The Green Register - Spring 2011
Transcript of The Green Register - Spring 2011
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Investing With An Eco-Ethic:The BasicsBasically, its aligning your investments with your values
Self-Help: A Green HistoryRecent projects include green product retailers, sustainable
agriculture practitioners, recycling and biofuels companies...
Put Your Money Where
REGISTETHE GREENLOCAL & WORLDWIDE GREEN NEWS COMMUNITY
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3 Impact InvestingInvestors are looking for a new type of capitalism.
7 Investing With An Eco-Ethic: The Basics So whats a socially and environmentally
responsible person like you to do?
9 Self Help: A Green HistoryRecent projects include green product retailers, sustainableagriculture practitioners, recycling and biofuels companies,
solar installers and major solar energy providers.
13 Put Your Money Where Your Heart IsWere learning the real risks of our past patterns of behavior,but what are our alternatives now?
18 What Does $100 Oil Mean For The Alternative Energy Sector?
20 Mission Markets Advances Impact Investing
THEBROWNFAMILY
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REGISTERTHE GREEN
S p r i n g 2 0 1 1
CONTENTS
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I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Gabriel Rabinovici,
Managing Partner of Willow Tree Impact Investors. During our
interview I quickly, understood the important statement on theirwebsite about Innovative Investing. Deploying capital in a cre-
ative and innovative manner can have a measurable and sustain-
able impact on people and the planet while being protable. It
doesnt take one long to learn that Gabriel is passionate about his
company and the subject of Impact Investing.
Green investing is no longer just about the environment,
according to Gabriel. Today, he continued, it has to encompass
whats perceived to be socially good. The Social Entrepreneur
also has to be green. The two are interrelated when a positive
social impact is also green, it has an environmental impact. Today
a social entrepreneur means something completely different than
it did a few years ago. It used to mean a person that grew organic
vegetables from the farm and sells at an outlet.
Companies like Patagonia, which manufactures eece jackets
that are made out of recycled bottles, is now perceived to be
socially responsible, and they are a major company. Today,
all companies are trying to be green and social. All green
initiatives used to be associated with a cost center. Today, its
Goes Main StreamBy David Long
ImpactInvesting
Gabriel Rabinovici,
Managing Partner of Willow Tree
Impact Investorspage 4
changed and is now a source of
prot because consumers now
speak detrimentally to society about
companies that are not green and
sustainable. Consumers want to do
business with socially conscious
companies.
Investors are looking for a new
type of capitalism. Continued
systemic failures have caused this
shift. They have been the black
swans, according to Gabriel.
Black swans are now mainstream
when you consider how they hap-
pen more frequently. Earthquakes,
tsunamis, and other disasters, public
and private indebtedness in educa-
tion and private health continue to
deplete natural and energy sources.
Is it sustainable?, is todays big
question. Although not yet accepted
as mainstream, a portion of our
population wants to
align themselves with a social
consciousness. Consumers do value
green creation as well as nancially
and economically rewarding ROI.
This has been coming about for
many years with Clean Tech and af-
fordable housing. No one thought of
marketing from a social/environ-
mental standpoint or arena until
now, he says.
J.P. Morgan & Rockefeller Funds
are legitimizing Impact
Investments as they are classifying
them as an Asset class. Impact In-
vesting is really more of a strategy
as opposed to an asset class. Is it
equity or debt? All this can be in-
cluded in the strategy. When impact
investing is more mainstream it will
be called asset class.
A lot of talent is converting or
jumping the fence, and within thenext ve years Gabriel believes it
will ow in development of
new nancial strategies. He also
points out that momentum
and advancements become quicker
at the end of the cycle.
Investors wish to align ones portfo-
lio and money with ones
beliefs and values. This is whats
making impact investing
more popular today,
especially with the
younger gener-
ation. Today it
would be chal-
lenging to put a
large portion of
ones portfolio into
impact investing.
Gabriel goes on to s
stronger with the yo
generation, which w
invest between 5% a
of their portfolios in
ing. However, peopl
associate this with a
theres really no trac
Historically, foundat
away 5% of their as
and that has impact.
magnify their impac
part of their endowm
investing funds.
