Published Research
Groundbreaking research to advance the field
New Frontiers in Value Creation: A Guide to Impact Value Creation in Collaboration with Impact Capital Managers
Learn about how strategic impact value creation approaches can drive both financial and impact performanceImpact value creation refers to the actions that investors take as owners, lenders, and influencers to enhance impact efficacy (i.e., the degree of scale, depth,...
Ten-Year Milestone Report
Introducing our Ten-Year Milestone Report, taking stock of the past, present, and future of Tideline and the impact investing industry at large.We are thrilled to announce the launch of Tideline’s Milestone Report, Ten Years of Impact, which shares our journey in...
Child-Lens Investing Discussion Paper
Truth in Climate Impact: A Tideline Guide to Best Impact Management and Labeling Practices
Learn how to turn a climate investment strategy into a climate impact strategyWhat does it mean to be a climate impact investor? Despite rigorous debate on this topic and the beginning of regulatory action, there remains widespread confusion about the difference...
Case Study: Advancing Sustainability and Diversity Through Investment
Truth in Impact: A Tideline Guide to Using the Impact Investment Label
Tideline has worked with asset allocators and managers with over $250 billion in combined impact capital under management. Learn more about how we use our proprietary Framework for Impact Labeling to help clients launch new impact products and platforms. "Truth...
ImpactAlpha – “The ABCs (and SDGs) of classification for impact investing strategies”
December 15, 2020 | Originally posted on ImpactAlpha Five years ago, we co-led a research project exploring the value of classification in impact investing, with the goal of making it easier to invest for impact across a portfolio. At the time, the publicly traded and...
ImpactAlpha – “Getting the Three Pillars of Impact and Integrity Right, Right at the Fund’s Formation”
August 18, 2020 | Originally posted on ImpactAlpha If the impact investing market is only 10% as large as it’s likely to be in 10 years, then 90% of the action is yet to come. Impact investors to date have been remarkably satisfied. At least 88% of respondents to...
Making the Mark: Investor Alignment with the Operating Principles for Impact Management
April 21, 2020 | Tideline’s new benchmark report, “Making the Mark,” evaluates investor alignment with the Operating Principles for Impact Management. View the full report here. The “Making the Mark” report includes: Tideline’s aggregated findings based on 13...
Impact Investing at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Charity
January 30, 2020 | Prepared in partnership with Tideline, this report shares learnings from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity’s impact investments. The report summarises the Charity’s distinct approach to impact investing, discusses key focus areas and highlights the...
The Double-Edged Sword of CEO Activism
Tideline White Paper: Integrity Through Verification
October 1, 2019 | A new Tideline publication introduces the firm’s approach to verifying investors’ and managers’ alignment with the International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles for Impact Management. The white paper, titled Integrity through Verification,...
Five Building Blocks for Impact Management
Mar 27, 2019 | A new report by Franklin Real Asset Advisors, developed in collaboration with Tideline, provides a guide to help investors build impact management systems that are both tailored to their strategic focus and aligned with best practices. A PDF download of...
Catalytic Capital: Unlocking More Investment and Impact
March 12, 2019 | A new Tideline report, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, explores ‘catalytic capital’ and the many ways it has been used by a variety of impact-oriented investors to fill financing gaps, enable third-party investment, and generate impact that...
The Alpha in Impact: How Operating With an Impact Objective Can Add Value for Investors
December 12, 2018 | New research from Tideline and Impact Capital Managers (ICM), a network of private fund managers committed to impact investing, shows that a social and environmental focus on investment management can, in fact, boost financial returns. The new...
The Eye Fund I, LLC: Impact Performance Review Summary Report 2018
July 10, 2018 | Tideline was engaged to provide an independent assessment of the Eye Fund I’s impact performance. This summary version of a long-form report to the Fund’s investors was prepared in order to share key learnings as a contribution to building the field of...
