Invest with Values

The Investor's Gateway to Positive Change

The Investor's Gateway to Positive Change

Global Sustain: 3rd ESG Responsible Investments, Green Finance & Brands Forum

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 Global Sustain organised with great success in a full hall for 3rd consecutive year in cooperation and partnership with Forum for Responsible Investment (FNG), Investment Bank Berlin (IBB) and International Bankers Forum (IBF) the 3rd ESG Responsible Investments, Green Finance & Brands Forum 2018 (http://sustainabilityforum.de/) in Berlin on 26.9.2018 at the Conference Center of Investment Bank Berlin, with […]

Sustainable Investors Look to UN SDGs for Future Profits

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The socially responsible investment industry is exploding. By any measure, the growth is exponential, and increasing rapidly. The reasons are straightforward: Sustainable investing is increasingly seen as a superior methodology to manage risk and drive returns. A few numbers tell the story. Socially responsible assets under management (AUM) are estimated at $8.7 trillion as of 2016—a […]

Buy The Block Empowers Black Communities to Invest in Themselves

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In this age of wealth inequality, runaway development and gentrification, it’s easy for communities to feel powerless in the face of rapid change. Lynn Smith founded Buy The Block, a real estate crowdfunding portal and the first portal that is African American-owned, to help change that dynamic. Smith (pictured above) has invested in real estate since […]

A Fresh Resource for ESG-Oriented Financial Advisors

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One of the gurus of ESG investing has recently launched a new service for financial advisors (FAs) who want to integrate Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into their investment process.  He has created a site called “Sustainable Investing” and filled it with content about ESG investing.  Those who subscribe (there is a three month […]

Spirit Rising: Toward a More Just Economy

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These Days Whatever you have to say, leave the roots on, let them dangle   And the dirt Just to make clear where they come from. —Charles Olson We stand at an important moment in the flow of time, and what matters most now is that those who can, will stand together, not because there […]

How One Solar Company Transitioned to Worker Ownership

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Solar Company Powers Up With Employee-Ownership Program Inclusive Economy Challenge Served as Framework for Business Restructuring What is it with solar companies? They seem to be among the leaders in sharing ownership with workers—see Namaste Solar, South Mountain Company, and PV Squared, for example. The latest convert is Technicians for Sustainability (TFS), a Tucson-based solar energy installation company and […]

Weekly Impact Investment Market Update

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Impact Investing & ESG Why Foundations Should Step Up their Game in Impact Investing There’s a growing number of people in the world of social entrepreneurship focused on not just building impact-oriented companies, but on creating a more fundamental systemic change. Impact Investment: Private Equity Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Hasn’t Been Impact investing […]

Colleges and Universities and Global Sustainability – Many Higher Ed Institutions Are Addressing the 21st Century’s Great Societal Challenges in Many Ways in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon thinks that institutions of higher learning are “the leading torch bearers for global sustainability.”  The world’s universities, adds the Study International organization team: “…Universities play a vital role in helping us understand climate change…” The Study International Staff looks at the roles of universities in addressing climate change challenges in […]

Book Review: “Can Finance Save The World?”

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Book Review: “Can Finance Save The World?” Jan. 30, 2018 12:44 PM ET Hazel Henderson Green Economy, Circular Economy, energy, natural resources Ethical Markets SUMMARY Former banker Bertrand Badré aims to re-direct global finance toward   the common good. This visionary book’s foreword is by French President Emmanuel Macron. Britain’s Gordon Brown also supports Badré’s vision […]

Women-Owned Businesses Surge, Led by Black and Latina Owners

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Women are creating more businesses than their male counterparts, and African American and Latina women are driving that trend. However, women, especially non-white women, still lag in  revenue and job creation. Those are some of the top line findings from the 2018 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, an annual report commissioned by American Express and prepared […]

