Jed Emerson - The ImpactAssets Handbook for Investors

Anthem Press

An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company

www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2017

by ANTHEM PRESS

7576 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK

or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK

and

244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

2017 Jed Emerson editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters individual contributors

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into

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without the prior written permission of both the copyright

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-729-7 (Hbk)

ISBN-10: 1-78308-729-3 (Hbk)

This title is also available as an e-book.

Jed Emerson

Your picking up this book is a reflection of the fact that while we all may acknowledge many of the incredible, positive effects finance and capital have had upon our worldlifting millions out of poverty, bringing electricity (increasingly solar generated) into formerly dark places and improving housing options for great numbers of peoplethe reality is many of our planets most critical challenges remain. Accessible primary health care and secondary education are beyond reach for many, affordable housing is an issue in both developed and developing nations and the diverse effects of climate change are now making their presence felt around the globe. These are not issues government or nonprofits can address alone. While the role of philanthropy and public funding will continue to be key, the reality is you cannot donate your way out of poverty or back to a green planet. There is a direct and meaningful role to be played by business in working with other sectors to drive positive change in our world. And whether were talking about mission-driven for-profits or nonprofit social enterprise, the fuel of business is capital.

Traditional, mainstream investing has been built on the belief that investing and consideration of social or environmental issues are two distinct worldsand that if you include considerations of social or environmental factors within your investing, you will underperform financially. The reality is investing currently creates impactsboth negative and positivein our world. But today we have the opportunity for investors, both large and small, to work to minimize negative impacts and optimize positive ones through the intentional and strategic deployment of their capital. And in recent years investment strategies that seek to generate various levels of financial return as well as the creation of positive social and environmental impacts have come together under the broad banner of impact investing.

This process has occurred because we now know that not only may we invest to create a better world, but we may do this and at the same time provide for ourselves, our families and our community. We can be financially responsible and advance a more just, sustainable planet. The goal of this book is to help you begin to do just thatto invest your financial capital with positive impact or, if youre an advisor to investors looking to align their assets with their values and life goals, perhaps to refine your approach to helping others engage in impact investing. While it isnt as easy as just giving your money to someone else to manage for you in order to make more money and it may at times be more challenging than writing a check to someone else to do good in your name, impact investing is a lot easier, engaging, and meaningful than you might ever imagine!

Our audience for this book is, first and foremost, those who are looking to manage their investment capitalwhether for retirement or for a lifetimein a way that takes the best ideas of impact investing and puts them to work. Second, were interested in helping those who are currently investment advisors understand what impact investing is all about in order to more effectively meet the needs of their clients. And, third, were keen on helping those who are generally interested in impact investing to understand what impact investing is, how it works in practice and what cautions we should all keep in mind as we approach this work.

With that in mind, its important to remember the following: impact investing is not about checklist investing where if you just follow a concise list of how tos youll meet with success. This is not a book of simple answers, but rather considerations, questions and ideas for you to keep in mind as you develop and execute your own strategic approach to managing your money for more than simply financial returns. In the pages of this book, weve gathered a group of professionals whove been active in impact investing for many years and asked them to offer you their best thoughts on how to think about the assets you have to invest, how to approach a process to structure those assets and how to understand how those investments are generating financial returns with social and environmental impacts. Impact investing is a practice, process and journey. And we have complimented their insights with refreshed versions of a few of ImpactAssets best Issue Briefs. Were glad youve decided to take the initial step of researching this field of work and look forward to helping you continue on your way!