RSF Board & Staff
Investing with a Gender Lens
May 10, 2013
This post was originally published on TriplePundit
By Marlena John
As a woman entering the finance world, the title of the session at the Slow Money National Gathering, Female Investors: The Most Important Change Agents on Earth, certainly sparked my interest.
Don Shaffer, President & CEO of RSF Social Finance started by telling the story of when he was a golf caddy in New Jersey, slinging golf clubs for Wall Street traders and bankers. Back then, women were not allowed on the golf course, which reflected the situation of most of Wall Street and the finance industry as a whole. The few women who did work in finance got paid a lot less than the men.
Fast-forward twenty or so years. There are a lot more females in the field, taking leadership in investment opportunities, and playing golf. The Equal Pay Act of 1963, signed by President Kennedy, prohibited pay differences based on sex. Great! But, if you think that everything is hunky dory, then you’d be wrong. As it turns out, women are still making less money than men on average, and this is particularly true on Wall Street. Shaffer claims that females on Wall Street make 55-62 percent as much as males do, though I’ve seen statistics that claim it is as high as 77 percent. Even if the 77 percent stat is accurate, women in finance are experiencing a significant, and unwarranted, pay gap.
So, women are getting paid less, and that’s not cool. We also have many more men than women investing and working in finance. But why should we care how many women investors there are? Don Shaffer laid it out well.
Continue reading on TriplePundit
Easter in the Investment Conference Room
March 28, 2013
At this time last year, RSF investor Rosemary Feerick, brought her two sons to our office to open their very own Social Investment Fund accounts. Later, she decided to share the story of her experience that day.
This essay was originally published in the Harvest Time newsletter.
by Rosemary Feerick
When we arrived at RSF Social Finance, Ellie, the receptionist, asked if we wanted a cup of tea. It was the day after Easter, a day off from school for my sons. I told the boys that we were going to San Francisco to invest some of their college savings.
On the way to the city, we stopped at our credit union and withdrew money from a savings account I had set up for my eight year old son Ian. I gave Ian the check to hold in the car. He studied the piece of paper carefully. When we got to RSF Social Finance, he was still holding the check with care.
“I would like a cup of darjeeling, please,” Ian responded to the receptionist’s question.
“Darjeeling. Hmm. Let’s go see if we have some,” she offered, leading us into the kitchen.
Mark Herrera, RSF’s Client Development manager met us there. As Ian and Ellie focused on tea, Mark showed the composter to my 11 year old Roddy and explained what biodynamic sugar is. “These are some of the products made by the companies supported by the fund in which you’ll be investing,” Mark explained.
Next, he led us upstairs to the conference room overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. We felt very important.
In the conference room, Mark gave the boys samples of organic cookies. Together they read the ingredients, all of which actually sounded like food. Then, Mark told the boys about a company that employs people who are newly released from prison. Next, he described with excitement a sustainable fishery in Alaska that is allowing the Eskimo people to keep their way of life. “These are more of the companies the fund you are investing in supports.” The boys nodded.
Mark then sat down with Roddy and Ian and explained the mechanics of the investment, making sure they understood how it worked and what the rate of financial return would be. Together they did the math to figure out what that translated to in terms of the boys’ investments.
Rose with her sons Ian and Roddy.
When Mark was satisfied that Roddy and Ian understood what they were getting into, he had them each fill out an application and sign it. Their accounts were officially open.
On one level, this exchange felt like no big deal; it seemed like how making an investment should work. But as I watched, another part of me wanted to celebrate. I was aware that what I was witnessing was the result of years of my searching for a different way with money.
Twenty years ago, I received a gift of love that came in the form of a financial portfolio. At the time, I understood little of how investments worked. But as I learned about the mutual funds in my portfolio, I realized that I was invested in companies whose products and ways of doing business offended my conscience. I searched for other models of investing and discovered socially responsible mutual funds.
Initially, I felt good about moving my money into those funds. But as I read through the prospectuses and annual reports, I soon realized that in spite of a variety of social screens I was still invested in companies whose products I would not buy. The socially responsible mutual funds I had in my portfolio felt to me like the lesser of two evils.
A few years later, I was attending a conference on Sabbath Economics when Rob Baird of Progressive Investments (now Portfolio 21) got up to speak about investing. He did not have any fancy visuals, but as he spoke, I felt as if fireworks were going off. Listening to Rob, I saw for the first time a way that investments could do something good in the world.