Investing for Global Health Impact in Product Development Partnerships
June 15, 2017 | Investing for Global Health Impact in Product Development Partnerships is a synthesis of Tideline’s research and findings from the PDP Innovative Financing Initiative, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Product Development...
Navigating Impact Investing: The Opportunity in Impact Classes
July 5, 2016 | Led by Tideline, together with Cathy Clark at Duke University, the Navigating Impact Investing project began in September 2015 as an effort to bring greater clarity to the field of impact investing, supported by Omidyar Network. The working paper...
Global Warming’s Unlikely Antidote: Why Capital Markets Hold the Key to Addressing Climate Change
The Impact Investor: Lessons in Leadership and Strategy for Collaborative Capitalism
Impact Investing 2.0: The Way Forward
Institutional Impact Investing: Practice and Policy
Impact Investments: An Emerging Class
More Resources
Unlocking Decarbonization: Opportunities and challenges facing grey-to-green strategies to drive climate impact
By Payton Dizney Swanson, Kaitlyn Fitzsimmons, Lara Gheriani, Tideline* Introduction Investors are increasingly recognizing their role in advancing the transition to a net zero economy, with many publicly committing to achieving net zero investment portfolios by...
Impact Alpha – “Impact value-creation playbooks provide X’s and O’s for generating alpha”
Impact Alpha – “After the investment and before the exit, how fund managers drive alpha through impact”
Impact Investor – “Long-term investor engagement key to maximising impact, says ICM report”
Compass Series Recap – “Navigating Impact Lenses”
This recap of Tideline’s recent Compass Series event was written by Jade Huynh. Watch the full recording here. This Compass Series discussion is dedicated to the late Suzanne Biegel, a pioneer of gender-lens investing who passed away on September 20, 2023 after a...
Compass Series Recap – “State of the Impact Investment Market”
This recap of Tideline’s recent Compass Series event was written by Yael Cohen. Watch the full recording here. At a time of both growth and momentum in impact investing as well as uncertain economic conditions, participants in Tideline's third annual State of...
The Optimism of Collective Action for Impact
By Dawn Chan, Eliza Foo, and Ben Thornley*Earlier this month, on the sidelines of Ecosperity 2023 in Singapore, we had the great privilege of convening a group of over 100 practitioners dedicated to social and environmental impact, including entrepreneurs, investors,...
Compass Series Recap – “Public Equities: The Case for Impact at Scale”
This recap of Tideline’s Compass Series event on public equities as a focus for impact investors was written by Dmitriy Ioselevich and Yael Cohen. Watch the full recording here. Pursuing impact in public equities remains something of a quandary. On the one...
Tideline submits comment letter on SEC’s proposed ESG disclosure rule
Top1000Funds – “Defining and diligencing impact funds”
Compass Series – “DEI 2.0 and why this time is different”
This recap of Tideline's Compass Series event on "Putting Diversity Promises Into Action" was written by Carol Lee and Jane Bieneman. Watch the full recording here. Despite decades of efforts to increase diversity and representation across the financial...
New Private Markets – “The bittersweet growth of the impact scene”
Pensions & Investments – “How institutional is impact investing?” (by Jane Bieneman)
This piece was originally published in Pensions & Investments. The impact investing market is gaining steam, as evidenced by nearly daily announcements of new products and entrants, not least of which is Temasek’s $500 million investment in LeapFrog in March 2021....
STATEMENT – “Tideline Managing Partner Ben Thornley and BlueMark CEO Christina Leijonhufvud Issue Statement on SEC Risk Alert and SFDR”
Tideline Managing Partner Ben Thornley and BlueMark CEO Christina Leijonhufvud today issued a joint statement in response to recent regulatory developments in the U.S. and EU aimed at clamping down on greenwashing and impact-washing in the investment management...
Compass Series Recap – “How climate-focused investors can become climate impact investors”
By Ben Thornley Tideline recently hosted a Compass Series event on Climate Investing with True Impact. The panel featured some of the world’s largest and most innovative investors in climate for a discussion on the difference between thematic investments in...
