Exploring Sustainable Family Offices: A Q&A with Toniic Member Scott Saslow

A dedicated member of Toniic since 2016, Scott co-founded the Family Office Working Group at Toniic in 2021 to inspire and demonstrate how family offices can thoughtfully approach and encourage impact investing. Additionally, in his work at ONE WORLD, he is a deep impact investor focused on supporting a broad portfolio of companies. Scott is a strong advocate for Toniic and the growth of the impact investing field.

Motivated by his experiences and insights, Scott wrote the book Building a Sustainable Family Office: An Insider’s Perspective on What Works and What Doesn’t to help others navigate similar challenges. The book will launch on July 9th. Interested in participating in the book launch and discussion? Sign up here!

Read below a quick Q&A with Scott to gain deeper insights into his book and the journey of building sustainable family offices:

? What sparked your book writing adventure?

Initially, my adventure was born from my experience building and rebuilding my family office, realizing how challenging the process is. I didn’t have any resources that I felt were relevant as a Principal, as well as someone who wanted to build an office to support sustainable investing and create an office that would stand the test of time. As I began writing the book, I realized how many family offices are not sustainable… they aren’t well run, and about 40% fail to pass to the next generation - this has a significant impact on the impact investing community as often the investing and philanthropic activity comes to a halt for a period of time, impacting both companies and funds which rely on family office capital.

?? Why do you believe impact investing is crucial, and how should it be implemented for maximum effect?

I believe the world faces several complex and growing challenges in terms of how it creates energy, provides food, education, and healthcare for its citizens, and does so in a way that helps to heal the planet - we cannot solve these challenges without capital from the private sector - the public sector and social sector is way under-resourced. Investors must see proof of non-concessionary investing for the next monumental wave of capital to move toward sustainable and impactful solutions. We know that what we at ONE WORLD Investments call “Profitable Social Impact” or market rate impact returns are possible… but the broader market still has doubts and legacy myths it holds. The impact investing community must continue to prove that impact is not inherently concessionary and share case studies and successes, and evangelize and change the narrative using examples and data.

?? What key factors have shaped your impact journey and influenced your work today?

Toniic is the first! I joined when I was starting my journey in 2015, meeting David Cooper , Kristin Hull, PhD , Stephanie Rupp , Lisa Kleissner , Karl "Charly" Kleissner , Luni, and others in the Seattle area - I was inspired and encouraged by these amazing humans, and I am most grateful to all of them.? Additionally, I am part of several family office networks without any impact orientation. As much as I love spending time with my impact brothers and sisters, I prefer to engage in circles where I can positively influence “traditional” investors to support the impact economy, I know that among family offices, in particular, there is an abundant gap between their interest in impact investing and their actual activity… I hope to help close that gap.

???What are 3 things you wish you knew when you started impact investing?

First, everyone has their take on what constitutes impact investing, which will always be the case.

Second, "traditional” investors often believe that impact is inherently concessionary, and thus the importance of providing the data to inform them that this is not always true.

Third, although greenwashing is somewhat of a problem, I see a more serious problem in what I call “blackwashing" - social entrepreneurs or even impact fund managers who believe they can’t speak to their impact mission/goals for fear of losing out in terms of capital sources.

?? What emerging trends in Impact Investing are you most excited/hopeful about?

As capital owners, specifically family offices, find ways to support sustainable and impact investing from their investment accounts (not simply via their foundations/DAFs), this will unleash a watershed of capital into the impact economy and that capital won’t "lift all boats" equally. While this class of investors is small in number, it is mighty regarding balance sheets - their direction of capital will move the dial materially. Impact investing also helps family offices engage their rising generation, which is central to all family offices, as younger members are typically much more keen to invest with sustainable intent.

?? How do you hope your story will inspire others?

One of the things at ONE WORLD that I am most proud of is our Impact Investments Fund. We have invested in over 30 companies, completed over 60 total financings, and have some excellent companies well on their journey in creating positive change via their company’s products and solutions. In most cases, we have been with them since their pre-seed rounds, and several have completed their Series B and Series C rounds. I have seen how this part of the ONE WORLD story - creating a seed impact fund backed with family office capital - inspires other family offices to start their impact journey and engage the next generation simultaneously. I hope to tell this story more and more, inspiring a multitude of family offices to do the same. ?

Bio:?

Scott Saslow, Founder & CEO | ONE WORLD Investments, Inc.

Scott Saslow is the Founder and CEO of Palo Alto, California-based ONE WORLD Investments Inc., which provides investment capital and advisory services to help organizations scale social impact. ONE WORLD also manages an early stage impact investing fund. Over his career, Scott has been a founder or founding team member of seven start-up businesses.

Prior to founding ONE WORLD, Scott was the Founder & CEO of The Institute of Executive Development, supporting executives in Global 2000 organizations including American Express, Blackrock, Intel, Time Warner, and the US Navy. Earlier in his career, Scott worked at Siebel Systems and Microsoft Corporation in leadership roles.

Scott is a graduate of Harvard Business School (MBA) and Northwestern University (B.A., Economics). He has authored over twenty-five articles for publications such as Forbes and Directorship and has been interviewed by and quoted in Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg and BusinessWeek. Additional information on Scott and his work can be found at www.oneworld.investments