Up until then, I felt I had to hold on to some of my investments in order to care for my family. But I felt horribly conflicted about doing so because it felt that my money was sitting inside of a global economic system that is causing harm. As Rob spoke about different models of investing, a door to a whole new world opened for me. I started to search for investments that could do good.
I learned about investing in microcredit; in affordable housing mutual funds; in community development banks; fair trade companies; and social investment funds. I worked with Andy Loving, an advisor who shares my faith and began to move some of my money into those kinds of investments. When the financial statements came each month, I noticed how differently I felt opening the ones that came from investments I had chosen. Instead of feeling guilty, I felt excited. It felt like a privilege to participate in the work of fair trade companies and local organic farms.
Shifting to alternative economic models required that I let go of the possibility of a high financial return. Having been raised to believe that receiving a high financial return was “good stewardship,” that was hard at first. Didn’t I have a responsibility to seek high returns for myself and for my children?
But as I learned about the impact many corporations are having on the ecosystem and the human family, I came to believe that that definition of good stewardship was inadequate. Good stewardship, for me, needed to take into account the world that I am passing on to my children as well as the money that will eventually change hands. I wanted any investments that I participated in to be part of creating a world full of life.
On one level, my visit to RSF Social Finance to invest a portion of my children’s college savings on Easter Monday was simply the next step in my process of shifting the investments I manage into such vehicles. But that day in the conference room I felt as if something else was happening too. There was something there that felt holy.
As a mother, I feel a responsibility to form my children in Easter hope. I try to do that by modeling and letting my children know about ways of living that respond to the crises of this historical moment with alternatives that bring life. My children will inherit this world. For me, it is not enough to bring them to church. I feel I also need to show them how to discern where God is moving in the world and teach them how to participate in that.
That is what it felt like was happening that day at RSF. In the conference room, I sensed that my boys and I were participating in a way of investing money that brings life to everyone it touches. In addition, Mark’s taking the time to teach the boys about how their investment would affect others was powerful. It was as if he understood that giving children life-giving possibilities when it comes to money is a radical investment in the future.
As I witnessed the exchange, I felt a sense of awe and gratitude. I felt a Holy Presence with us as we sipped tea, ate cookies, and filled out investment account forms on Easter Monday.
Fourth Conversation on Money, Race, & Class
August 2, 2012
By John Bloom
Conversation is powerful technology. It can be used to build community, engender trust, transform people, and renew what it means to be human. Such communication can invite a sense of the sacred by the very willingness of participants to delve into deep and complicated topics out of interest in each other, and an openness to be in the tender condition of vulnerability. If successful, one leaves the gathering as a different person, a keeper of others’ stories. When the stories focus on the entwined realities of money, race, and class, and are shared in a group that is cross-class and race, the conversation brings forth extraordinary challenges. The genius is in both acknowledging those challenges and making the safe space to work through them.
On December 9, 2010, RSF hosted the fourth Conversation on Money, Race, and Class. This full-day gathering, brought together a diverse group of fifteen community leaders from the Bay Area. Each responded to the invitation out of an interest in the topics, and opportunity to explore them in an unhurried collaborative environment. Further, each participant agreed to recording the conversation, so that it could have lasting value. Click here to download the full transcript. Each of the participants has reviewed the transcript and has released it to be published. We have tried to create a collectively held copyright in that each participant maintains the right of use, while RSF holds a general copyright for any inquiries.
It is fair to ask why RSF Social Finance, with my leadership, would invite such a gathering. The answer is quite simple. We need to get past not talking if we want to bring about change. Money and the effects of the financial system touch everyone. If we are striving to transform how we work money and how it works on us, then we are called to learn how to have conversations that may be uncomfortable, challenging, sometimes confrontational, inspirational, and include often unheard voices at the table. The stories can be painful, sometimes celebratory—to tell and hear. Imagine someone saying how painful it is to talk about race, but it is a good change from the pain of not talking about it. Imagine, from a position of privilege, absorbing someone speaking of the legacy of shame due to poverty. Or, to be able to own and share a prejudice against people with wealth even as some of those present are wealthy. These are transformative moments, certainly moments of deep learning for me, borne of a willingness to listen deeply, and to being present with each other. Understanding the complexity of human issues working in our economic life is useless without understanding how those issues feel to and directly affect each participant day-to-day.
