Rally Assets
Rally Funds Annual Report
Land Acknowledgement
A note on our relationship with this land and those who have been here much longer than we have
We consider ‘the land Rally Assets is on’ as the whole of this country. Turtle Island. Our office is in Toronto; staff live across the country; specifically, around Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. The impact fund managers and product issuers we work with are based throughout the country, as are our clients.
We know this is not our traditional land. Most of us came to Canada very recently, and those whose families came generations ago know that their settler ancestors arrived in a country that had been inhabited for thousands of years by people collectively called Indigenous peoples.
Our staff all have deep personal connections to the land of their heritage and understand how powerfully that connection shapes who they are. Reflecting on that helps us appreciate the horror of the action of settlers and settler governments to sever Indigenous peoples from their lands, their livelihoods, their cultures and more.
Acknowledging the truth of Canada’s difficult Indigenous-settler past, we work today to build Indigenous-settler relationships that heal, nurture and strengthen so that the future is better for us all.
Table of Contents
This report looks at the impact of Rally Global Equities Impact Fund and Rally Total Impact Fund for the year ended December 31, 2023. The Impact Performance Statements are a companion to this report.
1. Opening Letter
2. Portfolio Overview
3. Performance
4. Themes
5. Thematic spotlights
6. Systems
7. SDGs
8. Operational Practices
9. Methodology
10. Disclaimer
Upkar Arora
Chief Executive Officer
Rally Assets
Kelly Gauthier
President
Rally Assets
Rally Assets in 2023
2023 was a significant year for Rally Assets as a firm. We are pleased with the year’s developments and grateful for the ongoing support of board members, advisors, staff and clients, as well as sector allies.
Opening Letter
We hope you enjoy reading this first annual impact report for our two impact funds, Rally Global Equities Impact Fund (RGEIF) and Rally Total Impact Fund (RTIF) – our ‘Rally Funds’. This report covers the year ended December 31, 2023. An annual report is not required for our funds but we created this report for fund unitholders, and have made it available on our website, due to two key events in 2023:
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- 2023 marked the third full year of the funds, as they both launched in June 2020. After three years of performance, we believe the funds are sufficiently mature to warrant a first public report
- In 2023, we extensively reviewed and revised how we measure and report on impact with the Rally Inclusive Impact Methodology. We wanted to showcase this new demonstration of impact using RGEIF and RTIF
Rally Funds were created in response to investor demand and to gaps in the market. While the impact investing sector in Canada has matured and become more complex since fund launch, it is still very much the case that the Rally Funds have uncommon characteristics such as a dual mandate of impact and returns, a global focus, concentrated approach, active strategy in support of all 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and, in the case of RTIF, is a multi-asset-class impact fund.
As this report demonstrates, Rally Funds are making significant and meaningful contributions to positive social and environmental outcomes.
We welcome your feedback on this report.
Upkar Arora
Chief Executive Officer
Rally Assets
Kelly Gauthier
President
Rally Assets
Opening Letter
We hope you enjoy reading this first annual impact report for our two impact funds, Rally Global Equities Impact Fund (RGEIF) and Rally Total Impact Fund (RTIF). This report covers the year ended December 31, 2023. An annual report is not required for our funds but we created this report for fund unitholders, and have made it publicly available for interested members of the public, due to two key events in 2023:
-
- 2023 marked the third full year of the funds, as they both launched in June 2020. After three years of performance, we believe the funds are sufficiently mature to warrant a first public report
- In 2023, we extensively reviewed and revised how we measure and report on impact with the Rally Inclusive Impact Methodology. We wanted to showcase this new demonstration of impact to a wide audience
We created these funds in response to investor demand and to gaps in the market. While the impact investing sector in Canada has matured and become more complex since fund launch, it is still very much the case that the Rally Funds have uncommon characteristics such as a dual mandate of impact and returns, a global focus, concentrated approach, active strategy in support of all 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and, in the case of RTIF, is a multi-asset-class impact fund.
As the following pages demonstrate, Rally Funds are making significant and meaningful contributions to positive social and environmental outcomes.
We welcome your feedback on this report.
Rally Assets in 2023
2023 was a significant year for Rally Assets as a firm. We are pleased with the year’s developments and grateful for the ongoing support of board members, advisors, staff and clients, as well as sector allies.
Selected to Manage the Social Finance Fund
In May 2023, the Government announced it had selected Realize Capital Partners as one of three fund-of-funds managers for its Social Finance Fund, an innovative large investment program aiming to advance social equity and strengthen the social finance market. Realize Capital Partners is a joint venture between us and Relay Ventures.
Assets under Management Tripled
Assets under management (AUM) increased from $83 million in 2022 to $254 million by December 31.
AUM is total capital managed, committed and allocated for our client portfolios.
Service Offering became More Focused
At the end of 2023, we closed our business offering of stand-alone advisory services in order to focus on our growing group of asset management clients, providing them with a comprehensive service of portfolio design, build and management.
