With approximately $450 million under management Conscious Investment Management (CIM), established in 2019, is now recognised as one of the largest impact investment fund managers in Australia.
“The unique thing about CIM is that we focus on funding not for profits, who we call our ‘Impact Partners’,” says Matthew Tominc, Chief Investment Officer. “We fund them to do what they do, better.”
“We use a model of investing in social and sustainability-focused assets managed by our Impact Partners. In this way, we make financial investments while ensuring assets are operated for tangible, positive impact.”
“We recognise that in all the areas we invest, we don't have current lived experience,” Matthew explains.
“It’s not for us as finance people, to look at a spreadsheet and say, ‘New housing should be built there, and it should look like this.’ Instead, our job is to focus on our chosen areas of impact and try to get to know every not-for-profit in those spaces. Then, we find opportunities to provide funding that puts more assets in their hands and lets them focus on supporting their beneficiaries.”
While CIM’s impact spans social infrastructure, environment and climate, and health and education, the largest component of its work is social and affordable housing. The Wyatt Trust has been an investor in CIM’s social and affordable housing funds since 2021.
Wyatt’s first investment of $500,000 with CIM helped fund 260 dwellings that currently provide a home for 434 tenants.
As a cornerstone investor in CIM’s latest Social Housing Fund, Wyatt’s contribution of $1.5 million was catalytic in helping CIM raise $181.5 million for investment into new social and affordable housing opportunities. Early support from investors like Wyatt is critical, Matthew says.
“When you’re setting up something new, that $1.5 million from Wyatt helps makes the fund real. It’s an outsized contribution, because that early $1.5 million brings in additional support and interest from other investors.
“It shows the catalytic ability of philanthropy to demonstrate what good looks like,” Matthew continues.
“That doesn't mean being reckless, or backing every new idea,” Matthew says, “but there is a certain thoughtfulness required which Wyatt really demonstrates with its investment decisions.”
By CIM’s calculations, every dollar contributed by early investors in the social and affordable housing fund catalysed $36 flowing into new housing. It’s a compelling proposition that Matthew says will attract even bigger investors.
“In 10 years’ time, the majority of funding for social and affordable housing won’t be coming from philanthropic foundations, it's going to
come from large infrastructure funds and superannuation funds.
"To set a model for what good looks like is the job of an impact investor
and impact capital really speaks to philanthropy's ability to serve as
risk capital."
Ultimately, this is CIM’s reason for being, Matthew says.
“We exist to turn over rocks that no one's looking at and do the hard graft of taking these sectors that aren't being funded and working
out a way to fund them. Once we do that, we can move on to the next thing, and x, y, z, international institution with their billions of
dollars of capital can come after us to provide funding to a sector we have demonstrated to be investible.”
This story features in The Wyatt Trust: Perspectives on Investing report.
