Invest with Values

The Investor's Gateway to Positive Change

The Investor's Gateway to Positive Change

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Six Theses on Saving the Planet

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  Download the PDF This paper by Richard Smith, published alongside three others, is one of many proposals for a systemic alternative we have published or will be publishing here at the Next System Project. You can read it below, or download the PDF. We have commissioned these papers in order to facilitate an informed […]

Direct Public Offerings Now Available For Up To $5M

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The SEC yesterday issued final rules that increase the aggregate amount of money that may be offered and sold for Direct Public Offerings using the federal exemption from $1 million to $5 million. In conjunction with those rules, the SEC also introduced additional investor protections with rules designed to disqualify “bad actors. Highlights of the Amendments to Rule […]

Framing the challenges of a next system after fossil fuels

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Systemic Crisis and Systemic Change in the United States in the 21st Century This new working paper from The Next System Project was prepared as an invited contribution to the “After Fossil Fuels: The New Economy” conference taking place in Oberlin, Ohio from October 6-8, 2016. In the paper, Next System Project co-chairs Gar Alperovitz […]

Invest Here!

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A SOCAP Guest Post By Adam Wiskind Neighborhood Economics Highlights New Tools to Redirect Capital Locally The Neighborhood Economics conference was a SOCAP associated event that told inspiring stories about how investment in local businesses can transform our communities.  Overwhelmingly, invested capital in the US flows to large scale Wall Street corporations.  Only 1% of […]

Can Public Equity Investing Have Impact?

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By Garvin Jabusch There’s an argument in the world of impact investing that goes something like, ‘impact happens only through private investments; there is no real impact, apart from shareholder engagement efforts, in public equity investing.’ An associated perception is that investment impact means capitalizing an enterprise beyond what would happen otherwise, meaning private equity […]

Impact Unicorns: Can We Have Our Cake and Eat It Too?

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The term “unicorn” was coined by Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures to describe private companies that have achieved a post-money valuation of $1 billion or more. Originally, these companies were scarce, magical and elusive. As of August 31, 2016, according the CrunchBase Unicorn Leaderboards, there are now 191 unicorns. In my impact investing practice at […]

The Powerful Intersection of Mindful Finance and Impact Investing

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7 Questions for Solomon Halpern, President of Highlander Wealth In this increasingly complicated world we all receive advice from many channels, including our phones. Financial planning and investment advice is no different. We believe it’s important to step back, quiet the noise around you, and think holistically about your money – how you save it, […]

SOCAP16 – where it comes together

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SOCAP16 takes place September 13th-16th at Fort Mason, in San Francisco, CA. Join more than 2,500 changemakers, impact investors, social entrepreneurs, and related thought leaders at the world’s largest conference dedicated to increasing the flow of capital toward social good. From emerging leaders to established players, SOCAP brings together global innovators, investors, foundations, governments, institutions, […]

Trust is a leading indicator for Responsible Investing

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A recent Harvard Business Review article coauthored by Doug Conant, Campbell Soup’s former CEO and Stephen MR Covey, discusses the “Connection Between Employee Trust and Financial Performance” and references a model developed by Trust Across America-Trust Around the World, a program whose focus is creating tools to help organizations build trust. The quantitative and holistic […]

Sustainability: From Planning to Advice to Investments

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Sustainability is all the talk in wealth management these days. But how does one judiciously go about incorporating sustainability parameters into client portfolios? Earlier this year, we co-presented a seminar for clients in Seattle on sustainable wealth planning, management and investing.  We learned a lot from each other about what clients know, what they’re confused […]

Powerhouse Social Impact Investor, Nancy Pfund, Talks with Better Ventures About Making a Difference with Venture Capital

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Without a doubt, Nancy Pfund is one of the leading impact investors of our day. While not yet a household name, “over the last decade, Pfund has quietly built a reputation as the go-to venture capitalist for companies looking to make a social impact” (NY Times). With early investments and tremendous successes in clean energy […]

The Mousai House: A Cooperative Vision for a New Creative Economy

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We asked Jennifer Bryant—a DC-based writer, organizer and radio host—to highlight an emblematic example pointing towards what Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard calls a cooperative solidarity commonwealth, which she details in her essay in Volume 2 of our “New Systems: Possibilities and Proposals” series. Bryant’s exposition of The Mousai House gives us a glimpse into a […]