The old dogma has b
but the black swans
we have to question
Impact investing is b
asset class in respon
paradigm. Its tough
able, socially responable and to attract c
measurable impact o
it is impacting is alw
this endeavor.
When asked to give
of a company that h
with that is making
Green investingis no longer justabout the envi-ronment, it has toencompass whatsperceived to besocially good.
,
,
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sustainable, Gabriel shared one of his favorites. Although he is not able to d isclose the name of the company, this is still
an amazing story. A company manufactures light bulbs with a solar panel Gabriel Rabinovici attached to the bulb.
When the bulb is left out in the sun during the day to harness the energy and at night when its fully charged it provides
light. This is a phenomenal invention for areas of the world, like Africa, where people dont have access to electricity.
Its big because they heat and light their homes with kerosene, which is so dangerous. Inhaling the kerosene fumes is
unhealthy,
potentially deadly and kerosene is blamed on home res. So the impact in this instance is quite clear you avoid re
risk and damage and save money too. It saves lives provides light and saves money from government. It also generates
income because of production costs and they are marketable. In many parts of Africa and Latin America many houses
do not have electricity, so a light bulb like this can really be important.
When asked if it will be to marketplace soon, his response was most interesting. For years campers have been using
this type of technology to light their campers when electricity isnt available. So there are alternative users for this
product. Willow Tree is targeting early stage investors, not angel investors. Some social entrepreneurs learn about im -
pact investment funds. We do research and source deals via our networks. They also seek companies that seek investors
that t. However, they are looking for risk adjusted above market rate or better. They are clearly not a foundation. They
would like to have a foundation.
Willow Tree believes they can play a part in shaping the future in social impact investing in a big way. Theres a conu-
ence of factors to conventional wealth and private banking. Financial markets are in trouble. Its tough to market hedge
funds and mutual funds and conventional products because everyone has these in their portfolios already, and lately
their performance rate has been poor.
Impact investing is a fantastic commercially viable and valuable idea to do something more meaningful. Fully com-
mitted, he and partners have given up comfortable jobs to start Willow Tree because of this commitment.
When asked how this affects
global markets, such as the
Middle East, he responded,
We have access to the Middle
East where theres such a need.
Some of the governments in the
region have compromised their
youth. In some cases, more than
50% under 25 or 30 were not
provided a proper education or
access to jobs. They view social
entrepreneurship as the answer.
The youth there see entrepre-
neurialism as the way to make
things happen and transform
their lives. This is opportunity.
Links: [email protected],
Willow Tree: http://www.willowimpact.com/company/personal_commitment.php
page 6
picture of Willow Tree homepage
Do Your Investments Match Your Values?
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First Afrmative
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S
sometimes I get funny looks when I tell people what I do: socially & environmentally responsible investing and
nancial services. Whats that, they ask. Basically, its aligning your investments with your values.
In many areas of your life, you are probably very eco-conscious: you believe in the ethic of reduce-reuse-recycle, you
eat local and organic, you ride your b ike when possible, etc. But what about the way you invest your money? Do you
know what you own? Are you putting your money where your mouth is?
Take a few moments to pull out your investment statements and check it out. If you have managed investments, you
may have to dig a bit further. You can use Calverts Know What You Own tool at www.calvert.comto help you out.If you havent indicated to your investment advisor that the environment and social issues are important to you, then
youll probably nd some companies that you may not be proud to own: big oil, war proteers, polluters, etc.
So whats a socially and environmentally responsible person like you to do? Tell your advisor that you
want to invest with your values, or fnd someone who specializes in socially responsible investing (SRI.)
InvestingWith AnEco-Ethic:The BasicsSo whats a socially and environmentally
responsible person like you to do?By Peter Krull
page 8
To get started in your SRI quest, you should know the basics. There are three parts to investing respons
shareholder activism and community investing. Ill break them down for you.
You screen your investments based on the criteria that is important to you. The screening process is typ
a number of factors including:
Corporate governance & business ethics
Environmental track records and sustainability
Fair & Safe Workplace
Safety of products manufactured
International human rights
Community involvement
You start out by running negative screens to exclude companies. For example, companies that do not pr
corporate governance documentation would be screened out, or companies manufacturing products uns
or the environment would be removed.