Patricia St. Onge, our facilitator, helped us set the tone of inquiry and the basic ground rules for the day. She led the first experience, Conocimiento, for which each of us was given a large sheet of paper and a choice of drawing and coloring media. The “task” was to create a picture based on the following: my name and (if there is one) the story behind it; I am from… ; my people are… ; a childhood memory of understanding money and/or family dynamics about money… ; an early experience of economic injustice… ; tracking the changes in my attitudes about money; and, today, money holds meaning for me in these ways….. Following the completion of these works, we did a gallery tour in which each person told the story of their drawing and was then acknowledged by the whole group. What a beautiful beginning way to get to know each other’s story. The thoughts and feelings spoken during this session continued to reverberate through the day.
The Conocimiento was followed by launching into the first conversation question: What is the connection between who we are and what our experience is of wealth, economic need and prosperity—for ourselves and in our community? This question and the issues that emerged through asking it engaged us for the better part of the day. For the latter portion of the meeting, we drew questions from the group, and spoke to them until it was time to close for the day. We closed with a brief sharing of insights from the day, a wish for the group, and a wish for the world.
Following the gathering, we asked for reflections. In response to the question: How were you affected by the conversation? One participant wrote:
“It is so rare to have the opportunity to sit and think and talk about the important issues of our contemporary lives. To have the luxury of time. To have the luxury of a safe space. To have the luxury of both familiar and unfamiliar faces, all of whom are compassionate warriors in the struggle for making the world a better, saner, safer, more loving place to live and grow. The day fed my mind, soul, heart, and body. What a blessing. I’d like everyone on the entire planet to have a day like this. I, who live a privileged (though not wealthy!) life, find this experience so healing. How many millions of people on this planet (whatever their socio-economic status may be) may not even know that being this way is possible? Maybe that’s the transformative moment—to have the lived experience, that this being this way, in conversation, open and thoughtful and compassionate, is possible.”
It is with humility and an awareness of others’ realties that RSF convened this conversation on money, race, and class in collaboration. It is our hope that the wisdom and insights shared in these collected conversations serve anyone wishing to transform themselves and their communities. We are currently editing the fifth conversation held in January of 2012, and are looking forward to planning the next.
Click here to download the 2010 Money, Race, and Class Transcript
To learn more about this event and review past transcripts visit http://rsfsocialfinance.org/impact/reimagining-money/
John Bloom is Senior Director, Organizational Culture at RSF Social Finance.
Changes to RSF Prime
July 11, 2012
Dear Clients & Friends,
RSF has elected to lower the interest rate by 25 basis points (0.25%) for the third quarter of 2012. RSF Prime will now be 4.75% and investors will earn an interest rate of 0.75%.
RSF’s most recent pricing meeting was held in Sebastopol, CA earlier this month. This was the twelfth such meeting we’ve had since RSF made the decision to change how our quarterly interest rate is determined. Prior to October 2009, we used the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as a benchmark to determine our rate of return. Since then we’ve been using this customized rate established by our Social Investment Fund (SIF) stakeholders — RSF staff, SIF investors, and borrowers in our Social Enterprise Lending program. The SIF investor rate is then added to a 4% spread (for RSF’s operations) and the resulting rate, named RSF Prime, is the base rate for borrowers.
This pricing mechanism is more deeply aligned with our values to make financial transactions as direct, transparent, and personal as possible. Further, we’ve been able to offer a significantly higher interest rate to investors than if we had continued using LIBOR. Important to note: with this change in pricing, investors will continue to earn a rate several times that of a conventional bank CD.
Following the meeting we reflected on an important conversation that took place: would lowering RSF Prime make us more competitive in attracting high impact social enterprises in need of financing? Ultimately the answer was yes.
With that said, we are aware that the average RSF investor, for this next period, will experience a lower return (a decrease of $125 annually for the average $50,000 SIF Investment Note). For borrowers the impact is greater, as their average loan size is over $900,000, and their annual costs will be lowered by $2,000 to $2,500 annually.
We believe that lowering RSF Prime to 4.75% will help us retain and attract worthy projects to support through our Social Enterprise Lending program. To learn more about the projects we fund, visit the RSF Impact Map.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. In a spirit of transparency, we are happy to talk with you about our decision directly.
Current investors can contact Mark Herrera, Senior Manager, Client Development at mark.herrera@rsfsocialfinance.org or 415.561.6160.
Current borrowers can contact Ted Levinson, Director, Lending at ted.levinson@rsfsocialfinance.org or 415.561.6179.