Exit Opportunities for DPO Investors

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When considering an investment in a direct public offering, potential investors may want to understand how they can get their investment back, i.e. their exit strategy. Organizations raising capital via a DPO should expect questions from potential investors on this subject. An investor’s sale of their investment is itself regulated by securities laws, so in […]

How does The Commons work? Animating David Bollier’s next system

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David Bollier, in his paper for our “New Systems: Possibilities and Proposals” a series exploring viable political-economic alternatives to the present order, suggests that a commons-based framework could provide a critical template for de-commodification, mutualization, and the organization and control of resources outside of the market. We’re excited to share with you our latest animation that illustrates some of the principal features […]

WHAT’S JEWISH ABOUT IMPACT INVESTING?

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BY AVI DEUTSCH Contrary to popular belief, eating is not inherently Jewish. In fact, nearly every Western religion employs this basic human need in the service of religious practice. It is not the eating that is Jewish, it is how we eat that makes it meaningful. The same is true of investing- it is definitely […]

Webinar: Toward a Caring Economy

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Our political-economic system is not working: families are struggling, the middle class is diminishing, one in five U.S. children lives in poverty, we have unacceptably high rates of homelessness and incarceration, rising underemployment, collapsing environmental systems, and a host of other problems. What would it look like if the system in all of its dimensions […]

A Call for Systemic Impact

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Foundations, Families and Funds can play a very important role in helping to redirect capitalism toward a more fair and just application, while also finding the right social enterprises to support. By playing a more comprehensive role in the creation and support of Community Capital Markets, these funding sources can build impact into a systemic […]

Communities Investing in Themselves: DPOs for Downtown Revitalization

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An Oregon real estate company and CEC client, Guerrilla Development, is focused on “creating inventive and experimental projects that use both hemispheres of the brain.” Coincidentally, earlier this month they have been busy engaging both “hemispheres” of investors: accredited investors (a.k.a. wealthy individuals) and non-accredited investors (a.k.a. the rest of us). They are using one […]

Confluence…or Collision?

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By Leslie Christian.  A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Confluence Philanthropy gathering in Boston. The conference was populated by well-meaning, sincere and committed people who believe they share a common purpose: promoting environmental sustainability and social justice by helping to move philanthropy in the direction of mission-aligned […]

5th Annual Food + Enterprise Summit Brings Entrepreneurs & Investors Together Financing the Future of Food on April 8-9

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Food + Enterprise fills food system focus gap as Investors and Entrepreneurs have turned their attention en masse to food and beverage businesses. New York, New York March 24, 2016 Food + Enterprise Summit (“F+E”), Slow Money NYC’s annual B2B event, returns to Brooklyn for its fifth year on April 8th and 9th, convening investors […]

Invest in Who You Know – Part 2

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Most people don’t have the ability, flexibility or funds to invest like a professional, and a more common approach for ‘investing in what you know’ takes the form of how well you can follow a company, mainly by looking at what you (or others who you trust) know about the company, or what the company […]

Local Economy Investors Circle Pioneering Place-Based Impact Investing

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A growing number of visionary local economy funders and investors are working in particular geographic regions and using their philanthropic and investment resources in an integrated way toward this transition: we call this place-based impact investing. Over the last two years, BALLE Investors Circle participants have been innovating and exploring new ways to combine philanthropy […]

Wealthier Investors Are an Essential Part of Community Capital Markets

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has recently estimated that approximately 10% of all U.S. Households are now in the “Accredited Investor“ category (for individuals, that means $1m in net worth not counting primary residence, or $200k of income). Assuming that’s accurate, there are now over 12 million households in the U.S. that meet the definition […]

Increased Investment as well as Diversification across Impact Themes

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As we start off the New Year, TriLinc Global will be discussing notable trends from 2015 that we see as relevant to the development and growth of the impact investing sector in 2016 and beyond. This is the final post in a four-part series. In line with better ESG scoring and standardization, research on asset allocation […]

Invest in Who You Know – Part 1

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There’s an old saying that you should “invest in what you know,” but what’s far more valuable is when you can “invest in who you know” as well.  The new crowdfunding laws are not designed to nurture this; they are meant to prohibit investment conversations with the company insiders when the opposite has historically been […]

