Endeavoring to "do more" with my money and my life, I've been an impact investor for 15 years. Back in the '80's at business school, I learned about the equation: value = benefits – price. And 7 years ago, while in Divinity School studying ethics, I was able to gain a bit more clarity on values. Matterings. Impact investing has allowed me to integrate what I have learned about value and values. The MBA and the ethics training meet.
Impact investing embraces this idea. It looks for opportunities to improve social and environmental situations while at the same time producing a financial return for investors on a par with normal investment opportunities. The Global Impact Investor Network (GIIN) is doing a lot of solid work to expand the definitions and concepts of impact investing. Their webpage explains the role they fulfill.
Last summer's communications associate at Acumen, Emma Vaughn, kindly offered MBA students and job seekers "7 Tips to Landing a Job in Impact Investing," a list whose recommendations continue to provide valuable guidance in the search for a meaningful career in the field of impact investment.
Sonen Capital supports the G8 Summit's efforts to catalyse impact investing. Prime Minister Cameron will convene global leaders from government, civil society and the private sector to evaluate potential and practicality of using "social impact investing".
Last spring, while preparing for a business case challenge, I learned about a new investment approach that blends social and environmental impact with financial return–Impact Investing. I happened to be part of a team that was trying to help scale Habitat for Humanity to help serve 50 million people in 10 years, and we were wrapping our minds around the problem: "how can we make sure there is capital for our solution?"
On March 20th, Presidio Presents featured a panel of entrepreneurs at the leading edge of impact investing in conversation with Presidio President and CEO, William Shutkin.
Helping smallholder farmers in Ghana get the best price for their crop. Encouraging sustainability-minded fish suppliers to create new products for the market. Collaborating with world-class biotech companies to develop vaccines for the developing world. While these are efforts that take place in the for-profit world, they are some of the strategies that foundations are beginning to embrace to pursue their charitable missions.
Author Jim Finkelstein says his son is worried about the future: and for good reason. The 21-year-old college graduate and member of the Millennial generation — those born between 1978 and 2000 — recently came across research concluding that, by 2050, global warming will have wrought calamitous changes on the planet. "We need to do something about it now," he told his dad over dinner.
From age ten, I was the oldest male in our household of six. Maybe for that reason, I have never liked submitting to authority; since I had to figure out how to do so many things myself, I resisted others telling me what to do. Though I have had many great bosses, mentors, and friends along the way (many of them described in this Gratitude series), I never had a coach until I met Tom Bird.
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