Tag: Sustainable Business

In 1995, I set off on a solo backpacking trip through Sub-Saharan Africa, where I witnessed poverty on a scale I had never seen before. That journey altered the course of my life. At the time, I had just left my job as a VP at a technology startup. When I returned, I knew I wanted to dedicate my career to building a more equitable and sustainable world. What I didn’t realize then was that this decision would eventually lead me to rethink how I invested my money — and to uncover the power of collective action.

Breaking Barriers in Values-Aligned Investing

When I first explored values-aligned investing, the concept was still emerging. Conversations about impact investing largely revolved around institutions and high-net-worth individuals. But what about the rest of us? Could someone like me — without formal financial credentials — learn to align my investments with my values? The journey wasn’t easy. I trusted financial advisors who mismanaged my money, navigated unfamiliar financial landscapes, and experimented repeatedly before gaining confidence in managing my finances.

Eventually, I realized I wasn’t alone. Many brilliant, capable women had been excluded from financial conversations. That realization led me to write Activate Your Money: Invest to Grow Your Wealth and Build a Better World. The book wasn’t just mine — it was shaped by certified financial planners, financial leaders, and women who shared their insights as thought leaders and reviewers. It was a collective effort, just like the movement itself.

At the same time, I co-founded Invest for Better, a nonprofit equipping women with the tools and confidence to align their money with their values. Through Invest for Better, I’ve experienced firsthand the extraordinary impact women can have when they come together, share knowledge, and take action. This movement isn’t about going it alone—we are in this together.

Women as a Financial Force

Women are poised to become a financial force like never before. By 2030, women are expected to control $34 trillion, or 38%, of the wealth in the United States — a dramatic increase from $7.3 trillion just a decade ago.¹ Yet the financial industry has been slow to recognize and adapt to this shift.

Historically, women have been excluded from financial decision-making. It was only in 1974 — just 50 years ago — that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act guaranteed women the right to access credit without a male co-signer. Despite these barriers, when women do invest, they often outperform men. A Fidelity analysis of over 5 million accounts found that women’s portfolios earned 0.4% more annually, largely because they traded less and made more strategic decisions.²

Women also invest differently. Studies by BNY Mellon show that women are more likely to prioritize investments with positive societal and environmental impacts.³ Yet, over half of women say they would invest, or invest more, if their portfolios reflected their values. This is where organizations like Invest for Better come in — creating spaces for women to gain financial confidence and take meaningful action.

The Ripple Effect of Collective Action

Research shows if women had participated in the economy identically to men, it would have added up to $28 trillion, or 26 percent, to annual global GDP by 2025, this year, compared with a business-as-usual scenario.⁴ Additional research shows that if women invested at the same rate as men, that would translate to an additional $1.87 trillion flowing into socially responsible investments.

Investing with purpose isn’t just about numbers — it’s about real impact in our communities and for our planet. Imagine investing in affordable housing developments that provide stable homes for families, or in businesses that prioritize fair wages and worker well-being. Consider the potential of funding regenerative agriculture, which rebuilds soil health while supporting small farmers. Across all asset classes — stocks, bonds, cash, real estate, and alternative investments — there are opportunities to direct capital toward solutions that improve lives and protect our environment.

This is why we’re launching a national campaign to reframe how women view their financial potential. We don’t have to wait for change; we are the change. At Invest for Better, we’ve built a community where women support one another in learning, investing, and growing. We offer free events, resources, and our Circles program — small groups of women who come together to learn how to align their wealth with their priorities.

The results have been inspiring. One woman who joined our Circle program went on to create a fund with her husband focused on charitable grants and impact investments addressing poverty, financial inclusion, and racial justice. Another woman, a finance influencer, rebalanced her portfolio after participating in one of our deep-dive courses.

Collective Action Includes Everyone

While this movement highlights the power of women’s financial engagement, it’s not just about women. Men have a vital role to play in advancing values-aligned investing and ensuring financial decision-making is more inclusive. When men actively support women’s participation in investing, they help unlock a greater flow of capital into initiatives that create sustainable, equitable change.

