This video, produced by our friends at In The Telling, tells the story of Bernard Amadei, one of the co-founders of Engineers Without Borders, and the new Center for Engineering for Developing Communities.
“We tap into local talent, and strengthen that talent,” Amadei says about his philosophy, a more sustainable approach than typical imperialism still practiced by a majority of aid agencies. Amadei’s latest project is recycling trash into fuel in developing countries, like Afghanistan.
Enjoy the video, a great investment of four minutes.
Together with colleagues John Cleveland and Pete Plastrik, the founders of two amazing change networks in urban sustainability (John) and social innovation (Pete), I’ve been working on a concept called the Social Innovation Commons.
The project is an answer to an obvious problem: a maze of data and a warren of information stores permeates the field social innovation, rarely crossing myriad organizational boundaries and doubtfully overcoming technology hurdles. This leaves the change agents, social entrepreneurs, non-profit execs and foundation program managers at a loss for answers to questions as simple as “What has been tried in this sector before? What has worked? What problems have stopped progress in previous attempts? Who are the experienced implementers?”
Our friends Rick Zwetch and Caryn Cappricioso at interSector Partners L3C just shared this draft of the L3C legislation (PDF download) that Rep Joe Mikosi is introducing in the Colorado legislature.
Beyond “you heard it here first,” Rick is seeking:
feedback on the bill (this would be your lawyer or friend starting an L3C)
supporters for the bill (this would be your state rep or senator)
people to testify for the bill (this could be you)
If you have read this far, and are still wondering “what’s an L3C?”, it’s a new legal and tax designation that appears to most obviously benefit for-profit partnerships that are seeking program-related investment (PRI) or mission-related investment (MRI) from foundations. Wikipedia has a more robust description.
Although there is some debate on the relative merits of L3C designation vis a vis some other business forms that may come down the pike in coming months and years, we see it as a signal that sustainable and triple-bottom-line ventures are being taken seriously by state legislatures.
If you care to dig in on the debate further, we’ll engage just such a discussion at an upcoming gathering of the Sustainable Venture meetup, which Rick and Caryn co-founded with us.
In our busy lives, let’s all take a moment to consider the lessons Dr. Martin Luther King taught us. His focus on non-violent change in pursuit of social justice is an inspiration to change agents and social entrepreneurs around the world.
A great new project is accepting applications for funding from sustainable ventures.
The i4c campaign (as in “I forsee… a better tomorrow”) is a project launched by Boulder-based TouchPoint Trust Group to connect the entertainment industry with sustainable and triple-bottom-line oriented ventures. The first initiative in the campaign is a million dollar venture fund set up in partnership with Lileth Fair, who is also the launch partner of i4c. The fund is seeking positive cash-flow sustainable ventures (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). Applications are being accepted through January 21st, and the funds will be dispersed this spring.
Working with our technology partner, Business Catapult, w1sd0m (what is w1sd0m?) is helping source and manage the applications and screening process.
Although this first project launched pretty quickly, we expect more big announcements (including new funds) from i4c and TouchPoint, in coming weeks and months.
One of our good friends and advisors, Jed Emerson, has been on the front lines of the intersection of sustainable investing and traditional capital markets. For the past year, Jed was a partner at Uhuru, a hedge fund play with a sustainability bent, created by Peter Kellner, of Endeavor fame. Although the fund failed to reach its own sustainability, and shut the doors in the December, it provided Jed with the material for another chapter in his long-running experiment of transforming traditional finance.
“As I learned more about how he approached hedge fund investing, I was struck by how many of the aspects of Fundamental investing (as described to me) were similar to investing practices of Sustainable finance. Not the same, mind you, yet quite similar nevertheless. Simultaneous to this internal dialogue, an external dialogue evolved with investors Uhuru was engaged with around our work. These investors raised a related question: While they appreciated the attributes of our core Fundamental strategy, they asked if we couldn’t create a truly “sustainable” fund of hedge funds product. What they sought was a “Long/Short” investment strategy pursued in a manner consistent with an investor’s commitment to Sustainability. Was such a thing possible?
These conversations became the genesis of this current paper—a basic exploration of that question.”
Jed’s intro alone is brilliant and entertaining, and puts to rest the simplistic “good vs. evil” frame of reference in this complicated issue. The rest of the paper is a unique view on the evolution of sustainable finance and the current equity and debt markets that will shed light on the issue for even the most sophisticated investor, while providing great grounding for those us who don’t live and die by the valuation of a group of securities.
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll know more than you do today. What more could you want?
In December, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper announced that Denver is the first North American city and second city globally to be chosen by Ashoka as a “Change Your City” location. This project, first created in Dublin, Ireland, works to raise awareness and get people involved in change-making. The video below, created by our friends at In The Telling, summarizes the project well.
There is much more detail to come on this project in the weeks and months ahead. If you’re dying for more inside scoop, get in touch with us. The wheels of progress are turning on this project right now, and we’ve got a few good friends who are centrally involved.
This picture of me is worth one thousand words, at the minimum. Taken at Berthoud Pass, CO, while skiing with some very good friends.
With that, my midwinter haitus ends, and it’s back to a regular schedule of posts on the intersection of transformative IT, impact investing and sustainable business.
