中国预计将成长为全球最大的影响力投资市场，许多基金会已注意到这一概念，或已将其付诸实践。然而，在金融行业中，仍然很少有人能够把握住这种日益增长的趋势。慈善领域的专家呼吁有更多专业的金融人士参与进来。
“目前，中国影响力投资的主战场应该从慈善行业转向金融行业。”国际公益学院助理院长、北京师范大学教授傅昌波说到。
“影响力投资”一词由洛克菲勒基金会于2007年首创，指的是在获得财务回报的同时，还希望产生积极的、可衡量的社会和环境影响的投资。
根据全球影响投资网络（GIIN）2019年4月发布的报告，目前全球有1340多家机构管理着5020亿美元的影响投资资产。大约64%的机构是资产管理公司，21%是基金会。相比之下，根据中国发展研究基金会2016年的报告，中国对各社会领域的投资则大多数来自基金会。
◆◆
吸引专业人才
◆◆
“影响力投资的机会是政府尚未触碰，而又被传统企业忽略的市场需求。”傅昌波教授指出。"虽然这样的商业机会确实很不容易找到，但是如果没有商业机构参与寻找此类市场需求，情况将更加困难。此外，影响力投资还需要拥有充足资本资源的人士和高净值人士的更多参与，这些人能够承受可能的失败，也更愿意承担风险。“我们需要唤醒商业和金融领域的专业人士，让他们能够将影响力投资纳入自己的投资和公司管理决策。”
傅昌波所在的国际公益学院正在努力通过教育将慈善的种子植入商界人士的大脑。全球善财领袖计划GPL自2015年开创已吸纳60名高净值慈善家，该计划创办了中国首个面向高净值人群的慈善培训项目。但相比国际公益学院另一个已有近500名学员的国际慈善管理EMP项目来说，GPL的学员仍然太少。
开放申请 | 旧金山西雅图高端研学：科技影响力投资最前沿
国际公益学院还在编写一系列致力于推动影响力投资的案例和教材，预计将于今年晚些时候出版。此外，学院每年还举办多个以影响力投资为主题的国际和地区论坛，旨在将这一理念在中国传播。
“在国际舞台上，金融业引领潮流；但在中国，关于影响力投资最热烈的讨论是在慈善界。”EMP2017年春季（七期）学员、深圳市体育发展基金会副秘书长、国际社会影响力投资俱乐部执行主席黄晓姝表示。
她正试图将更多来自金融业的专业人士带入她的俱乐部和她正在运营的基金会。“公益基金会的可持续发展需要金融工具。至少，我们不应该抵制这件事，而是要努力学习，做好与金融机构合作的准备”。黄晓姝指出。
去年11月，国际公益学院董事会主席、中国最杰出的银行家之一马蔚华（居中）出席了在深圳举行的国际社会影响投资俱乐部启动仪式
大约五年前，黄晓姝在深圳开始了她的第一个基金会项目。她说：“当时，我们对金融工具知之甚少，所以我们很谨慎，将六、七千万人民币的资金存入定期存款或其他保本金融产品。”但对于她现在正在筹备的新基金会，她表示，团队正在积极考虑充分利用金融工具。
最流行的工具之一是信托产品。2016年，国家发布了《中华人民共和国慈善法》，概述了慈善信托的应用。自那以来，备案慈善信托数量已从22个飙升至2018年底的140余个。
“《慈善法》两周年十大进展”报告全文
黄晓姝还希望聘用更多金融领域的专业人才，并成立一个专门的金融委员会。她提到的一个问题是金融行业和慈善行业之间的收入差距，她补充说，慈善组织自身的可持续发展是解决问题的内在要求。她说，鼓励资本行业更多参与的另一种方式是将它们与明星社会企业联系起来，尤其是高科技初创企业。这个方向是她所在俱乐部的焦点之一。
本文根据《中国日报》香港版2019年5月3日报道编译。
以下是《中国日报》全文报道
Charity fields call for more professionals on impact investing
We need to wake up professionals in the commercial and financial sectors so that they can weave impact investing into the fabric of their investment and company management decisions
——Fu Changbo, Associate President,
China Global Philanthropy Institute
China is expected to grow into the largest impact investing market in the world, and many foundations have taken note of the concept or already put it into practice.
