There are a wide range of investment strategies you can choose to suit the blend of impact, risk and returns you want. Snowball is at the centre of these options. We give you a balance of measurable impact and attractive financial returns. 

When we talk about impact, we mean a change in an outcome caused by an organisation. Impact management is the process of identifying the impacts that an investment has on people and the planet, then reducing the negative and increasing the positive.

We think investment which integrates impact, risk and return is the future of all investing.

Impact investors have diverse financial return expectations. Some intentionally invest for below-market-rate returns, in line with their strategic objectives. Others pursue attractive returns, which benchmark comparable non-impact products. Most investors surveyed in 

GIIN's 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey

 pursue attractive market-rate returns. A comprehensive review of available research to date on the financial returns of impact investments is available in GIIN’s report, 

GIIN Perspectives: Evidence on the Financial Performance of Impact Investments

Snowball offers measurable impact and attractive market-rate financial returns.

 is not designed to create positive outcomes, it simply aims to manage environmental, social and governance risks to the financial profitability of the company. It does not intend to find solutions or innovations for the world’s problems. This is why you will often find names of companies you would not consider to be impact solutions in the underlying holdings of ESG funds – like Big Tech, tobacco or even fossil fuels. They are scored based on how they improve the way they manage ESG risk to their financial bottom line.

You can describe this as thinking about the impact of the world on the company, not the impact of the company on the world.

 allows you to find, and back, investments which have solutions for social and environmental problems. You cannot have an impact investment without first setting the intent, and then showing the contribution (or additionality) and then measuring what impact you are having. (Impact investments will have good ESG risk management as a base line, before they go further and due diligence and actively manage investments for the impact they have on the world). 

Debates about ESG investing have heated up, and can act as a barrier to you investing your money in line with your values. In an era of impact washing, its important to demand information from your investment managers so you can be confident in the impact claims you're presented with.

Intentionality is the intention of an investor to generate a positive social or environmental impact alongside financial returns.

Additionality happens if the positive impact that would not have occurred anyway without the investment. To understand this better, you could ask yourself questions like: What impact did I achieve with my investment? What difference did my investment make to the impact generated? Would this impact have happened without my investment?”

Measurability is accountability and transparency in the reporting of the financial, social and environmental performance of investments.

Why impact investing?

Balanced investing for a better future

Frequently asked questions

How do impact investments perform financially?

What is the difference between ESG and impact investment?

How do ‘intentionality’, ‘additionality’ and ‘measurability’ help get to the heart of impact claims?

Useful articles

How we measure impact

Snowball CIO Insights | Q2 2023