Month: November 2018

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Standing cheek to cheek

Somehow, even with the dramatic uptick in adoption of sustainable investment practices, the idea of investing in a conscious and purposeful way is still taboo. In the process of working to gain more mainstream acceptance of ESG-focused practices asset managers shifted away from the idea of aligning portfolios to individual or institutional values or missions and rather emphasized an investment-first, or in many cases investment-only approach to ESG. I have even sat through manager presentations where it was stated not just definitively but assertively that what was being shown was strictly about investing and without concern for issue avoidance or positive change for anything other than economic reasons.

What got forgotten is what motivates investors, again both individual and institutional, to want to invest in this way in the first place. Continue reading “Standing cheek to cheek”

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NCA4 — Too much to ignore

It is of no small consequence that an administration predisposed to discounting climate science and dismantling environmental guardrails did not do more to bury the fourth National Climate Assessment. Aside from dropping it over a holiday weekend, not much has stood in the way of its wide release, and it has its own dedicated .gov URL. The science speaks for itself, the number of agencies participating in and validating the science underscores the conclusions, and plenty has been and will be written about the top-line takeaways in case earth, wind and fire have not been sufficient to make the point for the last several years.

Continue reading “NCA4 — Too much to ignore”

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Start now and give all year

Today is Giving Tuesday. Numerous worthwhile charities are raising their hands and asking for our attention and our dollars in pursuit of their missions. The difficulty with a one-day campaign is that, while it may bring in new dollars from existing donor relationships, there is a low probability of establishing durable relationships with new donors. Whether the connection is spiritual or practical, driven by a single crisis or by a lifelong pursuit, connecting givers with worthy recipients is a process. Not only does a donor, whether organization or individual, need to find that alignment of purpose, that donor also needs to go through some degree of due diligence to see whether the receiving organization is a good steward of donated capital and creating meaningful and measurable impact with it over time.

Let today not just be a flash in the pan, but let it be the start of an ongoing process for kind and caring individuals, families, and institutions to discover and build long term relationships with impactful organizations creating positive change in the world. As part of that, donors should also consider solutions that help create a platform for purposeful giving that could last months, years or even generations. Consider donor advised funds (DAFs), private foundations, community trusts, and other solutions that make it possible to institutionalize giving, make larger financial commitments that can be disbursed systematically, and provide partners and resources to help identify and evaluate potential recipients.