The Editor's Post: The impact potential of family offices: their wealth – and their voice

“Years ago, wealthy families might have said, ‘We’ll sign the Giving Pledge and become the best strategic philanthropists we can.’ Today, that standard isn’t good enough.”

So says Leisel Pritzker Simmons, who set up Blue Haven Initiative with her husband in 2012, one of the first family offices set up with impact investing as a primary focus. Our associate editor, Anna Patton, talked to her about her priorities and motivations.

Pritzker Simmons, whose family is a majority owner of the Hyatt hotel chain, aims to influence others to follow her path. This is why she co-founded The ImPact, a global network of families which focus on values-led investment. She also works to encourage more of her peers to engage with policymakers. And she’s campaigning for a wealth tax – which doesn’t always make her popular with the rest of her family, she says.

At a time when questions are being raised about whether there is enough capital being committed to impact, Pritzker Simmons is positive. “Impact investing has permeated into the family office space,” she says. 

According to figures from the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), less than 1% of global impact assets under management are from family offices. As Laura Joffre points out in her latest report from last week’s AVPN annual conference, many in Asia hope that family offices will play a more significant role in the near future, particularly in providing much-needed catalytic capital. We hear similar hopes from other parts of the world too.

It’s notable that Pritzker Simmons is on the younger side of those involved in family offices. She was in her 20s when she launched Blue Haven. Fernando Scodro, whose family office is Grupo Baobá in Brazil, told us in an interview a little while ago how he had to translate (literally from English to Portuguese) impact investing concepts into a language that the older generation could understand. He predicted a “massive change” as younger generations took over their families’ wealth, but pointed out that it would be “one of those slow-moving tides, because generational shift doesn’t happen overnight”.

As Pritzker Simmons argues, family offices can have greater impact, faster, not just by mobilising their funding for impact, but by also raising their voice. GIIN’s 2024 report, Sizing the Impact Investing Market, highlights the importance of the policy environment for shaping investment decisions. As Pritzker Simmons points out: “Business has a very loud voice in setting policy agendas…But typically fund managers who run impact funds haven’t spoken to their legislators.” 

Perhaps it’s time for more of the wealth holders to speak out.

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Top image: Freepik.