Prepared for Future Growth
We grew the number of clients with custom impact portfolios by 10%; we expanded our team by 50% to meet growing business needs; and we implemented new portfolio and research management software to scale our services.
1. Opening Letter
6. Systems
2. Portfolio Overview
7. SDGs
3. Performance
8. Operational Practices
4. Themes
9. Methodology
5. Thematic Spotlights
10. Disclaimer
Only accredited investors are eligible to invest in our impact funds and this webpage is meant only for accredited investors.
RGEIF and RTIF are meant only for accredited investors. Please confirm that you are an accredited investor before continuing.
If you don’t know if you qualify as an accredited investor, please consult your financial or legal advisor or National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions.
Investment in our impact funds is available only to accredited investors and other persons to whom securities may be distributed without a prospectus.
Under National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions (“NI 45-106”) “accredited investor” means:
(a) A Canadian financial institution, or a Schedule III bank [Except in Ontario. In Ontario, a financial institution described in paragraph 1, 2 or 3 of subsection 73.1(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario)]
(b) The Business Development Bank of Canada incorporated under the Business Development Bank of Canada Act (Canada)
(c) A subsidiary of any person referred to in paragraphs (a) or (b), if the person owns all of the voting securities of the subsidiary, except the voting securities required by law to be owned by directors of that subsidiary
(d) A person registered under the securities legislation of a jurisdiction of Canada as an adviser or a dealer
(e) An individual registered under the securities legislation of a jurisdiction of Canada as a representative of a person referred to in paragraph (d)
(e.1) An individual formerly registered under the securities legislation of a jurisdiction of Canada, other than an individual formerly registered solely as a representative of a limited market dealer under one or both of the Securities Act (Ontario) or the Securities Act (Newfoundland and Labrador)
(f) The Government of Canada or a jurisdiction of Canada, or any crown corporation, agency or wholly owned entity of the Government of Canada or a jurisdiction of Canada
(g) A municipality, public board or commission in Canada and a metropolitan community, school board, the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l’île de Montréal or an intermunicipal management board in Québec
(h) Any national, federal, state, provincial, territorial or municipal government of or in any foreign jurisdiction, or any agency of that government
(i) A pension fund that is regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (Canada), a pension commission or similar regulatory authority of a jurisdiction of Canada
(j) An individual who, either alone or with a spouse, beneficially owns financial assets having an aggregate realizable value that before taxes, but net of any related liabilities, exceeds $1,000,000
(j.1) An individual who beneficially owns financial assets having an aggregate realizable value that, before taxes but net of any related liabilities, exceeds $5,000,000
(k) An individual whose net income before taxes exceeded $200,000 in each of the two most recent calendar years or whose net income before taxes combined with that of a spouse exceeded $300,000 in each of the two most recent calendar years and who, in either case, reasonably expects to exceed that net income level in the current calendar year
(l) An individual who, either alone or with a spouse, has net assets of at least $5,000,000
(m) A person, other than an individual or an investment fund, that has net assets of at least $5,000,000 as shown on its most recently prepared financial statements
(n) An investment fund that distributes or has distributed its securities only to:
A person that is or was an accredited investor at the time of the distribution
A person that acquires or acquired securities in the circumstances referred to in sections 2.10 [Minimum amount investment], or 2.19 [Additional investment in investment funds] of NI 45-106, or
A person described in paragraph (i) or (ii) that acquires or acquired securities under section 2.18 [Investment fund reinvestment] of NI 45-106
(o) An investment fund that distributes or has distributed securities under a prospectus in a jurisdiction of Canada for which the regulator or, in Québec, the securities regulatory authority, has issued a receipt
(p) A trust company or trust corporation registered or authorized to carry on business under the Trust and Loan Companies Act (Canada) or under comparable legislation in a jurisdiction of Canada or a foreign jurisdiction, acting on behalf of a fully managed account managed by the trust company or trust corporation, as the case may be
(q) A person acting on behalf of a fully managed account managed by that person, if that person is registered or authorized to carry on business as an adviser or the equivalent under the securities legislation of a jurisdiction of Canada or a foreign jurisdiction
(r) A registered charity under the Income Tax Act (Canada) that, in regard to the trade, has obtained advice from an eligibility adviser or an adviser registered under the securities legislation of the jurisdiction of the registered charity to give advice on the securities being traded
(s) An entity organized in a foreign jurisdiction that is analogous to any of the entities referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) or paragraph (i) in form and function
(t) A person in respect of which all of the owners of interests, direct, indirect or beneficial, except the voting securities required by law to be owned by directors, are persons that are accredited investors
(u) An investment fund that is advised by a person registered as an adviser or a person that is exempt from registration as an adviser
(v) A person that is recognized or designated by the securities regulatory authority or, except in Ontario and Québec, the regulator as an accredited investor
(w) A trust established by an accredited investor for the benefit of the accredited investor’s family members of which a majority of the trustees are accredited investors and all of the beneficiaries are the accredited investor’s spouse, a former spouse of the accredited investor or a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild of that accredited investor, of that accredited investor’s spouse or of that accredited investor’s former spouse.