Many of the most effective investment strategies involve collaboration across genders. Families, partners, business leaders, and financial professionals can all work together to make investment choices that align with shared values. By engaging men in this conversation, we amplify our collective ability to drive systemic change. We need all hands on deck — this is a movement for everyone who believes in leveraging money as a force for good.

Your Money, Your Values

If there’s one thing my journey has taught me, it’s this: our individual actions create powerful ripple effects. Every decision we make — whether aligning our investments with our values or helping others do the same — can contribute to solving the global challenges we face.

Values-aligned investing isn’t just about making money; it’s about making capital markets work for people and the planet. It’s about addressing systemic inequities, improving quality of life, and ensuring a better future for the next generation. These are not abstract ideas; they are urgent human concerns that demand action today.

The future is in our hands. Together, we can shape it. Let’s harness our collective power and take bold steps toward a more just and sustainable world. We hope you’ll join us.

Article by Janine Firpo, who is a values-aligned investor and social innovator. In 2017 she left a successful 35+ year career in technology and international development to focus on how women can create a more just and equitable society through their financial investments. Her book, Activate Your Money, was published in May 2021. Later that year, Janine co-founded Invest for Better, a non-profit organization that helps women invest their money in ways that align with their values. In 2024, Forbes named Janine one of “50 Over 50” female leaders who continue to make impact later in life.

Footnotes:

[1]  https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/economics/2024/12/09/massive-wealth-transfer-will-give-women-us34-trillion-by-2030/

[2] https://www.bankrate.com/investing/women-and-investing/#women-and-investing-by-the-numbers

[3] https://www.bankrate.com/investing/women-and-investing/#women-and-investing-by-the-numbers

[4] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/how-advancing-womens-equality-can-add-12-trillion-to-global-growth`

Above image courtesy of Fabric VC

Change isn’t coming – it’s already here. Venture capital is undergoing a seismic shift, and if you’re not investing in women-led and diverse startups, consider this your wake-up call. Investors who aren’t yet looking at the untapped potential of these founders are missing out on some of the most exciting and profitable return opportunities in today’s financial markets.

At Fabric VC, we’ve seen first-hand how shifting the landscape to investing in diverse founders isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s a winning strategy towards creating stronger returns and sustainable businesses. This is where opportunity meets impact, and the results speak for themselves.

The Power of Diverse Leadership: A Market Advantage

Here’s the thing: diversity isn’t just a buzzword – it’s the key to better business outcomes. The days of the old boys’ club running the show are numbered, and as the world of business evolves, so too does the understanding that diversity – whether gender, racial, or socio-economic – is directly correlated to better business outcomes. Studies show that companies with more women in leadership positions perform better financially, are more innovative, and are able to navigate change with agility. These aren’t just feel-good facts – they’re statistics that should make any investor sit up and take notice.

Diverse leadership isn’t a ‘nice-to-have.’ It’s a competitive edge. When you invest in founders who bring unique perspectives to the table, you unlock untapped markets and innovative solutions that others might overlook. That’s a pretty solid argument for why diversity is more than just a buzzword – it’s the future of investment.

Closing the Inequality Gap: The Business Case

Let’s address the elephant in the room – the venture capital industry has a diversity problem. A staggeringly small percentage of funding goes to women and minority founders. This isn’t just a moral failure – it’s a missed financial opportunity. Diverse teams don’t just create products – they create solutions that resonate with a global audience with trillions in buying power. At Fabric VC, we’re actively seeking out these opportunities and providing them with the resources and mentorship they need to succeed.

But the true value of supporting these founders goes beyond equality – it’s about the immense potential for growth. Diverse teams are more likely to create products and services that cater to a broader audience, better positioned for success in a global marketplace. This isn’t just philanthropy – it’s smart business.

Fabric VC’s Model: More Than Just Investment

At Fabric VC, we don’t just write checks and hope for the best. We’re in the trenches with our portfolio companies with our sleeves rolled up ready to help them scale, strategize and succeed because we’re dedicated to helping diverse founders break through the barriers that have traditionally kept them from accessing capital.