Tideline Speaks With ImpactAlpha: ‘Operating Principles Help Investors Hold Asset Managers Accountable for Impact
Impact Investing’s Next Chapter: Integrity Through Assurance
March 9, 2020 | Tideline and The Rockefeller Foundation partnered up to lead an engaging discussion on why impact verification is key to scaling the market with integrity in a virtual event entitled Impact Investing’s Next Chapter: Integrity Through Assurance. Watch...
Tideline Supports Guys and St Thomas’ Charity to Develop Impact Investment Strategy
How to Evaluate Funds That Invest in Women
Reducing Risks by Managing for Impact in Opportunity Zone Investments
An Innovative Model for Financing Affordable Eye Care Delivers
July 10, 2018 | Blindness is among the most preventable afflictions on Earth. While an estimated 253 million people worldwide are visually impaired and 36 million are completely blind – 80% of blindness is either curable or preventable. [1] The vast majority of the...
Creating an Impact Fund? Here Are Our Four Ground Rules
March 13, 2018 | Based on Tideline’s experience advising impact clients, as well as our work in traditional financial markets, we have found there’s a common set of best practices for creating a new investment fund or other vehicle, be it single bottom line or impact:...
South by Social: Austin is the Capital of Impact Entrepreneurship, Too
Investor Readiness: How Asset Owners can Prepare for Effective Impact Investing
Fulfilling the Promise of Catalytic Capital to Scale for Food Security
Ramping up Global Health Investments to Fight Diseases of Low-Income Countries
December 2017 | Tideline Partners’ Briefing
December 20, 2017 Dear Friends, As 2017 draws to a close, we wanted to thank you for your partnership and share some reflections as seen through Tideline’s recent work with leading investors, asset managers, and market builders in impact investing. We were thrilled...
The Investment Project: Mobilizing Private Investment for Development
Major Asset Managers Moving Slowly But Surely Toward Impact Investing
What a Difference a Year Makes: Tideline Grew Rapidly Reflecting Surging Interest in Impact Investing
Private Sector Investment in Global Health R&D: Spending Levels, Barriers, and Opportunities
A Seat at the Table
The Impact Management Project
Road Work Ahead: Smoothing the Flow of Impact Investing with Lane Markers and Turn Signals
Tideline Deepens Impact Investing Expertise with Strategic Hire
Be the Change: Five Steps for Transitioning into a Values-Aligned Career
Tideline Gives Path to Allocators in a Rapidly Changing Impact Investment Environment
Impact Investing Expert Proposes ‘Impact Classes’ to Parallel ‘Asset Classes’
Cracking the Code of Impact Investing
June 2016 | Tideline Partners’ Briefing
June 9, 2016 | This is the first in a series of briefings from the partners at Tideline, Christina Leijonhufvud, Ben Thornley and Kim Wright-Violich, sharing insights from our work with a diverse group of clients at the forefront of impact investing. In this edition,...
The Rapid Mainstreaming of Impact Investing
Navigating Impact Investing: The Need for Greater Clarity and Efficiency
The Launch of Tideline Marks a Significant Acceleration of Institutional Activity in Impact Investing
A Progress Report on Impact Investing
Impact Investing Through DAFS
Unlocking Decarbonization: Opportunities and challenges facing grey-to-green strategies to drive climate impact
By Payton Dizney Swanson, Kaitlyn Fitzsimmons, Lara Gheriani, Tideline* Introduction Investors are increasingly recognizing their role in advancing the transition to a net zero economy, with many publicly committing to achieving net zero investment portfolios by...
Impact Alpha – “Impact value-creation playbooks provide X’s and O’s for generating alpha”
Impact Alpha – “After the investment and before the exit, how fund managers drive alpha through impact”
Impact Investor – “Long-term investor engagement key to maximising impact, says ICM report”
Compass Series Recap – “Navigating Impact Lenses”
This recap of Tideline’s recent Compass Series event was written by Jade Huynh. Watch the full recording here. This Compass Series discussion is dedicated to the late Suzanne Biegel, a pioneer of gender-lens investing who passed away on September 20, 2023 after a...
