Oberlin Expands Impact Investment Platform to Help Improve World’s Troubled Regions
August 20, 2024
Office of Communications
Oberlin College and Conservatory’s Impact Investment Platform, created in 2013 to guide socially conscious investments of Oberlin’s endowment, will expand to create experiential learning opportunities for students, uniting academics and investing in ways that directly address troubled regions and vital issues worldwide.
The Board of Trustees’ Investment Committee endorsed the plan for expansion.
The platform, developed to promote Oberlin’s active engagement with a range of issues, was seeded with an initial investment of $5 million of the endowment over five years and was later expanded to a target of $70 million. The Board’s approval calls for yet another target increase in impact investing—to $100 million.
In addition, the platform will grow to include investments pertaining to the support and redevelopment of war-torn regions. Previously, the platform’s primary focus had been limited to sectors pertaining to community development, renewable energy and climate change, and education.
“Oberlin taught me to keep my eyes and mind open to the many ways we can engage with the most difficult challenges and influence the world for good,” says Board Chair Chris Canavan ’84. “People movements are what we tend to think of first. But we should also appreciate—and try to influence—money movements as well. Investing dollars can have as much impact as mobilizing people, and even amplify the impact of movements. I’m glad to see Oberlin providing opportunities for us to learn how to do this better.”
Oberlin’s expansion of impact investing coincides with the development and growth of the Impact Investment Advisory Group, a nine-member panel made up of students, faculty, alumni, members of the Board’s Investment Committee, and Chief Investment Officer Jun Yang.
Impact investing is a natural fit with Oberlin’s mission of education and global engagement while generating necessary financial returns.” —Sean Gavin ’98, Investment Committee Chair
Formed in 2022 with the goal of providing an invaluable experiential learning opportunity to Oberlin students, the IIAG serves in an advisory capacity to the Investment Committee. In collaboration with the Investment Office, the IIAG designs and implements research related to impact investing, evaluates issues and trends, makes recommendations to the committee, and educates Oberlin students and the community more broadly on impact investing and the endowment overall.
The IIAG consists of four student members, known as IIAG Fellows. This summer, the Investment Committee appointed an IIAG Coordinator to guide the group’s efforts, recruit new members, develop the IIAG agenda and projects for the coming year, and serve as primary liaison to the committee. The inaugural coordinator, Iman Abdullah, is a 2024 Oberlin graduate who majored in Economics. She was an IIAG Fellow in 2023-24.
A previous advisory group, the Impact Investment Platform Subcommittee, consisted primarily of members of the Investment Committee and the Board of Trustees, as well as faculty and alumni. The IIAG, by comparison, involves a greater number of students and provides rigorous opportunities to apply classroom learning to real-world challenges—and to play a key role in the future of Oberlin.
“Impact investing is a natural fit with Oberlin’s mission of education and global engagement while generating necessary financial returns,” says Sean Gavin ’98, chair of the Investment Committee. “Engaging students in this process facilitates learning and gives agency to students in acting as a catalyst for good. The addition of a full time on-campus fellow facilitates this process and is a critical step in the realization of our vision.”
Current Oberlin students may submit applications for 2024-25 IIAG Fellowships through August 31. Applicants are required to have completed their first year of Oberlin studies, and all majors are welcome. This year’s fellows will be announced in mid-September.
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