What sets us apart? We don’t just look for great ideas – we look for founders who are committed to building companies that will make a lasting impact on the world. Whether creating jobs, solving pressing social issues, or transforming industries, these founders are not just changing the fabric of venture capital – they’re changing the fabric of society. This mission is personal to me. With a J.D and M.B.A. from Rutgers University and over sixteen years of running the award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, I’ve had the privilege of working with more than 400 companies from global brands like Facebook, Verizon Digital Media, Geico, PAW Patrol, and Zendesk. I’ve seen firsthand what it takes to build something meaningful and enduring. There’s something that just hits different as the kids would say, when you’re an operator turned investor. The deep understanding of what it takes to successfully launch and sustain a company is one that most GPs frankly have never had and, we believe, one of the many things that sets us apart and sets us up for providing true value to our portfolio companies.

The ROI of Impact: Why Diversity Drives Returns

Let’s talk numbers, because at the end of the day? ROI Matters. Here’s the truth: Investors who support diverse founders aren’t just championing equality – they’re investing in some of the highest-potential businesses in the market. As food for thought; in 2023, female founders secured almost 28% of total U.S. deal value, surpassing All Raise’s 2030 goal of 23% years ahead of schedule. This momentum isn’t limited to women founders either, in 2021, Black-led venture funds also announced record raises of capital to over $100 million for the first time. The data speaks for itself; startups led by women and underrepresented minorities often outperform those with traditional, homogenous leadership teams.

Diverse-led teams are a force to be reckoned with, they’re the top talent, powerhouses of innovation and masters of scalability. Investors who see the business opportunity here aren’t just championing for a cause, no; they’re making strategic financial decisions that position them for a larger pool of high-growth opportunities.

How You Can Get Involved

At Fabric VC, we are always on the lookout for forward-thinking investors who want to be part of this change. Whether you’re a seasoned venture capitalist or a newcomer to the space, there are countless ways to get involved and make an impact.

We offer a unique opportunity to partner with us in identifying and nurturing diverse, high-potential companies. By supporting these founders, you’re not just investing in a company – you’re investing in the future. And with our proven track record of success, we’re confident that the returns on this investment will speak for themselves.

What’s Next For “ESG” Investing

The Future Is Diverse, and So Is the Market. The venture capital landscape is evolving, and investors who aren’t adapting will find themselves left behind because the future isn’t shaped by outdated and homogenous teams. The future is shaped by leaders who solve problems creatively and innovate fearlessly – those who are rethinking what it means to create, scale, and succeed.

At Fabric VC, we’re proud to be at the forefront of this revolution. We believe that by investing in diverse founders, we’re not just helping to close the inequality gap – we’re setting the stage for a more prosperous, inclusive, and innovative future. And for investors, that’s the ultimate opportunity.

Interested in learning more about how you can get involved and start investing in diverse founders today? Visit Fabric VC to explore opportunities and join us in reshaping the future of venture capital.

Article by Laurel Mintz J.D., M.B.A. is the CEO and Founder of award-winning, Los Angeles-based marketing agency Elevate My Brand serving both startups and blue chip global brands like Facebook, Verizon Digital Media Group, PAW Patrol, and Zendesk. Using her experience working with more than 400 companies in the CPG and technology spaces, Laurel launched Fabric VC, in 2022, to provide alpha returns while doing good by investing in diverse founders who have proven to outperform. She is the General Partner and Founder of Fabric VC

After she had her first child and came back to work, my then-colleague Amy Orr (now of Boston Common), shared with me an interesting observation: she was getting more done at work, and with more impact. The urgent need to get home at the end of the day had sparked within her a new sharpness and focus to her workdays.

Amy’s experience proved part of a pattern that I’ve since observed across the financial industry: Many women seem to behave as though they don’t have time to waste, and this leads to better relationships, greater excellence at work, and ultimately, greater positive impact on real humans.