Learning from Emilia Romagna’s cooperative economy

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An interview with economic historian Vera Zamagni With the release of the new short film WEconomics highlighting the vibrant ecosystem of cooperatives in Italy’s Emilia Romagna region—produced by our friends at Moving Images, who also made the excellent worker cooperative documentary Shift Change—we reached out to Vera Zamagni, the cooperative economist featured in the film, to learn […]

Slow Living Summit conference on food and agriculture entrepreneurship

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PRESS RELEASE, 2/9/2016   Strolling of the Heifers announces Slow Living Summit conference on food & agriculture entrepreneurship   Strolling of the Heifers announces the sixth annual Slow Living Summit conference, an exploration of entrepreneurship in the food and agriculture sector, taking place in Brattleboro, Vermont, April 28-30.   The Summit will feature a roster […]

Responsible Finance Summit 2016

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Founding Executive Director of the UN Global Compact to Deliver Keynote Address for upcoming Responsible Finance Summit Mr. Georg Kell, now Vice-Chairman of world’s firm ESG quant fund, Arabesque Partners, will speak at Summit hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – 8 February 2016: RFI Foundation, organizer of the Responsible Finance Summit is […]

It’s the DPO Digest!

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Baah baah almost there! The Economic Development and Financing Corporation is at 90% of its goal in its Direct Public Offering. California investors can help them reach their target by investing before February 9th. Through a community-based Local Social Impact Investment Note, EDFC offers investors an opportunity for California residents to launch the Mendocino Wool Mill project – […]

Impact Investing: What’s to Come in 2016

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The year 2015 was an exciting time in the impact investing space as many different players, such as investment managers, banks, regulators, analysts, asset managers, financial advisors, family offices, foundations and endowments, engaged the capital markets to help solve some of the world’s pressing economic, social and environmental challenges. Their efforts in new investments, risk […]

Lift Off, or Crash Landing in 2016?

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Economic Commentary January 2016 | First Affirmative Financial Network By Mel Miller, CFA | Chief Economist During 2015, the financial media was fixated on predicting the date that the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) would raise short-term interest rates. The Fed Funds Rate, the interest rate member banks pay to borrow from the Federal […]

Metamapping the ecosystem building the next economy

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At the end of December last year the Next System Project co-hosted a webinar with Real Economy Lab (REL) and the New Economy Coalition on “Mapping the Next System” (video viewable in its entirety here).   Over 500 people signed up for the webinar, testimony to the growing level of interest in understanding the evolving […]

Markets in the next system

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Markets before capitalism  In her seminal work “The Origin of Capitalism,” the late scholar Ellen Meiksins Wood took on the credo that “capitalism emerged when the market was liberated from age-old constraints and when, for one reason or another, opportunities for trade expanded.” Schoolchildren in the US are commonly taught to conceive of the broad […]

Cake, Anyone?.

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For people of wealth and conscience, impact investing offers a compelling and convenient promise—that money can be a force for good even as the owners of capital continue to accrue wealth under the auspices of generally accepted investing practices. Impact investing tells us that the proper “deployment” of our capital will lift the poor out […]

The State of Assessment: Why the ‘assess or not’ debate continues and how we can move beyond it (Part 1 of 2)

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NEXTBILLION’S BEST OF 2015 CONTEST Editor’s note: As part of our Most Influential Post of 2015 contest, we are re-publishing the articles that made you think, made you act, or maybe even made your day. This article was the most-viewed post on NextBillion for October 2015. To see the full list of the most popular posts in 2015 […]

Measuring Environmental Performance in Microfinance

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To meet the SDGs, the industry needs to establish lasting metrics Three of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 include: (1) ensuring availability and the sustainable management of water and sanitation; (2) ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy; and (3) promoting sustainable agriculture. But what is the role of the microfinance industry in […]

COP21

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The PRI supports the Paris Climate Agreement at COP21, and believes that the agreement is the turning point that investors have been seeking. The PRI applauds that the talks recognised the role of private finance in the climate change discussions.

The Challenges of Starting Your First Impact Fund

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Why it’s so hard to launch one and what Capria is doing about it Starting an impact fund is HARD. New fund managers need to overcome major challenges, such as: Convincing investors their investment/impact thesis is credible and they possess enough practical experience to compensate for a nonexistent track record. Effectively managing the fund and […]