As an underwriter and distributor of new issue offerings, InspereX has been at the forefront of supporting impact investment issuers. In 2005, we began offering Calvert Impact Capital’s Community Investment Notes. To date, Calvert Impact Capital has reinvested over $800 million in proceeds in the U.S. and in over 100 countries to build affordable housing, finance small businesses, develop renewable energy solutions, and provide essential community services. 

In 2011, we furthered our participation in values-based product distribution when we began underwriting for the World Bank, a supranational with a mission to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.  

Fast forward to 2014, InspereX solidified our leadership role with the launch of our impact investing platform to enable issuers and financial professionals to offer investment products that combined financial goals with personal principals. That year, International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, became the first supranational to launch a debt program directed to U.S. individual investors with InspereX as the sole agent. IFC issued its first retail Green Bond that same year as a programmatic note offering. The World Bank followed IFC with a note program through InspereX in 2015. We have raised over $1 billion for these two supranationals combined.

InspereX was also the first to distribute public debt on a programmatic basis for a Community Development Financial Institution (“CDFI”) and now serves as the lead agent for two additional CDFIs. Capital Impact Partners joined in 2017, followed by Local Initiatives Support Corporation in 2020, and Century Housing Corporation in 2021. CDFIs are community lenders that support, grow, and revitalize underserved communities. They lend and service loans in geographies often overlooked by traditional banks. At the same time, they empower communities through technical assistance to address the structural barriers that exclude them from the economic mainstream.

Through the InspereX impact investing platform, we continue to aggressively seek issuers focused on social policy and sustainable environmental initiatives, including those issuers striving to effect positive change in environmental, social, and governance initiatives. 

We are proud of the measurable impact we have achieved in the values-based investment space. On behalf of eight impact issuers, to date, we have raised over $2.8 billion. Those funds have been put to important use that have directly and positively impacted many communities and their residents.  

Beyond our efforts raising capital in support of our values-based investment issuers, we have looked within our organization to facilitate employee engagement as we continue to focus on social impact and sustainability opportunities. The firm’s Diversity Council plays a critical role in our efforts. In conjunction with our Human Resources Department, it works to source candidates to expand the diversity of our workforce. Likewise, we have taken steps at our parent level to formulate a more diverse Executive Board. The Diversity Counsel also seeks out mentorship opportunities for high school and college students from underserved communities.  

With respect to sustainable environmental issues, we have expanded work from home opportunities and further reduced our carbon footprint by securing smaller office space in each of our office locations and our largest office by revenue and headcount.  We also continue to work in conjunction with management at each office location to develop and deploy energy conservation, recycling, and related efforts.

As a small firm with limited resources, our overriding objective in the ESG space is to directly and measurably impact the communities we serve.