{"id":31610,"date":"2016-09-15T05:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tested-neuron.flywheelsites.com\/?p=31610"},"modified":"2016-09-13T22:54:29","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T04:54:29","slug":"vision-future-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/vision-future-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"A Vision for the Future of Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been active in the world of impact investing<\/strong>, sustainable finance, entrepreneurship, and effective philanthropy for nearly 30 years. My own journey has never been one of purely professional career development, but rather a set of unfolding passions. I\u2019ve gone from peer tutor in Spanish Harlem, to youth development in Denver\u2019s 5-Points and San Francisco\u2019s Tenderloin neighborhoods, and finally to nearly two decades of work in various aspects of what we now call impact investing.<\/p>\n

Looking back, I remember how in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, we saw an influx of folks new to this community. They came from failed Wall Street firms as well as from lives where, at the age of 25 or 35 or 50, they sought to do more than either good or well.<\/p>\n

We have always been mainstream rejects, new market opportunists, visionary capitalists and 21st Century socialists. <\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However we got here, we all unite around the notion of purpose-driven capital, of bringing your whole self to one\u2019s work, and of leveraging all our available assets for impact. We have always been mainstream rejects and new market opportunists, visionary capitalists and 21st Century socialists. We are entrepreneurs, asset owners, fund managers, thought leaders, and focused practitioners.<\/p>\n

Just as individuals are the sum of the parts of their lives, communities are also made up of everything they have been, the parts they are right now, and the possibilities they hold for the future. Our communities of impact are dynamic and evolving. And this is an understanding of community I have had to personally re-engage with.<\/p>\n

Going Mainstream<\/h2>\n

Last year, at the close of SOCAP15<\/a>, the largest conference of impact investors and social entrepreneurs, I was left with mixed feelings. On one hand, it was great to see that the ideas and practices of impact investing had gone \u201cmainstream.\u201d Goldman Sachs, Bain, BlackRock and a host of other institutional actors engaged with this community.<\/p>\n

All of us need to allow ourselves the space to simply \u201cbe,\u201d since we are moving through the process of our \u201cbecoming.\u201d<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As an increasingly diverse set of actors promoting a very nontraditional understanding of capital, we felt we had arrived. Yet, we are still coming to grips with many fundamental questions with regard to who we are, what we believe, and how best to move forward.<\/p>\n

I was disappointed to see how much of the SOCAP15 conversation focused upon strategy and tactics \u2014 the \u201chow\u201d of impact investing (how to structure funds, how to measure impact, how to raise capital). I firmly believe if people spent more time connecting with the \u201cwhy\u201d \u2014 with cultivating a deeper understanding of the fundamental purpose of capital \u2014 we would find questions regarding the \u201chow\u201d of impact investing easier to navigate.<\/p>\n

The most effective answers will evolve as we cultivate a deeper understanding of the questions before us. <\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I\u2019ve reflected over these past months and observed some of the subsequent discussions taking place in the broader impact community, I\u2019ve come to realize this:<\/p>\n

As we move to scale our impact and continue to embrace the ongoing mainstreaming of our vision and practices, we need to create a truly big tent that may simultaneously hold all our various parts, while also ensuring we\u2019re part of the same movement committed to impact, equity, and the effective deployment of diverse types of capital in pursuit of multiple returns.<\/p>\n

We need one another if we are to achieve our specific goals. It is the slightly different perspectives of our parts that will make for the creation of a more fully diverse and rich impact ecosystem. We may all thrive and grow as we pursue our own understanding of what that vision of impact should look like. It is in this way we are simultaneously a community of parts and Whole.<\/p>\n

A Vision of the Whole<\/h2>\n

I have built my life, reputation, and career upon being known for calling bullshit and speaking to what I understand to be true. Yet, I am also committed to a vision of the Whole for the same reason I do not despise the person I was in the past for not being the person I am today. All of us need to allow ourselves the space to simply \u201cbe\u201d as we are, in turn, moving through the process of our \u201cbecoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, I\u2019ve observed and felt tension within this community of entrepreneurs, visionaries, impact investors and more. At times I\u2019ve heard some call for a new level of intolerance with regard to impact\u2014intolerance more appropriate to a Trump campaign rally. Indeed, I have been referred to as \u201can Impact Taliban\u201d due to the passion I sometimes bring to the promotion of my own beliefs.<\/p>\n

Let us get on with the process of working together to change our world and create our future.<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve heard some say there is no place for moderates. One is either enraged by injustice and willing to fight back, or one is part of the problem. I\u2019ve also heard some say there is only one way to define the nature of the financial and impact returns we should pursue; that if you don\u2019t embrace their definition, you are somehow not part of the real impact community. I\u2019ve heard still others say our challenge is simply proving the case that one may generate \u201ccompetitive\u201d financial returns with impact \u2014 and anything short of that makes our work irrelevant.<\/p>\n

In light of our growing community, as we move forward, I would ask you to keep these thoughts in mind:<\/p>\n