Conversely, you will also run positive screens. These screens strive to include best in class companies.
several companies are very proactive in reducing their carbon footprint, and using non-toxic ingredient
ucts. Other companies work to improve their communities, making signicant investments in housing,
social programs.
While screening is very important, it is only a portion of the process. Few stock holdings fall into the becategory. We believe that the most important aspect of socially responsible investing is shareholder adv
activism. Institutional investors including pension funds and others will le shareholder resolutions on
topics, from executive compensation to global warming liability. Their goal is to get these middle of th
companies to change for the better. There are many examples of companies changing their policies to b
or environmentally friendly because of shareholder pressure. The most recent example is asking compa
transparent regarding their political contributions, especially in the wake of the Citizens United case wh
legal for corporations to make unlimited campaign contributions.
The third component in the SRI process is community investing.
This typically involves dedicating at least one percent and many
times as much as ve percent of the investment assets toward com-
munity investing projects. These projects are both domestic and
international in scope and focus on micronance, affordable housing
and job retraining.
If you live your life based on your values, then I believe that you
should consider using a socially responsible investing strategy. You
can consider it putting your money where your mouth is.
(Peter Krull is President of Krull & Company, a Darien, GA based
socially responsible nancial services rm. He can be reached at
877-235-3684 [email protected].
Visit www.investwithyourvalues.comfor more information.)
http://www.calvert.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.investwithyourvalues.com/http://www.investwithyourvalues.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.calvert.com/ -
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Self-Help, headquartered in Durham, NC and with over 30 ofces in NC, CA, and W
has a long history of being green before green was cool. With a mission of creati
and economic opportunity for all, especially people of color, women, rural residents
wealth families and communities, Self-Help has long been aware of the connection b
economy, our communities, and the environment. In fact, low-wealth communities h
disproportionately affected by poor environmental quality, high energy prices, and u
policies. So our work, and especially our lending, has always stressed a triple bottom
Since 1980, Self-Help has provided almost $6 billion in nancing to more than 71,00
businesses, non-prots, and homebuyers. Our lending and advocacy efforts have be
and communities both in North Carolina and nationwide. One way we have translate
into action is through our Environmental Stewardship Initiative, made up of the follo
important ventures:
Recent projects include green product retailers,
sustainable agriculture practitioners, recycling
and biofuels companies, solar installers and
major solar energy providers.
Self Help:
A GreenHistory
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Green Lending:
Self-Help has provided over $36 million in loans to
businesses that are manufacturing, selling, or purchasing
environmentally friendly goods and services (as of
4/1/2011). Recent projects include green product
retailers, sustainable agriculture practitioners, recycling
and biofuels companies, solar installers and major solar
energy providers. In addition, we have provided loans
to nonprots specializing in land conservation, such as
Carolina Mountain Land Conservancys purchase ofWorlds Edge, a 1500-acre tract, now preserved as a state
park. We also provide guidance to our borrowers on how
they could save money by greening their own buildings
and businesses.
Green Commuting:
Self-Help offers a green commuting program to encourage
our employees to walk, bike, and carpool or ride public
transportation.
Green Deposits:
Self-Help offers a Green Term Certicate (CD), which
pays the same competitive market interest rates as Self-
Helps standard term certicates and helps to supportgreen lending and other initiatives.
Green Partnerships:
We collaborate on projects with key environmental
organizations, such as the Department of Energy and
Natural Resources, the Carolina Recycling Association,
the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and the N.C.
Sustainable Energy Association.
Green Downtowns:
Self-Help supports downtown revitalization, a key
strategy in combating sprawl and encouraging inll,
through investment of over $62 million in the purchase
and renovation of buildings in downtown areas. An
example of Self-Helps work in this area are the
landmark American Tobacco and Golden Belt mill
renovations in Durham.
Green Facilities:
Self-Help operates 16 commercial ofce buildings
in downtown locations. We believe that the re-use of
historic buildings and downtown locations near public
transit is an inherently green activity. In renovating these
buildings, we have sought cost-effective green upgrades,
and we have a robust program of evaluating capital
investments for energy efciency. In addition, we have
made a concerted effort to establish energy-saving and
green practices in all of our buildings, including digital
HVAC controls, efcient lighting, and low-VOC nishes.
