Oberlin Expands Impact Investment Platform to Help Improve World’s Troubled Regions

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.