We use necessary cookies that allow our site to work. We also set optional cookies that help us improve our website. For more information visit our cookies policy.

Announcement: Reducing Fees for Small Signatories


Quality in Impact Practice at Every Scale:
Impact Principles Reduce Fees for Small Signatories

 October 2026


Launched in 2019, the Operating Principles for Impact Management (Impact Principles or OPIM) are a global voluntary standard for integrating impact throughout the investment lifecycle. They were designed to apply to investors of every type, size, asset class, geography and strategy. For asset owners and allocators, the Impact Principles provide a common reference point for assessing managers’ impact practices. Because the Impact Principles apply across the full market, allocators can use them consistently to build diverse impact portfolios with greater confidence in credible impact practice behind each investment, from large institutional strategies to specialist and emerging managers.
  


The reach of the Impact Principles has grown with the market. Today, approximately 180 Signatories, representing over USD 680 billion in impact assets, have aligned with the Impact Principles, and nearly 40% of them manage more than USD 1 billion in impact assets. This is a meaningful signal: rigorous impact management is becoming an expectation in mainstream impact investing markets, and Signatories are demonstrating that it can be credibly implemented at scale across diverse strategies.



Scale, however, is only part of the picture. Quality impact practice should be visible among asset managers of all sizes, and smaller and emerging managers often drive innovation and serve segments that larger capital does not reach. Adopting the standard and demonstrating the credibility of their impact practice can help these managers raise larger pools of capital and drive greater outcomes.

We want the Impact Principles to be representative of, and accessible to, asset managers across the full market. To that end, we are making two changes:
  

  • Reduced registration fee. For prospective Signatories with less than USD 250 million in total assets under management, the one-time registration fee is reduced from USD 5,000 to USD 2,500 effective immediately.  

  • Annual filing fee waiver. For Signatories with less than USD 100 million in total assets under management, the annual filing fee is waived for 2027 and 2028. We hope to continue the waiver after reviewing its effect and feasibility over this period.  

These changes are intended to support smaller managers to become and remain as Signatories without changing the expectations for their impact practice as Signatories. We will continue working with ecosystem partners on further ways to support capacity building and help managers of every size across the market pursue excellence in impact management. 

Managers interested in becoming a Signatory, current Signatories who may qualify for these changes, and ecosystem partners with interest in collaborating can contact the Secretariat at [email protected].