Green Homes:We develop healthy and affordable homes by applying
SystemVision and Healthy Built Homes guidelines and
materials in new home construction. Our homeowners
enjoy energy efciency and improved air quality, while
saving up to 50% on their heating and cooling costs.
page 12
Self-Helps dedicated staff resources for green initiatives include:
Melissa Malkin-Weber, Green Initiatives Manager. Melissas background is in industrial pollution pre
efciency and indoor air quality.
Jane Hatley, Business Development Ofcer for Green Lending. Jane is an experienced loan ofcer wi
in environmental protection.
Other staffare volunteers with grassroots groups including Clean Energy Durham, the Eno River Asso
Stakeholders in Asheville, and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.
For more information on Self-Helps green initiatives, visit http://www.self-help.org/about-us/policy-in
environmental-stewardship-initiative-1 To make a green deposit that will further Self-Helps work, go
http://www.self-help.org/invest-with-us/why-self-help/were-green
http://www.self-help.org/about-us/policy-initiatives/environmentalhttp://www.self-help.org/about-us/policy-initiatives/environmentalhttp://www.self-help.org/invest-with-us/why-self-help/werehttp://www.gafunds.com/http://www.self-help.org/invest-with-us/why-self-help/werehttp://www.self-help.org/about-us/policy-initiatives/environmentalhttp://www.self-help.org/about-us/policy-initiatives/environmental -
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Put Your
MoneyWhereYour
HeartIs!Were learning the real risks of ourpast patterns of behavior, but whatare our alternatives now?By David Long
page 14
Mission Markets launched its
investment platform connecting
companies, funds and projects
with accredited investors, in
July 2010. The equity and debt
investments offered on the
platform create both prot and social/environmental impact. The platform
currently hosts private placements but is opening its doors to publically
listed companies and funds that have a high sustainability focus, and inves-
tors that use SRI and ESG frameworks to assess investment opportu-
nities as well. Currently their investment marketplace hosts
around 300 members, half investors and half issuers
seeking capital.
Olivia likes to think of it like this we
work at the intersection of money
and meaning where investors, inves-
tor groups, and businesses are
coming together to build a new
form of capitalism. The new
emerging operation model is
a hybrid space which is grow-
ing in popularity throughout the
investment industry, leading to
a world hopefully not too far in
the future where a single bottom
line is not competitive enough, anddouble and triple bottom lines of
social and environmental, as well as
nancial impact - are seen as not only
altruistic, but nancially smart. A couple
of generations ago this type of investing
was hardly considered, much less prevalent.
Back then companies were only focused on
the single, bottom line prot. Mission Markets is
We recently had the pleasure of interviewing O
Frazao, Associate Business Development at
Mission Markets in New York. A nancial s
company, Mission Markets operates an impact investme
online platform which supports investments in the socia
environmental markets. The investment side of the platf
helps sustainability-focused companies and funds raise
by connecting them with investors who are searching fo
and triple bottom line investment opportunities. Mission
not only creates ways for people to meet and interact onnew platform, but also aggregates information, metrics,
key providers in the eld to create a real community aro
sustainable businesses and sustainability-focused nanc
end result is centralization, efciency, and liquidity for t
and environmental capital markets.
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operating in a hybrid of both, where it believes the new economy lies. The
return on investment now includes satisfaction added to the community.
Groups that have pioneered this type of thinking and investing have existed
for decades, but in the past few years sustainability has become a prevalent
movement, currently hitting its tipping point and on its way to become
mainstream. One new indication would be J.P. Morgans new recent report
on impact investing where it denes impact investing as a new asset class.
Mission Markets offers investments with triple bottom line returns any-
where from above to below market rate, in both the social and environmen-tal spaces. Within the social space, some sectors include micro nance;
social funds, and social enterprises. Examples of sectors hosted in the
environmental space include clean tech and renewable energy, sus-
tainable agriculture, sustainable infrastructure, and environmentally
focused enterprises.
Mission Markets is a hub not only for buyers and sellers to interact
with each other, but also aggregates information on all social and
environmental sectors, through news, reports, webinars, and other
educational materials. Social networking functions allow investors to
do due diligence together, and to co-invest. Third party service providers
are also hosted on the platform to market their services (such as consulting,
or PR) to current members. Mission Markets also offers Private Por-
tals through a white label for groups that would like to administrate theirown members within the platform, with unique communications within a
certain group, while also keeping that group integrated within the greater
network. Groups of companies and investors in a certain niche, like the
Slow Money Alliance (a network for the slow food movement) are using
Mission Markets to bring their off-line network into a space where the
members and their information and interactions can be organized through
Mission Markets.
