November 2022

Aligning Faith and Finances

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Welcome to our November 2022 issue on “Aligning Faith and Finances.” I’m excited about this edition of GreenMoney, because during more than 30 years of publishing we have had the opportunity to share many great articles, but rarely is an entire issue as stirring as this one. So, I encourage you to allow yourself some reading and reflection time for it. Don’t place it in the to-be-read-later file or you’ll miss something; read it now. Each article reflects thoughtful, practical, and yes, provocative thinking. Also watch our Featured Video a TEDX talk from author, money manager and former monk, Doug Lynam on How Monastic Wisdom Can Help Your Finances.

In this issue you’ll read about how different faith traditions are effectively incorporating community and impact investing to be even more, well, impactful, in our stewardship of each other and of the planet.

Enjoy the conversation. How does your faith influence your business practices and guide your investment decisions? What will you choose to profit from and what will you avoid as you align your faith and finances?

Our writers include: Amanda Joseph of Calvert Impact who looks at Investing in Justice and a Livable Future; Mark Regier of Praxis Mutual Funds and Everence Financial tells us why Faith-based Investing is Not Just a “Nice Thing” to do; Rob Carney of Eventide takes us on his personal journey of Aligning Faith with Finances; and Duane Roberts of Dana Investment Advisors looks at Economics for the Greater Good. You will also find Rosa Lee Harden of Neighborhood Economics and the SoCap Conference discussing Dave Ramsey, the Market, and Jesus.

We round out this issue with another new episode of our Featured Podcast: The Salmon People, from Canada’s National Observer.

And remember, we welcome and appreciate your feedback!

– Cliff Feigenbaum, publisher and founder

Amanda Joseph of Calvert Impact-2

Heeding the Call: Investing in Justice and a Livable Future

Amanda Joseph
Calvert Impact
There is a reawakening among faith investors to address global challenges through the power of mobilizing assets in alignment with their values. Over the decades, faith leaders charted a course that has engaged both values-aligned investors and financial professionals. Today, we are witnessing some of the first “impact investing” pioneers coming together with a new generation of faith-based asset owners and networks.
 

Duane Roberts of Dana Investment Advisors

Faith-based Investing: Economics for the Greater Good

Duane Roberts
Dana Investment Advisors
Faith-based investors have an opportunity, indeed an obligation, to exert influence on businesses to maximize the human welfare of shareholders, broader stakeholders, and society at large. Such investors may align investments with their belief system, like Quakers eschewing any business dealings with companies involved in the slave trade, or early Methodists avoiding investments in alcohol, tobacco, gambling or weapons.
 

Mark Regier - Praxis Mutual Funds and Everence Financial

It’s Not a “Nice Thing”!

Mark Regier
Praxis Mutual Funds and Everence Financial
Community investing combines prudent management and economic sustainability of traditional investments with an understanding of the challenges faced by orgs seeking to bring opportunity and long-term financial viability to those on the margins of our society. Where charity seeks to do good work, community investing seeks to leverage charitable and community resources to expand that “good work” by multiples
 

Rob Carney of Eventide

Aligning Faith and Finances: A Personal Journey

Rob Carney
Eventide
On the theme of values-based investing, a speaker at a Christian MBA networking conference I attended explained the importance of having a framework to look at how a company treats all of its stakeholders, namely, its customers, employees, suppliers, host communities, the environment, and broader society. The bottom line was her assertion that what is right is also, in many cases, good for business and investors.
 
 

EPISODE 5: The salmon had been returning to the Fraser River for hundreds of years. In 2009, they didn’t. When whale biologist, Alex Morton’s day to testify at the Cohen Commission arrived, she was full of adrenaline. She could tell people what she had been seeing with the salmon for the past two decades. And she would reveal what she had found in the 500,000 pages of government documents submitted to the inquiry. Documents that had only been released to inquiry witnesses, and would go back under lock and key the moment the inquiry was over. It should have been a perfect Hollywood moment — like key scenes from Erin Brockovich, Dark Waters or even The Verdict. And when Alex made key documents public, they revealed how the health of wild salmon had been ignored by Fisheries and Oceans for decades.

The Salmon People podcast is a co-production between award-winning journalist Sandra Bartlett and Canada’s National Observer.

November 2022 Additional Articles

Photo by Jose Alonso, Unsplash

Dave Ramsey, The Market, and Jesus

Rosa Lee Harden
Neighborhood Economics
Jesus called out economic injustice. He turned over the tables in the temple, because of the way the financial system of the temple treated the poor. The poor would bring what they had, but it was not in the currency of the temple. So, they exchanged it with unscrupulous money changers to get the right currency. Jesus recognized this abuse and rejected it.
Good Intentions - What faiths say about how they invest and how they can do more

Good Intentions: What faiths say about how they invest – and how they can do more

Here’s the first in-depth, multi-faith analysis of the extent to which faith groups align their values with their investment portfolios. There's been a huge rise in interest in values-driven investing in recent years, including among faith groups who are increasingly aware of the importance of investing in line with their faith values to help them achieve their environmental and social goals.
Impact Investing Market Reaches $1.1 Trillion Globally in Industry Milestone

Impact Investing Market Reaches $1.1 Trillion Globally in Industry Milestone

“The results of GIIN’s new market sizing study should fill us with optimism and determination. We should be optimistic about the capacity of the impact investing market to enact positive change, and we must be determined to continue to grow the use of impact investing as a critical strategy to address the challenges of our time” said GIIN Co-Founder and CEO Amit Bouri.
Calvert Impact Capital announces new strategy and creation of Calvert Impact

Calvert Impact Capital announces new strategy & creation of Calvert Impact

Calvert Impact Capital, Inc. announced the formation of Calvert Impact, Inc. as its new holding company and as the overall brand to expand its impact investment activities. The changes will facilitate the launch of new impact investment products and service offerings that advance Calvert Impact's goal of better connecting the capital markets with organizations that positively affect communities and the planet.
Cleantech Group Names the 2022 50 to Watch - Climate Crisis Innovators

Cleantech Group Names the 2022 Cleantech 50 to Watch – Climate Crisis Innovators

Cleantech Group recently released their Cleantech 50 to Watch, an annual list of top global early-stage private companies showcased for their excellence in sustainable innovation. The entrepreneurs on the list are creating new technologies that are poised to address the climate crisis in plastics, regenerating soils, recycling building materials, automating food waste and transforming solar power.
Pioneer in Faith and Finance for 50 Years-The United Church of Christ-by Timothy Smith-Boston Trust Walden

The United Church of Christ: Pioneer in Faith and Finance and a Force for Change 50 Years Later

Timothy Smith
Boston Trust Walden
(From the archives) The United Church of Christ was present at the creation of a new era in the intersection of faith and finance. In the early 70s, energized by the anti-war and anti-apartheid movements, the women’s movement, and the battle for civil rights, Protestant denominations began to examine how their religious values and social justice positions were reflected in their investing and business decisions.

 
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