With best regards,
Don Shaffer – President & CEO
A Few Things We Accomplished in 2011…
January 5, 2012
By Jillian McCoy
Happy New Year!
It’s always such a good feeling to kick off a new year and we are really looking forward to what’s to come in 2012. But before we dive in, it’s worth taking a look back at what happened in 2011.
I pulled a few statistics on the past year and was very impressed with the results. We certainly experienced a flurry of activity in the last quarter, and although the dust hasn’t completely settled (stay tuned for our 2011 Annual Report for the final numbers – they could be even higher) this is a great indication of our work last year.
The most critical part of our work is the people we connect with every day in our mission towards transforming the way we work with money. So here’s a look at how we grew the RSF Community.
We welcomed…
13 new borrowers – Aquatics Informatics | Bare Fruit | Crown O’Maine | Estancia Beef | EVOL Foods | Good Earth Natural Foods | Guayaki | interrupicion* Fair Trade | Kuskokwim Seafoods | Summerfield Waldorf School | Uncle Matt’s Organic | Wild Planet | Waldorf School of Pittsburgh
Kuskokwim distributes sustainably sourced seafood caught by native Alaskan fisherman.
2 new Mezzanine Fund investments – Scandinavian Child | HappyFamily (via our Core Lending program)
241 new investors to the RSF Social Investment Fund and $19 million in new funds (surpassing our previous record of $15.6M in 2006!)
11 new Donor Advised Funds and $10.5 million in gifts, and
8 new RSF staff members (to help us do all of this amazing work!)
We also…
Made $5 million in grants from our Donor Advised Funds to 274 non-profits
Hosted 10 events, with over 1,000 attendees
Held the first RSF Shared Gifting meeting with a focus on Food & Agriculture in the San Francisco Bay Area
A Shared Gifting grantee, People's Grocery works to improve the health and economy of West Oakland through the local food system.
Published the innovative white paper “A New Foundation for Portfolio Management” with Leslie Christian and Portfolio 21, and
Celebrated Rudolf Steiner’s Sesquicentennial with 500 of our closest RSF friends!
Our friends from Small Vines Vineyard pouring biodynamic wine for festival guests.
Well isn’t that impressive! We’d like to thank all of our clients, partners, and friends who helped make this possible and we look forward to bigger and better things to come in 2012.
Jillian McCoy is Senior Associate, Communications at RSF Social Finance.
The Infinite Value of Giving
November 23, 2011
We spend a lot of time talking about the investing and lending part of our work. This time of year, we like to turn our attention to giving, the third pillar of our work with money. This season, we give thanks and give of ourselves.
Earlier this year, we published a piece by RSF founder and trustee Siegfried Finser in the RSF Quarterly. Given its enduring message, we wanted to share it again, for your reading pleasure.
THE INFINITE VALUE OF GIVING
Giving transforms the world from inside out and draws spiritual beings into the human sphere simply because it is always sacrificial regardless of the size of the gift. The act of giving is more important and greater than the gift. We may be able to hand over a dollar without much feeling, but any sacrificial giving calls upon the highest levels of feeling in us. Every giver reaches for the ideal element in his soul in considering and consummating a gift. It is simply in the nature of this transaction.
In the United States our national tax structure favors and encourages giving. Every university, orchestra, dance and drama group, all museums and in fact all of our culture would not exist and would not continue to exist without giving. Last year alone, in trying financial times, more than a trillion dollars were given, the vast majority from individuals who found in themselves a motive higher than benefiting themselves. Giving is very different from the other two types of financial transactions – buying/selling and lending/borrowing. It is well worth our time to look a little deeper at this often under valued transaction in our world economy.
Let us say that you love the school where your children are being prepared for life. The school needs an auditorium to showcase the work of the children and to meet as a community of caring parents and friends. You decide to give $1,000 to the capital campaign. Many others contribute and the auditorium gets built. It is beautiful as well as useful. You see the first Shakespeare play in which your child has a role. He speaks so clearly. You marvel at his poise and sense for the dramatic. You feel already that your $1,000 was the best possible sacrifice you could make.
The work of the $1,000 is still going on. Other plays take place. Other children are learning and growing up in the same auditorium. Your child has graduated, yet the gift goes on benefiting others.