Compass Series Recap – “State of the Impact Investment Market”
This recap of Tideline’s recent Compass Series event was written by Yael Cohen. Watch the full recording here. At a time of both growth and momentum in impact investing as well as uncertain economic conditions, participants in Tideline's third annual State of...
The Optimism of Collective Action for Impact
By Dawn Chan, Eliza Foo, and Ben Thornley*Earlier this month, on the sidelines of Ecosperity 2023 in Singapore, we had the great privilege of convening a group of over 100 practitioners dedicated to social and environmental impact, including entrepreneurs, investors,...
Compass Series Recap – “Public Equities: The Case for Impact at Scale”
This recap of Tideline’s Compass Series event on public equities as a focus for impact investors was written by Dmitriy Ioselevich and Yael Cohen. Watch the full recording here. Pursuing impact in public equities remains something of a quandary. On the one...
Tideline submits comment letter on SEC’s proposed ESG disclosure rule
Top1000Funds – “Defining and diligencing impact funds”
Compass Series – “DEI 2.0 and why this time is different”
This recap of Tideline's Compass Series event on "Putting Diversity Promises Into Action" was written by Carol Lee and Jane Bieneman. Watch the full recording here. Despite decades of efforts to increase diversity and representation across the financial...
New Private Markets – “The bittersweet growth of the impact scene”
Pensions & Investments – “How institutional is impact investing?” (by Jane Bieneman)
This piece was originally published in Pensions & Investments. The impact investing market is gaining steam, as evidenced by nearly daily announcements of new products and entrants, not least of which is Temasek’s $500 million investment in LeapFrog in March 2021....
STATEMENT – “Tideline Managing Partner Ben Thornley and BlueMark CEO Christina Leijonhufvud Issue Statement on SEC Risk Alert and SFDR”
Tideline Managing Partner Ben Thornley and BlueMark CEO Christina Leijonhufvud today issued a joint statement in response to recent regulatory developments in the U.S. and EU aimed at clamping down on greenwashing and impact-washing in the investment management...
Compass Series Recap – “How climate-focused investors can become climate impact investors”
By Ben Thornley Tideline recently hosted a Compass Series event on Climate Investing with True Impact. The panel featured some of the world’s largest and most innovative investors in climate for a discussion on the difference between thematic investments in...
Tideline Speaks With ImpactAlpha: ‘Operating Principles Help Investors Hold Asset Managers Accountable for Impact
Impact Investing’s Next Chapter: Integrity Through Assurance
March 9, 2020 | Tideline and The Rockefeller Foundation partnered up to lead an engaging discussion on why impact verification is key to scaling the market with integrity in a virtual event entitled Impact Investing’s Next Chapter: Integrity Through Assurance. Watch...
Tideline Supports Guys and St Thomas’ Charity to Develop Impact Investment Strategy
How to Evaluate Funds That Invest in Women
Reducing Risks by Managing for Impact in Opportunity Zone Investments
An Innovative Model for Financing Affordable Eye Care Delivers
July 10, 2018 | Blindness is among the most preventable afflictions on Earth. While an estimated 253 million people worldwide are visually impaired and 36 million are completely blind – 80% of blindness is either curable or preventable. [1] The vast majority of the...
Creating an Impact Fund? Here Are Our Four Ground Rules
March 13, 2018 | Based on Tideline’s experience advising impact clients, as well as our work in traditional financial markets, we have found there’s a common set of best practices for creating a new investment fund or other vehicle, be it single bottom line or impact:...
