Amy Domini - Thoughts on People, Planet & Profit

With special thanks to Jurriaan Kamp for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts through these columns over the years.

Copyright 2021 by Amy Domini

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact .

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN: 978-1-7377091-3-8

ISBN: 978-1-7377091-1-4 (e-book)

FOR MIKE, MAGGIE, ENZO, AND

THE LITTLE GIRLS OF TOMORROW

TABLE OF CONTENTS

...it all begins with seeing simple truths..

PREFACE

hirty years ago, I found my passion for investing with purpose a positive purpose for our future. From that day forward I have dedicated myself to spreading the word: if we are to live on a green planet and if we are to allow every human to thrive, investors must play an active role. The future I envisioned for my grandchildren could not come about without investing in it. And so, it became my mission to convince investors to join me, to guide dollars into the creation of that vision.

Through providing standards for research, supporting academic research, and bringing together networks of advocates for investors who care, I played a role in every stage of this concept and nurtured it until impact investing was a field. Slowly, the numbers have proved meand moved me. In 2020, according to The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (US SIF), 33 percent of the $51.4 trillion in total U.S. assets under professional management were invested in sustainable, responsible, and impact investing strategies. Today, many view impact investing as a growing trend. But for me, it will always be a proud tradition.

To celebrate the anniversary of my impact investing journey, I have chosen to share this collection of columns. My hope in writing these is to express in simple terms what the collective action of caring investors could make possible. Written between 2007 and 2016, the collection is sorted into three sections: People, Planet, and Profit. The triple P bottom line is widely acknowledged to be the purpose of responsible investors worldwide.

When I first thought of creating a vehicle that individual investors could use as a means of joining together to define what is right and ethical, such thinking was considered both revolutionary and naive. Investing, it was argued, is innately amoral. Investors do what they do and government or society does what it does, the argument went.

That seemed illogical to me. Any thinking person could see that investors would always push for profit and that profit would be most easily gained by stealing from the commons, from our natural ecosystem, and indeed, from our more vulnerable citizens. Further, any rational person could understand that investors are also people, and that their human nature should desire a verdant planet occupied by peaceful and fulfilled people. Finally, financial investments are massive and coordinated globally. It was only logical that they be utilized to help humankind to achieve its utmost potential.

Of course, if we wanted to, we could focus on whats discouraging. Over the past thirty years weve witnessed environmental destruction, the growth of inconceivable wealth and income gaps, and petty wars fought with horrific weaponry. But despite this distressing backdrop, an ever persistent set of investor voices has channeled their dollars positively and pushed for better, knowing that money talks, even in optimistic ways.

When we launched our first mutual fund, the majority in South Africa had no vote. That came about three years later. Corporate social responsibility reports, chief sustainability officers, research houses dedicated to environmental, social, and governance discovery, stock exchanges mandating the disclosure of the same as a qualification for listing, academic careers in business schools for positively impacting our livesnone of this existed. All of it came into being as the result of our investors, and those like them, joining together to help define what is best for us all, joining together to make it possible.

Domini Impact Investments LLC is a small asset manager amongst financial giants. But we have played a key role in legitimizing and advocating for people who believe that caring investors are essential to achieving ecological sustainability and universal human dignity. I am a fortunate woman. I can look back on the work of the firm I helped to create and truly say that we have made a difference. But it all begins with seeing simple truths. It begins with the collective realization that the secret to making an impact is small. Together, we can each do somethingand this, in the end, is everything.

WRITTEN JULY 2007

Money makes the world go round

M any people understand that when youre buying food, price is not the only consideration. Its also important to think about the additives and pesticides youre putting into your body, whether certain kinds of fish are being driven to extinction, and how the people who grow your vegetables are being treated.

People are beginning to ask similar kinds of questions about their investments. By putting their money into the stocks of certain companies, and then pressing those companies to do the right thing, investors are starting to create change. Being a conscious investor is a lot like being a conscious shopper.

Once people realize certain options are open to them, they start down paths that can transform their lives. For instance, one of my local supermarkets specializes in healthy and organic food. I was first attracted to it because of the wide selection of fresh fish, beautifully displayed on crushed ice. Returning frequently to the store, I started paying attention not only to whether the fish looked and smelled good, but whether they were caught in the wild or farm-raised using organic methods. Eventually I started seeking out fish that were caught or raised locally. The choices the store offered actually turned me into a more conscious shopper.