Alongside the impact investment platform, Mission Markets also operates
an environmental credits platform (the Earth Exchange) with over 160
members launched October 2010, that brings together buyers and sellers of
all types of environmental credits, including carbon credits, water qual-
ity, wetlands, biodiversity, and renewable energy credits, among others, as
well as an environmental nance platform (the CXSE network) to structureenvironmental projects for large companies. All three platforms intersect,
as for example an environmentally focused company raising capital on the
investment platform for a project that generates carbon credits can then sell
those credits on the credits platform. Alternatively, an organization can
come to Mission Markets to use only one of its platforms.
page 16
We asked if the devastating earthquake, tsunami and
nuclear catastrophe that have recently occurred in
Japan will cause a renewed focus on R&D and in-
vestments in the alternative energy space. Olivias
response was, I believe so. Now everyone is seeing
rsthand the limitations and dangers of the way we
rely on current energy and economic systems through
a few major events in the past few years: the nuclear
catastrophe in Japan following the earthquake and
tsunami; political unrest in Libya and Egypt causing
oil prices to skyrocket; BPs environmental devasta-
tion, which caused investors to rethink how to assess
risk in investment opportunities; and the 2008-9 global
nancial crisis leading people to reconsider the way
capitalism has been run. These events have opened
peoples eyes to reconsider the way we look at risk
and opportunity in business and investment decisions.
Were learning the real risks of our past patterns of
behavior, but what are our alternatives now?
Mission Markets: http://missionmarkets.com/
Now everyone is seefirsthand the limitatiand dangers of the wrely on current energ
economic systems thfew major events in few years
,
,
http://missionmarkets.com/http://www.gafunds.com/http://missionmarkets.com/ -
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With continued unrest in North Africa and the Middle East we have seen another step up in the oil price to aprice above the key psychological level of $100 per barrel. A higher oil price does not directly benet the
economics of most alternative energy technologies because oil is rarely used to generate electricity. The vast
majority of the worlds electricity is generated from coal, natural gas and nuclear power. However, oil is criti-
cal as a transport fuel and the need for countries to rely less on foreign imports of oil is driving a shift towards domesti-
cally sourced clean electricity generation and the move to electric vehicles.
The last time we saw $100 oil was in 2008. Since then we have seen the worst nancial crisis since the Depression
which has presented numerous stumbling blocks for this emerging sector. Despite this over the same period the alterna-
tive energy sector has grown substantially in scale, technological advances have been sustained and many new coun-
tries are building clean electricity generating capacity.
The last time oil reached $100 per barrel in 2008 public concern surrounding the issue of Climate Change was ac-
celerating. Green was the new buzz word, celebrities were turning up to the Oscars in hybrid cars, and Al Gore was
spreading the word with his Inconvenient Truth. The nancial crisis that started to grip the world in 2008 and 2009
caused a dramatic shift in sentiment towards the issue of Climate Change. Understandably people were more worriedabout keeping their job and their house than the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. Governments could no longer afford to
prioritise debating international ways to tackle Climate Change when the banking system was in meltdown and unem-
ployment was rising. The oil price had fallen to $40 per barrel by the end of 2008 which meant that one small relief to
the consumer was a lower cost to ll up at the pump. But with oil back over $100 per barrel today headlines are being
generated, businesses and the public are feeling the pinch at the pump, debate is being fuelled and the public will begin
to ask governments what they are going to do to tackle it. Government rhetoric is likely to move back towards the need
for less reliance on foreign oil and more domestically generated clean electricity and this may well be sold to the public
through the Climate Change prism.