Water Shortages Linked to Violence, Poverty

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A Boko Haram bombing, February 6, 2015, (Photo courtesy Diariocritico de Venezuela) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis STOCKHOLM, Sweden, August 27, 2018 (Maximpact.com News) – More nature-based solutions are urgently needed to avoid a violent global water crisis, warn the hosts of World Water Week 2018, which opened Sunday in Stockholm, attracting government […]

Fair Trade Clothing Company Grows Fast and Well

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When Kate Fisher and Henry Schwab, the owners of Synergy Organic Clothing, received their first order from Whole Foods Market in 2014, they were thrilled. The husband-and-wife team had sold their organic cotton clothing in their three retail stores and at festival booths nationwide for years, all the while aspiring to a bigger stage. So […]

10 Takeaways from Barclays’ Green Frontiers Conference

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Barclays’ first green finance conference, held at London’s Royal Geographical Society, brought together speakers from business, finance and government to explore how innovation and investment can tackle climate change. The conference was an example of what Rhian-Mari Thomas, Chair of Barclays’ Green Banking Council, calls “our convening power, that can bring together different parties to […]

Noted Community Capital Lawyers Launch Crowdfund Mainstreet

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With more than 40 approved funding portals for Regulation Crowdfunding, the launch of a new portal might elicit a yawn. But Crowdfund Mainstreet, which debuts on Friday, has a unique pedigree—and a mission to match. The Oakland, CA-based portal is the creation of a pair of lawyers-Jenny Kassan and Michelle Thimesch-who have been on the front […]

Family Office Forum on Impact Investing, San Francisco, September 12-13th, 2018

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Prestel & Partner launches its first Family Office Forum in the US, September 12th & 13th in San Francisco, an exchange between family offices, major private investors, other wealth owners, and select few partners with topical expertise. “We bring together 100+ Family Offices and Ultra-High Net-Worth Individuals (UHNWIs) to each forum and our participants attend our events to gain knowledge and […]

Weekly Impact Investment Market Update

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Impact Investing & ESG To Invest for Impact, We Need to Start by Agreeing What ‘Impact’ Means  Michele Giddens, partner at Bridges Fund Management, explains how the Impact Management Project is the first sector-wide effort to produce a commonly-recognized convention for analyzing and talking about impact. State of the Small & Growing Business Sector- 2017 […]

There’s a new way for Delaware companies to highlight their sustainability chops. Will it be meaningful?

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By Lois Yurow Delaware companies that are focused on sustainability will soon have a new way to demonstrate their dedication. Effective October 1, any Delaware “entity”—a term that encompasses corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, statutory trusts, and certain associations—may elect to apply for a so-called “certificate of adoption of transparency and sustainability standards.” The newly […]

Climate Financing Hits Seven-year High

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Climate Displacement in Bangladesh: The Jamuna River has swollen from heavier than usual monsoon rainfall causing severe flooding on the islands. Women on Dakkin Patil Bariare are forced to wade across waterlogged land. August 2011 (Photo by Stuart Matthews) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis WASHINGTON, DC, August 2, 2018 (Maximpact.com News) – The […]

What We’ve Learned in 20 Years

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We’re working against a hard, ingrained problem that’s existed since before we were founded – it’s the problem of building and shaping an economy that first and foremost creates good-quality jobs. In the introduction to PCV’s first social impact report from 1999, our founders Bud Colligan and Penelope Douglas wrote, “No one could ask for […]

Community Development Loan Funds: An Effective Partner for Local Impact Investing

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Bonny Moellenbrock, LOCUS’ advisor, shares insights on how Community Development Loan Funds (CDLFs) can be used for impact investing. This spring, the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) and investment firm Symbiotics released The Financial Performance of Impact Investing Through Private Debt, the latest in a series of reports benchmarking impact investing opportunities in different asset […]

About Sustainability Ratings: CPAs Are Being Educated by Their Profession’s Journal – A Good First Effort to Push Information to All Levels of CPAs

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The professional CPAs working inside a public company, or in the outside accounting firm working with a company may or may not yet be involved in assisting corporate managers in responding to a growing number of third-party surveys focused on the company’s ESG strategies, actions and achievements.  Responses to these periodic surveys and engagements by […]

