European-based foundations integrate IRIS into internal impact evaluation systems for both grant-based and corpus-based impact portfolios.

?In this episode we dive into wills background and how he go to where he I now, how it influenced his investment frameworks and decision processes, and how he is leading the way In defining and integrating impact investing into mainstream finance and much more.

If you want to learn more about how to conduct impact investing through public markets – or are looking for some rock solid advice on being involved in the impact field, this interview is a must listen.

Sonen Capital

• www.sonencapital.com
• Twitter: @SonenCapital
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-morgan-95ab371

Impact Investing Podcast

• www.impactinvestingpodcast.com
• Twitter: @impinvpodcast & @jwebking
• Facebook: Impact Investing Podcast