What Does $100 OilMean For The
Alternative EnergySector? By Matt Page and Edward Guinness,Portfolio Managers at GuinnessAtkinson Asset Management
page 18
While the start of the nancial crisis put the brakes on some policy developments in
2008, governments remained concerned about energy security and the threat of a sup-
ply shock. Those countries that are most reliant on energy imports or high electricity
prices have typically continued supportive policies since 2008 to encourage growth in
their alternative energy industries. Imports account for 50% of EU energy consumption
and therefore the motivation to tackle this is high. In Germany supportive policies have
encouraged annual installations of solar to grow from 1.5GW in 2007 to 7GW in 2010
while generating new sources of employment. European countries that had no policy
in place in 2008 such as the Czech Republic have emerged as signicant sources of
demand over the last three years. Outside of Europe, China is similarly concerned by
the quantity of energy and natural resources that it needs to import to continue the rapid
growth of its economy. China has therefore emerged as the largest market for wind
turbines and the largest manufacturing base for solar panels in the world. $100 oil will
seek to bring the issue of energy security higher up the agenda.
In 2008 Germany was the manufacturing heart of the solar industry but China had a
small emerging solar module manufacturing industry. The Chinese government recog-
nized the potential for developing an alternative energy industry that could reduce its
needs for imported fossil fuels and encouraged the expansion of the solar industry in
China. The Chinese manufacturers were playing catch up in terms of module quality
but their approach was to rmly focus on reducing manufacturing costs. These Chi-
nese companies listed their shares in the US and used the proceeds to rapidly build out
their manufacturing capacity, invest in research and development and start to develop
sales channels into the key European markets. Since 2008 annual global installations
of solar modules have more than doubled and solar modules have become a commod-
itized product with cost being the key differentiator, which is itself an indication of the
increasing maturity of this industry. The Chinese companies have been so effective
at lowering their manufacturing costs that today they make up the majority of global
module manufacturing capacity and the best companies can sell a solar module at less
than half the price they did in 2008 while still maintaining a decent margin. The Chi-
nese modules are now as good, and in some cases better quality, than German mod-
ules and the German manufacturers are struggling to compete with them.
Examples of Chinese solar companies such as Trina Solar and Yingli
Green Energy are trading on mid-single-digit P/Es which despite
some near-term European demand uncertainty offers attractive
valuations when you consider how large the solar industry
could be in 5 or 10 years time when we wont be talking
about $100 oil but maybe $200 oil.
We therefore believe that the most important fac-
tor from $100 oil is an improvement in sentiment
towards the sector. If the current high oil price turns
out to be just a spike and we quickly return to a
more normalized oil price then the sentiment shift
will likely be short lived. However, if we see the oil
price remain high for a sustained period, then we
would expect to see growing support for the alter-
native energy sector from the public and positive
shifts in government policy and this could trans-
late into higher equity valuations for companies in
this sector. Guinness/Atkinson:
http://www.gafunds.com/lp36.asp
solar mhave bcommprodubeing
differewhichindicaincreamaturthis in
,
i i klif h h li d h ll h i d h d d li d hi d if
http://www.gafunds.com/lp36.asphttp://www.gafunds.com/lp36.asp -
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Impact Investment is an emerging market thats becoming recognized as a new
asset class in its own right. Its generally dened as direct investment aimed at
solving social or environmental challenges while generating nancial prot. It
differentiates itself within the arena of Socially Responsible Investment in that
Impact Investment is proactive, direct investment in positive solution-oriented
enterprise that takes place outside of standard stock market investments, includ-
ing mutual funds.
Impact investment is gaining attention as a key piece of the puzzle for address-
ing social and environmental crises. But, still in its infancy, theres
a continuing need to develop the landscape of Impact Investing
on many levels. Investors need to hear about it, understand how it
works, and have a means to evaluate the myriad of opportunities
in terms of both nancial and social performance. Investors, Social
Finance intermediaries, and those organizations and companies do-
ing the work of addressing critical problems in the world are work-
ing together to develop organizational capacity and build an infra-
structure that can support a ow of new investment capital into this
area; some estimate that up to one trillion dollars could ow into
these high-impact opportunities over the next ten years.
