You want to make an impact with your money. That's awesome! Fortunately, managing an impact portfolio is not all that different from managing a traditional one. It just adds another layer of variables and complexity to the equation. Over the next three posts, we'll address this challenge and provide you with some ideas to help you shape your impact portfolio.
Starting Out
The biggest question we get isn't about the details, however. It's "where do I start?"
That's not surprising. Most investors aren't born speaking the language of impact. In fact, this language is constantly changing. But the bottom line is that there are things we'd like to accomplish with our money -- we're just not sure that there's an investment to address it. Or, that we can make a profit at it.
A Framework for Impact
So, what CAN we do with our money (in addition to giving it to worthy causes?)
Fortunately, the United Nations has provided us with a framework of challenges that we, as a society, need to work on. These 17 categories are laid out in what are known as the Sustainable Development Goals (or, SDGs.) And investment managers have begun mapping their strategies to these goals, helping investors to organize their investments in a logical manner.
Investors who start with the SDGs can then build a mission "wish list", focusing their research on managers who speak this new language and strategies that map to their chosen SDGs.
It's a good start towards connecting investor dollars with societal needs.
Curious about which investments map to SDGs? Want to create your own impact investing program? Give us a call or drop us a note. Our work is about finding investments that generate competitive financial returns while also delivering a societal good.
