About the Endowment Impact Benchmark

The Endowment Impact Benchmark (EIB) is an assessment and ratings framework that enables endowments to earn recognition for their commitment to sustainable and impact investing.

Indicate Interest in Participating in the EIB

2023 Pilot Results

In 2023, the Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) completed a successful pilot to test the EIB.

Participating endowments found the verification process effective and the feedback and recommendations they received to be valuable to their ongoing processes related to sustainable, mission-aligned, impact investing.

Learn more about the participating endowments and results of the pilot in this summary report:

Read the Report on the 2023 Pilot

Why An ‘Impact’ Benchmark

“All investing has an impact that is largely opaque to the investor, and I think that the work of our field, in part, is to make that impact, positive and negative…transparent to the investor so that the investor can choose.” 

Fran Seegull, President, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance

The Endowment Impact Benchmark is named in reference to the impact – both positive and negative – that all investments have. Any endowment can participate in the EIB, regardless of their approach to sustainable investing. Our framework is inclusive of all sustainable investing strategies and approaches, including but not limited to positive screening, negative screening, ESG integration, and impact investing.

The assessment endowments complete is comprised of four components: Strategy, Management, Governance and Transparency, and is intended to provide a robust framework for understanding and evaluating social and environmental considerations in the context of endowment management.

We’ve partnered with BlueMark, the leading provider of independent impact verification and intelligence for the impact and sustainable investing markets, on this project. The BlueMark Team guides participants through the entire Benchmark engagement, including Learning, Assessment, and Review phases.

Why Participate


Participation in the Endowment Impact Benchmark offers unique benefits:

  • Learn and improve on sustainable investing practices
  • Gain recognition as a leader in sustainable investing  
  • Receive high-value recommendations from BlueMark, the leading impact investing verification provider, on improving sustainable investing policies
  • Access aggregated data and benchmarking relative to other participants

Timeline & Expectations



We are recruiting our next cohort of participating endowments on a rolling basis throughout 2024. The total time commitment will be  5 – 10 hours over a 4-week window, starting at any time between February and October of 2024.

An overview of what is expected over the course of the engagement is as follows:

Week 1-2: Learn (Time Commitment: Varies by Endowment)

  • Following a kickoff call with BlueMark, the endowment will complete the 30-question EIB questionnaire and submit supporting documents and data to the BlueMark team.

Week 3: Assess (Time Commitment: 1-2 hours)

  • BlueMark will schedule a 45-minute interview with appropriate endowment staff and conduct an in-depth assessment of the endowment’s answers to the questionnaire.

Week 4: Review  (Time Commitment: 1 hour)                                      

  • BlueMark will prepare a detailed presentation summarizing the endowment’s EIB score and other relevant findings.

Contact

About the Team

About the EIB Advisory Committee


The EIB was developed in consultation with an Advisory Committee of experts in the field, who continue to provide feedback on the direction and approach of the EIB.

Members of the Committee are:

  • Angela Outlaw-Matheny, Director of Investment Staff & Diverse Manager Equity, Crewcial Partners
  • George Suttles, Executive Director, Commonfund Institute
  • Ian Monroe, Founder, Climate Positive Investment Alliance
  • Lu Yao, Associate Portfolio Manager, University of Toronto Asset Management
  • Tracy Filosa, Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
  • Delicia Nahman, Sustainability Director, Lafayette College
  • Julian Dautremont, Director of Programs, AASHE (*STARS)
  • Kelly Green, Institutional Consultant, Graystone Consulting
  • Joe Biernat, Trustee Emeritus, Gettysburg College
  • David Loehwing, VP, Sustainable Investing, Impax Asset Management
  • Laura Weeks, UN Principles for Responsible Investment
  • Jeff Mindlin, CIO, Arizona State University Foundation
  • Mike McCreless, Executive Director, Impact Frontiers (*Impact Management Project)
  • Dianne Dillon-Ridgley, Board Chair, Crane Institute of Sustainability
  • Tamara Larsen, Partner, Mercer
  • Gabe Rissman, Founder, YourStake
  • Garrett Ashley, Vice Chancellor Emeritus, California State University
  • Dorien Nunez, President, OMNI Research
  • Bhakti Mirchandani, Steering Committee Member, IADEI
  • Anthony Rust, Trustee, Warren Wilson College
  • Tim Carter, President, Second Nature

About The Crane Institute of Sustainability

Crane is a 501(c)(3)  non-profit organization that promotes leadership for sustainability. Our team and networks have deep experience in leading transformational change to create a healthy, just, and sustainable society. We work collaboratively across organizations, and across sectors to promote a whole-systems approach to sustainability. Crane houses two Initiatives, The Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) and the Endowment Impact Benchmark (EIB).

About BlueMark

BlueMark is a leading provider of impact verification services for investors and companies. Founded in 2020, BlueMark’s mission is to “strengthen trust in impact investing.” BlueMark’s verification methodologies draw on a range of industry standards, frameworks, and regulations, including the Impact Management Project, the Operating Principles for Impact Management, the Principles for Responsible Investment, SDG Impact, and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.

We are grateful to the following funders for providing support for the Endowment Impact Benchmark:

Photos by Olena Bohovyk on Unsplash