However, there are still few players in the financial industry with their fingers on the pulse of the growing trend. Experts in charity fields are calling for more professional financial participants.
The phrase “impact investing,” coined in 2007 by the Rockefeller Foundation, refers to investments made with the intention of generating positive, measurable social and environmental effects alongside financial returns.
According to a report published in April by Global Impact Investing Network, over 1,340 organizations currently manage US$502 billion in impact investing assets worldwide. About 64 percent of these organizations are asset managers, and 21 percent are foundations.
In comparison, the majority of investments with clear guidance of their respective social effects are from foundations, according to a 2016 report by the China Development Research Foundation.
“The main battlefield of impact investing in China now should shift from philanthropy to the financial sector,” said Fu Changbo, associate president of the China Global Philanthropy Institute (CGPI) and a professor in the School of Sociology at Beijing Normal University.
Draw in professionals
“The impact investing opportunity is a market need that the government has yet to put its finger on, and that ordinary companies have neglected,” Fu said, while acknowledging that such business opportunities are difficult to find. He said it would be even more difficult if there were no commercial institutions participating in finding such market needs.
In addition, impact investing also needs more participation from people with sufficient capital resources and from high-net-worth individuals who can afford possible failures and will be more willing to take risks, he said.“We need to wake up professionals in the commercial and financial.
She is trying to bring more professionals from the financial sector in her club and a foundation she is operating. “Sustainable development of charity foundations needs financial tools. At least, we should not resist it, but try to learn about it and be prepared to cooperate with financial institutions,” Huang said.
About five years ago, she started her first foundation project in Shenzhen. “At that time, we know too little about financial tools, so we played it safe, putting the fund of 60 million to 70 million yuan (US$8.9 million to US$10.4 million) to conservative financial products, like fixed-term deposits or other products with principal capital guaranteed,” she said.
But for the management of a new foundation she is preparing now, she said the team actively considers taking full advantage of financial tools.
One of the most popular tools is trust products. In 2016, the nation released its charity law, outlining the application of charitable trusts. Since then, the number of registered charitable trust products have spiked from 22 to 136 by the end of January.
She also hopes to hire more professional talent in the financial field and set up a dedicated financial commission.
A problem she mentioned is the income gap between the financial and charity industries, adding that sustainable development of charity organizations itself is intrinsic to the solution.
Another way to encourage more participation from capital sector is to connect them with starring social enterprises, especially high-tech startups, she said.
The direction is one of her club’s focuses.
Knowledge gap a setback
Some pioneers from the financial line have already begun. Shanghai-based Ehong Capital, one of the earliest private equity management companies specializing in impact investments, is committed to investing in social enterprises, innovative and entrepreneurial teams, while avoiding some industries, including fossil energy, tobacco, alcohol, and even online games.
Its average investment cycle is reportedly about 6.9 years, and the average annual rate of return is about 30 percent.
“The difficulty is the lack of standardized evaluation structure for investees’ social influence, including the pre- and post-investment period,” said Zhang Bohui, director of the Research Center for FinTech and Social Finance at the Shenzhen Finance Institute.
“Most fund managers in China are graduates in finance-related majors, so they know little about charity work and tend to use the same method of regular investment cases in impact investing,” Zhang said. “But the problem is the two aren’t equivalent.”
Social returns are most complicated than numbers, he added.
Another factor affecting Chinese financial organizations’ rare practices in impact investing is that the government provides relatively comprehensive public services, he added.
He said the education institution has opened a business ethics class, a subject related to impact investing and a requirement of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The school is one of the 18 mainland business schools recognized by the AACSB.
They are also planning to hold sustainable finance forums, and one of their aims is to spread the concept of impact investing in financial circles.
