Last month, a dream came true. After three years of relationship building “to find the others”. We organized a gathering around Catholic social tradition and investment practice. And it was more than a gathering. It was a deep encounter. People felt moved by how deeply they were able to relate, and how meaningfully they could […]
Few moments have made me pause like reading Wendell Berry’s latest essay… Wendell’s latest essay just came out in Christian Century: https://www.christiancentury.org/features/against-killing-children One of his lines got me thinking: war is the business of business He awakens us to the reality that 60,000 nuclear bombs have been built. A huge percentage of each tax dollar […]
So much to chew on with the release of Francis’ new exhortation: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231004-laudate-deum.html To start with I’m offering this quick video reflection after my first read because I want to make a public commitment to you. There are no lasting changes without cultural changes. There are no cultural changes without personal changes. I love how […]
Investing with a consciousness of what your money is doing pushes us to ask a few questions. Where does money most commonly get invested? What is the structure of the relationship between invested money and other things I care about? If I don’t like the conventional investing options, what are my alternatives? If I believe […]
Three topics have been swirling for me recently. First, I do not feel like I’m doing enough anti-oppression work. But some philanthropists in the Northwest are giving me hope. They have started rolling up their sleeves and published a great report about their investment committees and racial equity work they are doing. Their report is […]
If conventional investing is “returns-first” then what does “mission-first” or mission driven look like? What are the strategies we might use to help transition our money? Distinct from conventional impact investing, I try to help us push into the leading edge of impact-first investing. The kind of asset stewardship that might lead toward a regenerative […]
Once in a while you find a report that validates a bunch of your hunches. In this case, a group of foundations in the Northwest U.S. have come together to wrestle seriously with what racial equity means for their investment committees (& the social mission actualization of their asset stewardship). What emerges is a report […]
This morning I was on a call with Brendan O’Sullivan-Hale, the Canon to the Ordinary for Administration and Evangelism at the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis. He pointed me to this General Convention document that starts with this great quote from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry: The wealth of the church…must be at the disposal of God […]
Let’s reflect on the structural power dynamics embedded within our current investment and business system. The Problem: Capital Supremacy (“Finance-First” Investing) In our current economic paradigm, Capital’s interests are often structured (through ownership & governance) as above all other interests. In other words, while customers, producers, workers, communities, the environment, future generations matter to an […]
Morgan Simon has been pushing the definition of impact in the oft used phrase “impact investing” for many years. Her definition and principles have helped Elizabeth Garlow and I immensely and many of the Catholic asset stewards we work with. I was grateful to record a conversation with her this afternoon, where she surprised me […]