Weekly Impact Investment Market Update

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Impact Investing & ESG The Rise of ESG & Sustainable Governance in Blockchain A changing of the guard is taking place right now, as the Baby Boomer generation moves into retirement and Millennials form a growing proportion of total capital investments. The Rise of B Corps Highlights the Emergence of a New Way of Doing […]

Sustainability & ESG Trends in View – The G&A Institute Team Closely Monitors Developments For You

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Every week G&A Institute assembles the value-added content that our team gathers for you as we closely monitor trends and developments in corporate sustainability, corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, sustainable investing, and related topics and issues.  Our Editor-in-Chief Ken Cynar leads the daily effort and you see the results of his work in each issue of Highlights […]

50 Farms and No Regrets

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Iroquois Valley Farms Organic Farmland REIT Iroquois Valley Farms has reached a milestone: This spring we added the 50th farm to our portfolio. Our farmland REIT — honored as a “Best for the World” company from B Labs — provides secure land tenure for 35 farm families working nearly 9,000 acres of farmland. More families […]

Is JOBS Act 3.0 About to Become Reality?

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Investment crowdfunding may finally get the fixes that advocates have long called for. On Wednesday, a sweeping collection of bipartisan bills known collectively as the JOBS Act 3.0 passed the House of Representatives with broad support. The package now moves to the Senate. Sponsored by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Ranking […]

Business and Investors “Crucial” to Delivering 2030 Agenda at the Country-Level

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Creative approaches to advance the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being jointly developed at the national level by multi-stakeholder partners. That was the key take away from SDG Country Plans: A Roadmap to Private Investment, an event organized on the sidelines of the High-level Political Forum by the United Nations Global Compact, the Principles […]

Weekly Impact Investment Market Update

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Impact Investing & ESG When Will “Socially Responsible” Investing Become Just “Investing” This year marks the 10th anniversary of the global financial crisis, bringing with it an inescapable reminder of the power of the finance industry. While many tangible things have changed over the past decade—from stricter regulation to big banks’ leadership ranks—more subtle, yet […]

Sustainable Development Goals in Corporate Reporting: What Matters to Investors?

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​Ten recommendations for companies to meet Investor needs in SDG reporting ​NEW YORK, July 17, 2018 /3BL Media/ — Ten recommendations intended to stimulate more investment to help advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were published today at the SDG Business Forum by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the […]

Looking Past the Labels

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People putting their money into environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments might be in for disappointment, Greenchip Financial’s John Cook said. ESG funds, which select companies for their broader environmental and social impact on top of performance, include a lot of big names whose business has little to do with reducing pollution, Greenchip president Cook […]

It’s About to Become Easier to Choose a Socially Responsible Investment Advisor

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Starting this fall, choosing a financial advisor may become a little easier for people who care about the impact their money is having—thanks to a brand new professional designation for financial advisors that was recently unveiled by the College of Financial Planning, in collaboration with the US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. Called the Chartered […]

40 Years in the Making

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Ms. Jessie Ball’s fortunes changed in 1920. It was during this year that Jessie, having returned to her childhood home in the Northern Neck of Virginia, reconnected with a long-time friend, Mr. Alfred I. duPont – of the distinguished duPont Family. Shortly thereafter, the two wed, and Jessie adopted the name that would become associated […]

Engage the Chain: An Investor Guide to Engaging the Food Sector on Sustainability Risks

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In April, Greenpeace released video footage showing that a palm oil supplier for major food companies, the Hayel Saeed Anam Group was destroying large swaths of rainforest in Indonesia, despite concerted efforts by industry stakeholders to stop forest destruction in palm oil supply chains. The repercussions for Hayel Saeed Anam Group are still unfolding, but recent […]

Envest Asset Management, LLC Launched for Investors to Champion Sustainability

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Envest Asset Management, LLC was created as an independent, fee-only financial advisor after recognizing that advisors and brokerages, alike, offering financial planning and investment management services are missing the critical components of sustainability, social responsibility, and governance. James Osborn Founder/Principal of Envest Asset Management, and most recently a private equity investor in the clean energy […]

