Sustainability

What’s the purpose of your project?  What are your project’s social, environmental and economic impacts? 

Impact investments create positive impact beyond financial return.  Some would argue that, in business, profit alone is enough.  Is it? 

What if the quest for profit does social or environmental damage (unintended consequences, at first), or doesn’t last long enough to create abiding “sustainable” value, or just makes money and nothing else?  There’s nothing inherently wrong with making money.  It is how profits are realized that matters most.  

Is there societal and/or environmental benefit, affording the “soft pillow” effect (sleeping at night may seem intangible, but for anyone with a conscience, that has to mean something) or is there at least a commitment to doing no harm?

The Global Impact Investment Network (GIIN) defines this as “the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.” Impact investments can be made in both emerging/developing and developed markets, and target a range of expectations for monetary returns, from philanthropic to below-market to market rate, depending upon the investor and circumstances.

What value?  Impact investments build a flourishing “ecosystem” of virtues, make enough money (in the form of assets and profit streams) to self-sustain, and simultaneously inspire and promote values (whether or not explicit) that spark further innovation, create jobs that provide meaning and hold promise for future jobs in future generations, and “make a difference” in cleaning up the mess of single-bottom-line capitalism, a take-make-waste and unsustainable experiment, rapidly heading toward several metaphorical cliffs (climate change), but with impact solutions aligned with impact capital, instead, a cycle of good.  This is the essence of impact capital — going well beyond recouping the original investment — to build a legacy.

Resultant projects, programs and ventures made possible through impact investments often address pressing challenges in diverse sectors such as sustainable agriculture, clean technology (including renewable energy, water, materials), microfinance, and affordable and accessible basic services from housing to healthcare, education to sanitation.