Take Kelly Baldoni of Impax Asset Management, who moderated the opening panel of a Pensions & Investments event honoring influential women last year. Kelly led by confessing that the previous year’s event had left her feeling insufficient – not a CEO, pressured by working motherhood with littles, wondering what kind of success was even available to her. Her vulnerability shaped the opening discussion into a raw and applicable discussion on leading from the middle.

The panel also eschewed introductions, in order to get into the real meat of the conversation, with a wave of the hand, a casual, “Our bios are in the app.” I thought of countless panels I’ve attended wherein “introductions” took the first 30-plus minutes, leaving little time for panelists to say anything more than skin-deep, and leaving attendees like myself left with scant new information, soon forgetting even the names of the speakers. By contrast, the entire P&I event was designed to push ego aside and focus on genuine relationships and actionable information – implicitly challenging us all to do the same.

Likewise, for years, the High Water Women symposium was the most helpful conference I attended in the values-based investment industry – remarkably, because High Water Women was not really an “industry organization.” Their core programs focused on financial literacy training and annual backpack and holiday gift drives, and, secondarily, they “also pioneer[ed] conversations around impact investing.”

Read that again. I found the really cutting-edge information of the values-based investment field – including not only what had recently happened, but what was happening next – at an event hosted by a nonprofit founded by women in the financial industry who focused primarily on getting kids their school supplies! Their speakers included some big names, but also activists and academics plucked from obscurity to share their vital insights and boots-on-the-ground experiences.

My theory: these women didn’t have time to waste on ego-boosting. They were movers and shakers focused on getting real work done. 

These kids needed backpacks; those women needed micro-loans; and we in the industry of financing the world’s great needs needed to get together to talk about what to do next.

How to Harness the “Thruster Effect”

I think of this pattern as the “thruster effect,” a combination of behaviors that lead to better work, greater positive impact and moving things forward.

Thrusters work as a double metaphor. In a spacecraft, they are fiery boosters combining power and directionality, used to propel a rocket forward or course correct. As a physical exercise, they are the combination of a front squat and an overhead lift. Deemed “the most draining of all exercises,” I find them an efficient way of getting a full-body workout and getting out of the gym and on with life.

While I learned the thruster effect from observing financial industry women, there’s nothing about these behaviors that are exclusive to women. We all have the ability to be rocket boosters who get the right work done.

First, Let Go of Ego

Humility, the art of self-forgetfulness, is the first component. Letting go of ego saves a lot of time and mental bandwidth for focusing on what matters. If it’s a panel discussion, what matters isn’t your name recognition; it’s sending the audience home with actionable information they didn’t have before. (Do that and the name recognition will follow).

Note as further proof that High Water Women is the rare nonprofit that actually chose to responsibly sunset when they felt that they had run their course, folding their various programs into other organizations. (The symposium is now hosted by 100 Women in Finance).

Focus on What Matters: The Whole Human

Focusing on what matters starts with the topic at hand (meeting, panel, etc.) but also means recognizing real problems in the world, understanding people’s lived experiences and pain points, and addressing them in our business and financial decisions.

For many years, much in business culture has prized the compartmentalization of our lives, as though the worker doesn’t go home to a family, or have health concerns or community commitments. Women have often been balancing these concerns and commitments in a much more intensive way, between unequal responsibilities at home and unequal contributions to childbearing. Perhaps as a result, many of us have resisted a culture of compartmentalization. We’re bringing our whole selves (and sometimes our babies) to work, casually recognizing that the same person handling a client negotiation at 9 a.m. was handling a toddler negotiation at 9 p.m.

Outcomes of the “Thruster Effect”: Better Relationships, Opportunities, and Impact

Bringing more of our “whole selves” to our workplaces has led to better benefits and flexible working structures, but those vital changes are not our topic here. Rather, it’s the next level impacts that are fostered when working women and men can thrive as whole persons in their workplaces, boosting their potential “thruster effect,” with three fundamental outcomes.