An exciting new arrival to the Impact Investing landscape is Mis-sion Markets (www.missionmarkets.com). Mission Markets is a
rst-of-its-kind on-line transaction platform connecting high net-
worth individuals and institutional investors with a growing number of invest-
ment offerings from organizations and enterprises that are directly addressing
social and environmental problems. Mission Markets was founded by Michael
Van Patten and Steve Rocco, both of whom have extensive expertise in tradi-
tional capital markets coupled with a passion for advancing social welfare and
environmental conservation. Van Patten has described the turning point in his
By Malaika Maphalala
Mission MarketsAdvances
ImpactInvesting
life when he realized that all the time and energy hed de-
voted to nancial markets on Wall Street served no mean-
ingful value; he then turned his efforts toward creating a
career path that would allow him to use his expertise to
make a positive change in the world for those who really
needed it. Determined to make a difference, Van Patten
worked to develop an efcient, transpar-
ent arena for the Social and Environmental
markets to get a foothold, understanding
that the industry could only grow if it had
the right infrastructure to support it.
Mission Markets is in its start-up stages
and sits very much on the cutting edge,
working to expand emerging social andenvironmental capital markets by provid-
ing a centralized marketplace with detailed
information about offerings from a wide
range of sectors: Community Investment,
Social Enterprise, Micronance, Sustain-
able Agriculture, Cooperatives, Water, Re-
newable Energy, Sustainable Fisheries, and
Sustainable Infrastructure. In compliance
with Securities and Exchange Commission regulations,
the site only allows access for those who can shoulder the
higher risk of untested investments, including accredited
investors individuals who have at least one million in
assets (not including a home) or who earn over $200,000
annually and institutions with over $5 million in as-
sets. Investors can register to become members, and once
approved, are able to view current offerings, learn about
them in depth, make investments, and trade holdings on
Mission Markets Secondary Trading Platform.
For issuers, Mission Markets provides multiple layers
of support. They help social enterprises and organiza-
tions extend their reach through their support of alterna-
tive capital raising structures like direct public offerings,
cooperative shares, private equity, private placements, and
unregistered debt offerings. They provide marketing for
offerings through widespread promotion of the platform
itself, as well as via what they call a Virtual Road Show,
in which investor members are invited to online presen-
tations, where individual issuers create video presenta-
tions describing their work and investment opportunities.
Mission Markets also helps strengthen the organizational
capacity of potential issuers, and thereby the entire Impact
Investment landscape, through their Minimum Listing Re-
quirements which require not just submission of legal and
corporate documents along with nancial disclosure, but
demonstration of commitment to tracking and evaluating
social and environmental impact. All issuers must have a
qualied third party assess, rate, or certify
as well as provide annual reporting using q
metrics that follow the newly developed I
ing and Investment Standards (IRIS). IRIS
initiated by a collaborative effort between
Foundation, Acumen Fund, and B Lab, to
mon framework for denin
the non-nancial performa
investment capital, using a
new metric: Social Return
(SROI). Its adoption stand
organizations communica
about their social/environm
mance and allows investor
performance of individual other companies within Im
sectors. Those organizatio
panies able to show the mo
dollar invested (SROI) wil
nancing opportunities. SR
sential element for buildin
of Impact Investment and
the infrastructure developm
attract big money into the eld.
Another exciting Mission Markets project
entry point for grassroots organizations fo
investment in sustainable community ente
piece of developing a diverse ecosystem o
ing. Soon, grassroots organizations, like th
Alliance, which creates investment vehicl
local, sustainable food systems and small
velop portals where investors within spec
access investment opportunities of their re
As of April 2011, Mission Markets has ov
members and dozens of investment-ready
$336 million. In rapid early development p
Markets holds the potential to play a signi
expanding the Social and Environmental c
and become a valuable tool for accredited
their advisors to access Impact Investmen
__________________________________This article is for educational purposes only and is not intende
dations or solicit sales of any specic investment. Please discuyour investment advisor for a complete discussion of your goa
other factors before making any investment decision.
Malaika Maphalala is a Financial Advisor with Nnational investment advisory rm committed to hcreate portfolios that reect their own social prioring healthy returns while cultivating opportunitiesral Investments has been at the forefront of the socworld for over 25 years, and wrote two of the leadInvesting from the Heart (1992) and InvestingMoney and Making a Difference (2000). They aregistered advisory rm with ofces in 8 states. Mland, Oregon ofce and can be reached at 877-424investing.com.
http://www.missionmarkets.com/mailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationmailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=mailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationhttp://www.naturalinvesting.com/mailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=mailto:malaika%40naturalinvesting.com?subject=Informationhttp://www.missionmarkets.com/