5.1. DISCUSIÓN DE LOS RESULTADOS
5.1.2. Discusión sobre el objetivo: “Estudiar la justificación jurídica
How selfish so ever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from
it except the pleasure of seeing it.218
Not all investors are driven by profit alone. Foundations and an
emerging class of social investors (also known as “impact investors”) seem
willing to sacrifice some profit if a company can further social and/or
environmental goals.
219Foundations represent a tremendous potential
source of capital for social enterprises with approximately $600 billion in
assets in the United States alone.
220Proponents of the L3C form have
attempted to tap into this treasure chest to receive easier access to PRIs
from foundations, but to date the IRS has not agreed to treat L3Cs any
differently than traditional for-profit forms.
221Estimates of the size of the socially responsible investment market vary
wildly, depending, in large part, on how broadly “socially responsible” is
defined. The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, using a
broad definition, estimates that Sustainable and Responsible Investing
217. Yasemin Saltuk et al., Insight into the Impact Investment Market: An In-Depth Analysis of Investor Perspectives and Over 2,200 Transactions, J.P.MORGAN SOCIAL
FINANCE RESEARCH,3 (Dec. 14, 2011), available at http://www.jpmorganchase.com/
corporate/socialfinance/document/Insight_into_the_Impact_Investment_Market.pdf. Sixty-two percent of investors stated that they would sacrifice financial return for positive societal impact. All of the respondents that would not sacrifice returns, and two-thirds of those who would, stated that they believed one must sacrifice profits in order to make a positive impact. Id.
218. ADAM SMITH, THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS 1 (D.D. Raphael & A.L.
Macfie eds., Oxford Univ. Press 1976) (1759).
219. See generally CREATIVE CAPITALISM: A CONVERSATION WITH BILL GATES,
WARREN BUFFET, AND OTHER ECONOMIC LEADERS (Michael Kinsley ed., Simon & Schuster Paperbacks 2008); see also Timothy Smith, Institutional Investors Find Common Ground with Social Investors, 1622 PLICORP. 283, 289 (2007) (stating that socially motivated investors consider not just profits, but also consider the company’s social and environmental impact).
220. Philanthropy News Digest, Foundations Increasingly Use Investment Assets to Achieve Their Missions, Report Finds, FOUND. CTR. (Oct. 26, 2011), http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=359000002.
221. See Callison & Vestal, supra note 81, at 273–74 (stating that Congress has not enacted the tax legislation lobbied for by L3C proponents).
(“SRI”) accounts for “$3.07 trillion out of $25.2 trillion in the U.S.
investment marketplace.”
222“Impact investing” funds, which tend to use a
more narrow definition and are made up of “investments intended to
generate positive [social and/or environmental] impact alongside financial
return,” have begun entering the scene at an increasing pace.
223Even some
of the most prestigious and traditional of investment banks are sticking
their toes into the “impact investing” pool.
224In December of 2011, J.P.
Morgan and the Global Impact Investing Network (“GIIN”) produced a
thirty-page document analyzing the state of the “impact investing
market.”
225They defined impact investment as an “[i]nvestment intended
to create positive impact alongside financial return” and analyzed 2,200
investments, totaling over $4 billion.
226Ninety-four percent of the survey
of random institutional or high net worth clients said that impact investing
was either “in its infancy and growing (75%) or about to take off (19%).”
227The United Kingdom’s government created Big Society Capital, which will
potentially invest hundreds of millions of British pounds, to serve as a
cornerstone impact investor and to leverage additional private capital.
228In
the United States, “the Overseas Private Investment Corporation committed
[$285 million] to catalyze [$875 million] of investment into six impact
investment funds in emerging markets,” and the U.S. Small Business
Administration has pledged $1 billion “over five years to support domestic
222. See Sustainable and Responsible Investing Facts, THE FORUM FOR
SUSTAINABLE &RESPONSIBLE INV., http://ussif.org/resources/sriguide/srifacts.cfm (last
visited Nov. 30, 2012) (stating that “one or more of the three core sustainable and responsible investing strategies-screening, shareholder advocacy, and community investing” had to be used to qualify as SRI).
223. See J.P. Morgan Social Finance, J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO.,
http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/socialfinance/social-finance.htm (last visited Nov. 30, 2012) (describing J.P. Morgan Social Finance, which “was launched in 2007 to service the growing market for impact investments”); see also Rahim Kanani, The State and Future of Impact Investing, FORBES (Feb. 23, 2012, 9:36 AM),
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2012/02/23/the-state-and-future-of-impact- investing/ (stating that some of the largest banks in North America and Europe have created “impact investing” products). See generally Investing for Impact, CREDIT
SUISSE (Jan. 2012), available at https://infocus.credit-suisse.com/data
/_product_documents/_shop/336096/investing_for_impact.pdf.
224. See supra note 223 and accompanying text (showing that J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse, and other large banks have entered the social finance or “impact investing” space).
225. See generally Saltuk et al., supra note 217 (updating a 2010 research study).
226. Id. at 2–3.
227. Id. at 5. Within ten years, the respondents thought that impact investments would constitute five percent of institutional investment and approximately ten percent of high net worth clients’ portfolios. Id. at 5–6.
228. See id. at 7; see also Big Society Capital: How We Are Funded, BIG SOC’Y
CAP., http://www.bigsocietycapital.com/how-we-are-funded/ (last visited Nov. 30, 2012) (stating that the “Merlin banks”—such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and RBS—have each agreed to invest £50 million into Big Society Capital and the transfers from the English share of dormant accounts could reach £400 million).