South by Social: Austin is the Capital of Impact Entrepreneurship, Too
Investor Readiness: How Asset Owners can Prepare for Effective Impact Investing
Fulfilling the Promise of Catalytic Capital to Scale for Food Security
Ramping up Global Health Investments to Fight Diseases of Low-Income Countries
December 2017 | Tideline Partners’ Briefing
December 20, 2017 Dear Friends, As 2017 draws to a close, we wanted to thank you for your partnership and share some reflections as seen through Tideline’s recent work with leading investors, asset managers, and market builders in impact investing. We were thrilled...
The Investment Project: Mobilizing Private Investment for Development
Major Asset Managers Moving Slowly But Surely Toward Impact Investing
What a Difference a Year Makes: Tideline Grew Rapidly Reflecting Surging Interest in Impact Investing
Private Sector Investment in Global Health R&D: Spending Levels, Barriers, and Opportunities
A Seat at the Table
The Impact Management Project
Road Work Ahead: Smoothing the Flow of Impact Investing with Lane Markers and Turn Signals
Tideline Deepens Impact Investing Expertise with Strategic Hire
Be the Change: Five Steps for Transitioning into a Values-Aligned Career
Tideline Gives Path to Allocators in a Rapidly Changing Impact Investment Environment
Impact Investing Expert Proposes ‘Impact Classes’ to Parallel ‘Asset Classes’
Cracking the Code of Impact Investing
June 2016 | Tideline Partners’ Briefing
June 9, 2016 | This is the first in a series of briefings from the partners at Tideline, Christina Leijonhufvud, Ben Thornley and Kim Wright-Violich, sharing insights from our work with a diverse group of clients at the forefront of impact investing. In this edition,...
The Rapid Mainstreaming of Impact Investing
Navigating Impact Investing: The Need for Greater Clarity and Efficiency
The Launch of Tideline Marks a Significant Acceleration of Institutional Activity in Impact Investing
A Progress Report on Impact Investing
Impact Investing Through DAFS
A recording of Tideline’s Currents Series event on “Bending the Curve Toward Net-Zero: Introduction to ERP Analysis” (WATCH)
A recording of Tideline’s Compass Series event on “An Inside Look at One Allocator’s Approach to Impact Fund Diligence” (WATCH)
A recording of Tideline’s Compass Series event on “The Dawn of a Learning Age in Impact Management” (WATCH)
A video recording of Tideline’s Compass Series event on “Truth in Impact: Getting to Clarity on Sustainable Investment Labeling” (WATCH)
A video recording of Tideline’s Compass Series event on “Impact Investment at the Institutional Tipping Point” (WATCH)
In this Compass Series event, Tideline was joined by asset managers, allocators, and service providers to discuss the key developments in the impact investing industry that are laying the groundwork for full-scale institutional adoption. The conversation built...
A video recording of Tideline’s Compass Series panel, “Climate Investing with True Impact” (WATCH)
This month in the Tideline Compass Series, Ben Thornley moderated a discussion with some of the world’s largest allocators and most innovative investors in climate—drawing a contrast between thematic investments in climate-related market sectors, versus true...
A video recording of the inaugural Tideline Compass Series panel, “2021 in Impact Investing: The Year of Classification” (WATCH)
In Tideline's inaugural Compass Series panel on December 15, 2020, Tideline's Ben Thornley and Duke University’s Cathy Clark reflect on five years of progress since introducing the concept of ‘impact classes’, and the increasingly essential role of impact...
Impact Investing’s Next Chapter: Integrity Through Assurance
March 9, 2020 | Tideline and The Rockefeller Foundation partnered up to lead an engaging discussion on why impact verification is key to scaling the market with integrity in a virtual event entitled Impact Investing’s Next Chapter: Integrity Through Assurance. Watch...
Tideline Speaks at HWW’s Investing for Impact Symposium 2019/
Tideline Speaks at SOCAP19
October 22 – 25, 2019 | At SOCAP19, Ben Thornley moderated a session entitled “The Time for Action and Accountability in Impact”. Panelists Diane Carol Damskey (International Finance Corporation), Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen (UNDP), Sasha Dichter (60 Decibels), Leticia...