Children washing paint brushes at the Lakota Waldorf School, an RSF grant recipient
If the auditorium stands and remains useful for 100 years, perhaps as many as 5,000 children have grown up in it. Perhaps several hundred teachers were able to educate them and develop as they taught. The graduates marry and they have children. They work in every kind of business there is. Some work in government, some are musicians, entrepreneurs, artists, attorneys, carpenters, singers, financiers, teachers. The list goes on and on. Every profession is affected by the gift that now lives on in people. The graduates travel and visit or work in every country in the world and are involved in every religion and every type of spiritual search. Five thousand graduates no doubt affect perhaps as many as one billion people around the world, and the gift still goes on working.
That is the true nature of the gift. It is a sacrifice made on the basis of love and works on to the end of time affecting eventually every human being on earth and in the future. When you gave the $1000, most of the children benefiting from it were not even on earth yet. They kept coming and coming, benefiting from your $1,000. When each of us leaves the earth and even our memory begins to fade, the gift endures. It has a kind of immortality none of us have.
Every gift no matter how large or how small has this innate quality of working on to the end of time and benefiting all humanity. Now I ask, “Who is really the receiver of a gift?” Is it the one who accepts it? The one who accepts it is obligated to do what he/she has promised to do in order to accept the gift. Perhaps the one who accepts the gift simply carries on the giving, making sure that what is done with the gift will benefit all. Perhaps the real receiver of a gift is the whole of humanity until the end of time.
Giving arouses in each of us the longing to see the world deeply changed, improved in some way. The giving draws out of the spirit what can further the development of mankind. Long before the school’s auditorium is built, the architects tried to capture in drawing and pictures what is living in the imagination of the community. Each has a personal picture of what it could look like. Weaving through everyone’s own picture is the over-arching imagination of qualities and potentials to be realized.
What first lives in the imagination is not physical. At that point it is spiritual in that we all see it, not with out eyes, but with our capacity to envision what we plan to implement. Our feelings connect themselves to this imagination and stir the wish to see it become “real.” We then give. As the result of our giving the auditorium slowly materializes. Now everyone can see what we alone saw at the beginning. Spirit has descended into matter and our senses now enjoy it.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet both gave away enormous parts of themselves. Recently they challenged all persons of wealth to give at least 10% of their earnings to charitable causes. They are championing the cause of giving not for a specific project, but for its own sake. Perhaps unwittingly they are working to begin the slow transformation of our present economy to a gift economy.
Giving/receiving is the transaction that unites the spirit living in each of us with the spirit alive in the universe. It draws spirit into matter and is a beginning point leading to action and achievement in our culture. The best way to celebrate the transaction of giving is to do it.
Siegfried E. Finser
On behalf of RSF Social Finance
The 2011 RSF Borrower Gathering and Community Supported Transformation
September 27, 2011
by Reed Mayfield
In July, over twenty RSF borrowers convened at the San Francisco Waldorf School for our third annual RSF Borrower Gathering. One would be inclined to describe the energy of the group as “engaged and enthused.” The feeling is mutual amongst the many people with whom there exists a direct relationship based on reciprocity and common values – RSF staff & board, investors, donors, partners, and friends. We fondly refer to this group as the RSF Community. This community is united by the impact we collectively bring forth into the world, the transformation we seek. The impact is evidenced in a number of ways: supporting Fair Trade practices, organic alternatives to store bought foods, Waldorf Education, environmental stewardship, food security, social finance, and much more. Among all this activity, progress is made with the creation of innovative and transformative ideas, through co-creative conversations. The RSF Borrower Gathering is an excellent representation of one of these conversations.
Over the course of one and a half days, the RSF Borrower Gathering brought together a variety of RSF borrowers, all with extensive hands-on experience in building successful non-profit and for-profit social enterprises. Borrowers shared insight into their respective industries from many different geographic areas and across all three of RSF’s Focus Areas (Food and Agriculture, Education and the Arts, and Ecological Stewardship). During a session titled “Engaging Your Local Economic Community,” moderated by Raphael Bemporad of BBMG, a panel of RSF borrowers discussed the many innovative ways they engage with their communities. Jessica Rolph of HappyBaby, Jason Graham-Nye of gDiapers, and Denise Hamler of Green America shared the thought processes and methods that have contributed to the stellar communities grown around their organizations. Denise said that to advance your mission, “know what you do well, and find out who is good at what you need.” Jason spoke about how gDiapers corporate culture extends beyond the walls of their offices and also about their use of social media to communicate with customers. Jessica discussed the importance of utilizing community engagement in their decision-making process and how the business truly took off when they “really began to listen” to the HappyBaby community.
