The RIA Releases its 2020 Annual Report

June 23rd, 2021

The Responsible Investment Association (RIA) is pleased to announce the release of its 2020 annual report. The report summarizes the organization’s progress along its five strategic priorities for achieving the RIA’s overarching goal of driving the adoption of responsible investing (RI) in Canada’s retail and institutional markets.

The year 2020 was a challenging year many organizations, including the RIA. As the pandemic escalated in March of last year, we pivoted to a remote work environment and cancelled numerous projects and events, including our annual conference. Thanks to our committed team and our supportive members, we were able to rapidly adapt and deliver the 2020 RIA Virtual Conference, which hosted a record-setting 940 attendees.

In 2020, RIA membership continued to grow across both organizational and individual segments. We finished 2020 with 360 individual members, up from 271 a year prior, and our organizational membership grew from 128 to 136 over the same period. Combined, our total membership grew from 399 to 496 during 2020 – a growth rate of 24.3%.

At the end of 2019, we had granted a total of 897 credentials to professionals in our RIAC, RIPC and RIS programs. By the end of 2020, this figure grew to 1736, nearly doubling our cumulative figure within one year. This growth is driven primarily by strong uptake of our Responsible Investment Specialist (RIS) program among retail advisors.

The RIA’s five strategic priorities:

  1. Educate: We will continue to promote education for the industry and the broader market.
  2. Catalyze: We will play a leadership role in catalyzing market development and promoting market integrity in Canada with respect to RI.
  3. Advocate: We will advance a policy/regulatory environment that is conducive to RI.
  4. Build: We will continue to build our brand and reputation as the hub and leading voice for RI in Canada.
  5. Grow: We will continue to focus on growing our financial and human capital resources to strengthen our capacity..

The Annual Report summarizes our work toward delivering on these priorities in 2020. Download the full report here.

About the Responsible Investment Association
The Responsible Investment Association (RIA) is a nonprofit, membership-based organization dedicated to the advancement of responsible investment in Canada. The RIA’s membership is composed of over 400 institutional investors and investment professionals who practice and support responsible investing. To learn more about the RIA, please visit www.riacanada.ca.