• Deeper relationships: Bringing a more integrated and vulnerable self to your work relationships strengthens the bonds that turn the wheels of business. As a newbie mutual fund wholesaler, I groaned at the thought that I was going to have to follow sports in order to build relationships with male financial advisors. Experience taught me that instead, many men welcomed opportunities to talk about their families and communities, and that these conversations provided me with much better fodder for building and maintaining strong working relationships. I’ve also seen this principle at work in the Women in ETFs (WE) network and gatherings. A fun, supportive, and intelligent community of both women and men, WE has become an essential component of the still-nascent ETF industry, where there’s a lot of indispensable information one can really only learn by talking to others who know the ropes.

• Greater opportunities: Keeping the whole human in mind unlocks opportunities – from small efficiencies to entire markets. We see those efficiencies in how sidewalk cutouts for wheelchairs, dictation software for the blind, or ADHD productivity brain hacks can also aid walking, seeing, and/or neurotypical people. We’ve seen new markets unlocked as businesses and investors have responded to the challenges of early parenthood with new or massively redesigned products, like milk pumps, catchers, and thermoses; bassinets, sleepsuits, and swaddles; postpartum care kits and medical devices, a car seat/stroller combo, bottles, and more. These innovations emerged thanks to people who brought their marketplace skills to bear after experiencing or paying attention to unmet, real-world needs.

• Real-world impact: At Praxis, real-world impact is our north star, emerging from six core values that start with respecting the dignity and value of all people. This includes small children, the elderly, the ill or disabled, the poor or systematically oppressed – in fact, all kinds of people who might fall through the cracks of systems that look at humans only for their economic inputs and outputs. Every single one of us, and those we love, fall into one or more of those economically unproductive categories at various points in our lives. But only by keeping all humans in mind can we shape business decisions, economies, and ultimately a world in which we all thrive. This is what it means to do work that truly matters.

As we collectively forge ahead into a world of AI, quantum computing, and other world-altering changes, may we apply the thruster effect – not merely watching what happens, but intentionally propelling great work, in the right direction, for the benefit of all.

Article by Deirdre Gibson, CETF^®, Senior National Sales Consultant and ETF Specialist for Praxis Investment Management. In service of a lifelong passion for promoting the greater good, Deirdre specializes in guiding values-based asset managers and wealth advisors to connect with their audiences effectively. Deirdre provides communication and sales support for Praxis nationwide. Additionally, she works with financial advisors, investment firms and financial platforms, representing Praxis investment products.

Before her work at Praxis, Deirdre held pivotal roles at Eventide Asset Management and the Heron Foundation, where she advanced values-aligned investing through innovative communication strategies. Her prior experiences include serving at organizations combating human trafficking and promoting human rights globally, and Joele Frank, a public relations firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions and crisis communications for public companies. She began her career at International SOS, managing crisis medical events for out-of-country travelers. She has a political science degree from Duke University and an M.A. in social sciences from the University of Chicago.

Deirdre lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, Rodney, and their three small children. They attend Mission Hills Church in Littleton, Colorado, where she enjoys volunteering in the kids’ ministry.

About Praxis Investment Management

Since 1994, Praxis has offered investment products designed to meet practical needs for everyday investors seeking to steward their assets consistent with their desire to promote positive social and environmental impacts. Praxis brings a faith-based approach to mutual funds, multi-fund portfolio solutions and money market accounts. Based in Goshen, Indiana, Praxis is a company of Everence Financial. To learn more, visit praxisinvests.com

Consider the fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before you invest. The fund’s prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other information. Call 800-977-2947 or visit praxismutualfunds.com for a prospectus, which you should read carefully before you invest.

There can be no guarantee that any strategy (risk management or otherwise) will be successful. All investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal.

Praxis Mutual Funds are advised by Praxis Investment Management and distributed through Foreside Financial Services, LLC. Investment products offered are not FDIC insured, may lose value, and have no bank guarantee.

Praxis Investment Management

1110 N. Main St. P.O. Box 483, Goshen, IN 46527