Other highlights to the gathering included:
- A presentation on Co-Creation from Raphael Bemporad of BBMG, a “brand innovation studio” focusing on “sustainability, technology, and social purpose.” Click here to read more.
- “Managing an Intelligent Organization” with Dale Rodrigues from Mary’s Gone Crackers.
- Break-out sessions with RSF’s senior management team and industry sector experts.
- Updates about RSF, including the Social Impact Assessment Project, new initiatives, and the future of the organization.
- An evening reception held at the CompoClay Showroom and Resource Center with RSF investors and staff.
The gathering was held at the San Francisco Waldorf High School. The school is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council as a LEED Project, and is currently working on its Gold Level Certification. RSF is deeply appreciative to the school and staff who allowed us to use their beautiful facilities.
Each member of the RSF community is a cornerstone in our organization. If there were no value-aligned investors how could social enterprises maintain their values when seeking financing? Without the high-impact borrowers, would capital be channeled to organizations our investors would not be proud to support? The Annual Borrower Gathering is an example of how RSF utilizes community, transparency, and direct personal relationships to achieve our mission of transforming the way the world works with money. This event continues to grow in both size and content each year, bringing new borrowers, investors, and staff together to generate valuable learning experiences and to build stronger relationships. Thank you to RSF Community for contributing to the success of the 2011 RSF Borrower Gathering.
Reed Mayfield is Lending Assistant at RSF Social Finance.
Barn Dance Raises the Sustainable Food Movement
September 19, 2011
By Kelley Buhles
On the side of Highway 1, in an old Redwood Barn, members of the Bay Area’s local sustainable food movement, along with RSF, gathered in July to strategize about the future of their work and to celebrate their amazing achievements thus far. Attendees contributed to a potluck of local foods and a DJ played bangara, hip-hop, latin, and soul to a lively crowd.
But this barn dance wasn’t just for fun. The genesis of this event was at the first meeting of the RSF Food and Agriculture Shared Gifting Fund. This program is working to transform the way philanthropic dollars flow to charitable projects in the world by having the grantees themselves determine how funds are directed. Seven organizations from around the Bay Area were selected to participate in a day long meeting where they shared their stories and needs. It culminated in them collectively deciding how to best use a grant of $50,000. To read more about this meeting check out this newsletter article.
During the granting process the participants decided to grant money to support another convening along with partners, collaborators, friends and family to discuss transforming the food system followed by a celebratory potluck and barn dance. Pie Ranch, one of the participants, offered to host this event on their educational and sustainable farm. Movement Generation, another participant, was requested by the group to facilitate the conversation on transforming the food system.
Approximately 30 participants joined the conversation consisting of the original seven non-profit organizations, as well as partners they invited to join. The group was a great representation of all of the people working in the sustainable food movement in the Bay Area including farmers, development directors, activists, teachers, volunteers, and community organizers. The facilitators from Movement Generation helped us to define the roles we play, the tools we use, and to strategize about how we can transform the current food system into a healthy sustainable system. While it was apparent from the conversation that there is still a lot of work to do, the meeting helped to connect a larger group of people, organizations, and approaches that are working towards the same goals and identify our commonalities.
After the conversation, the potluck and barn dance began! Michelle from Movement Generation started off the dancing by leading everyone in some traditional Bhangra dancing. Oscar Grande then took over playing a great mix of world music, hip-hop, latin, and of course Michael Jackson. Oscar works with PODER (People Organized to Demand Economic and Environmental Rights) and leads a DJ collective/co-op as part of PODER’s grassroots economy work.
Although we didn’t walk away with a clear strategy on how to transform our food system, we were all made aware of the need to think about new ways of coming together, building community, and talking about sustainable food issues. It was also a great symbol of the uniting of urban and rural and of reclaiming the land. I like to think of the community barn dance as a vision for what a sustainable food movement could look like.
Kelley Buhles is Philanthropic Services Manager at RSF Social Finance.
RSF White Paper Released
September 8, 2011
Download A New Foundation For Portfolio Management
A New Foundation for Portfolio Management is a paper that proposes new principles for creating an investment portfolio. Authored by Leslie Christian, of Portfolio 21 Investments with the support of Don Shaffer, President & CEO of RSF Social Finance, this paper challenges current assumptions about risk, growth and utility and proposes new principles to bring portfolio theory into the 21st century.