PCV Contributes To The Navigating Impact Project

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We have some exciting news: the new financial inclusion theme of the our partner the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)’s Navigating Impact project is live! Created in consultation with several hundred industry experts, impact investors, and standards setters, the Navigating Impact project provides an on-ramp to setting and streamlining impact strategies. Led by SPTF, this […]

Weekly Impact Investment Market Update

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Impact Investing & ESG 5 Things About Sustainable Investing in the First Half of 2018 Five key takeaways from sustainable investing in the first half of 2018. Legendary Investor’s Embrace of Sustainable Investing is New, but the Movement Isn’t Earlier this month, hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones made headlines across the financial press with […]

Real Pickles: Anatomy of a Successful DPO

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Long before the JOBS Act and state-specific laws legalized investment crowdfunding, there was the direct public offering, or DPO, a sort of do-it-yourself IPO. Kassandra Mayhew of Cutting Edge Capital recently talked to Real Pickles cofounder Addie Rose Holland (pictured at left) about how a DPO helped the Greenfield, MA company transition to a worker-owned cooperative and preserve its […]

Is Business Doing Enough to Address “Environmental Degradation” –and Other Important Points-of-Debate At A Recent Harvard B-School Conference

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Is the business community doing enough to advance sustainability…are institutional investor doing enough with their allocation of capital and identification and targeting of positive outcomes for the invested capital?  As we continue to be encouraged by the rising interest in sustainable investing by mainstream institutions, and the broadening interest of corporate executives and boards in […]

Nations Pledge Billions to Protect Planet

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Small-scale purse seine fishers catch cuttlefish in Van Phong Bay, central Vietnam, September 11, 2009. (Photo by David Mills / World Fish Center) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis DA NANG, Vietnam, June 28, 2018 (Maximpact.com News) – This is “a critical moment for the future of our planet and its people,” Naoko […]

Barron’s Magazine Heralds the Arrival of Sustainable Investing to the Mainstream In Special Issue This Week – Sustainable Investing Version 2.0 Is Here!

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By Hank Boerner – Chair and Chief Strategist, G&A Institute The influential Barron’s magazine is published on Mondays by Dow Jones & Company with distribution to almost a half-million retail and institutional investors (300,000+ for print version, the rest digital or combination). Barron’s says it has been “delivering market-beating stock picks and investment advice to […]

Why Should Investors Care About ESG Data?

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The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards help companies communicate their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impacts to a wide target audience, including the investment community. GRI believes that in order to achieve real progress, there’s a need to align capital investment with sustainable business. We asked prominent investors why they think sustainability matters – here’s what they […]

Investing For Stronger Communities

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The more things change, the more they stay the same. In PCV’s first social impact report from 1999 our founders Bud Colligan and Penelope Douglas wrote, “No one could ask for more business activity than the country has seen in the last eight years, yet lower-income people are not any better off and many communities […]

Weekly Impact Investment Market Update

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Impact Investing & ESG Money Managers are Flocking to a $23 Trillion Investing Strategy that Morgan Stanley Says is Ready to Take Off Environmental, social, and governance investing — also known as ESG — has exploded in popularity, with roughly $23 trillion being invested with at least a partial ESG mandate. Investors are Right to […]

Is Your Financial Advisor ‘Best for the World’?

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Impact investing is going mainstream. But while you may rest easier knowing that your nest egg is making a positive contribution to society (as well as your financial position), what about the financial intermediaries in your life? Every year, B Lab publishes a list of “Best for the World” B Corps—those that rank in the top 10% […]

Impact investments are philanthropy’s brave new world

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The synchronisation of asset portfolios and donations within a joint mission is the way forward if philanthropic foundations and funds are to maximise their impact and value. That’s the view of impact-investment organisation GIIN. But what is needed to achieve this brave new world? When foundations develop new strategies, they are often designed with sharp […]