Through a process of inquiry, both RSF and Leslie Christian realized that the assumptions we were relying on to guide our investment strategy were no longer appropriate for the environment we are living in or for having the social impact we seek. It was this discovery that first led us to begin to rethink portfolio theory, and our investment strategy overall, and led to the creation of this paper.
The white paper provides a set of new foundational elements to build upon current investment including:
- Integrated Risk – a scientific view of risk that incorporates ecological limits and uncertainty, both usually ignored in investing.
- Selective Growth – growth can occur even if average economic growth is zero or negative, but it will be unique to particular sectors and companies rather than a function of rising per capita material consumption.
- Multidimensional Utility Function – investors need to have clarity with respect to the unique purpose and goals of each asset beyond solely financial.
It is our hope that this paper will inspire deeper discussion in the investment community. We look forward to continued conversations.
Fall Conference Season in Full Swing
September 8, 2011
By Melinda Cheel
‘Tis the season for conferences, gatherings and events inspired by the desire to improve our communities, our country, and the world through better business practices and meaningful investment opportunities. Social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and local food advocates all take stage this time of year and RSF is geared up for the festivities. We’re hosting, sponsoring and participating in over a dozen events this fall. The following highlights some of the upcoming gatherings. Visit our Where We’ll Be page for the full list of what we’re up to in the coming months.
SOCAP11 kicked-off on Tuesday, Sept 6 and is happening at Fort Mason in San Francisco until Friday evening. SOCAP is a multi-platform organization dedicated to the flow of capital towards social good. It’s an obvious fit for RSF and we’re proud to sponsor the conference. Don Shaffer and Leslie Christian, CEO of Portfolio 21 Investments, are leading a SOCAP Special Session to announce and present a new white paper, A New Foundation for Portfolio Management. Don and Leslie will also be speaking about the paper at a B Lab webinar on September 29.
On Sunday, September 25, RSF is celebrating the life and legacy of Rudolf Steiner at a festival in Golden Gate Club in the Presidio. If you’re in the San Francisco area, join us from 11am – 4pm for organic & biodynamic food & wine, a Marionette show, gardening activities, Dr. Hauschka skin care treatments, a talk with Paul Dolan and so much more. Check out our event page for more information.
In early October we’ll be in New Orleans for SRI in the Rockies (no longer only in the Rockies). 2011 marks the 22nd year SRI in the Rockies has been bringing investors and investment professionals together who are working to direct the flow of investment capital in more positive, healthy, and transformative ways. RSF has been a long time sponsor and participant and thrilled to be involved again. Don Shaffer is moderating a panel titled Innovation and Impact: Investing for a Truly Sustainable Future. If you’re planning to attend the conference Oct 2-5, be sure to check out the discussion!
October 12 -14, we’ll be back at Fort Mason sponsoring Slow Money. The Slow Money National Gathering brings together people who are rebuilding local food systems across the U.S. and around the world. More than 1,000 people attended the first two national gatherings—resulting in more than $4.25 million invested in 16 small food enterprises! Don Shaffer will be joined by Joel Solomon, RSF Entrepreneur in Residence and Leslie Christian, Portfolio21 Investments CEO to discuss place-based strategies and the future of social investing. And Taryn Goodman is on a panel titled Mission-Related Investing: Strategies for foundations to invest in small food enterprises. Find out more and register today.
Later in October we’ll be in Philadelphia for back to back to back events. First, the B Corps Champions Retreat starts October 25. The retreat is for B Corp leaders and includes an annual awards dinner. Last year Don was MVP! Second, Investors’ Circle Fall Venture Fair kicks off on October 26. RSF is again sponsoring Investors’ Circle, an organization committed to catalyzing the flow of capital to early stage companies that address major social and environmental problems. Lastly, the Social Network Venture is hosting Movers, Shakers & Changemakers, their annual fall conference. The conference, being held Oct 27-30, will bring together an influential and diverse network of social entrepreneurs from around the world to explore, inspire and create innovative ways to build a just and sustainable economy.
November 3-5, RSF is excited to sponsor Making Money Make Change. The gathering is hosted by Resource Generation and is for young people with wealth who believe in social change. Resource Generation organizes to transform philanthropy, policy, and institutions, and leverage collective power to make lasting structural change. If you know of a young person with wealth, encourage them to get involved!
Melinda Cheel is Senior Associate, Partnerships and Communications
RSF Board & Staff
