INVEST FOR BETTER MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2023
Invest for Better
Invest for Better is a nonprofit campaign that provides resources for women to become effective impact investors.
Building a New Table
In 2022, an estimated $445 billion was invested in startups. Yet only 17.2% of these venture dollars went to companies with at least one female founder, and only 2.4% went to startups founded solely by women. Although female entrepreneurs were given more venture dollars than ever before by Q3 2022, their capital gain still paled in comparison to their male counterparts. This grave divide is not due to a lack of entrepreneurial women, as more women are entering the business world than ever before, but rather reflects continued gender bias, lack of diversity, and social inequality within the venture capital sphere.?
A new initiative coined?The New Table, spearheaded by our partner organization How Women Lead, is bridging this gender gap by catapulting women into the world of Venture Capital (VC). Founder?Julie Castro Abrams?believes that women need a more dominant seat in the VC realm and is constructing a brand-new table – built by women, made for women – with the goal of permanently altering the gender inequity in VC.
The New Table seeks to inspire 10,000 women to invest some of their capital in venture, specifically in companies and funds founded by women. By integrating women more fully into the world of VC, The New Table aims to change the balance of power and to shift control over which types of business are – and aren’t - funded. This “women supporting women” initiative will catalyze progressive change within the start-up industry that so often excludes women from the narrative. It will also positively impact Black, Indigenous, and BIPOC female founders, who are even more underserved and underrepresented.?
The transformative power of a more gender-balanced venture capital sphere will extend far beyond the realm of business. Funding female founders who create innovative, disruptive, and women-focused technologies opens the door to products and services that are designed with women as the primary, not the secondary, customers.?
Women are statistically more likely than men to invest their money in ways that align with their ethics and values. Encouraging women to command their seat at the VC table will not only lead to a more equitable distribution of venture funds, it will also shift the capital pool towards emphasizing social responsibility. The New Table will catalyze social change, fighting inequity and inequality within the existing male-dominated economic system.
NOTE: Angel and venture investing are risky. You can educate yourself about this form of investing through IFB’s?How Angel Investing Works?Deep Dive course.
From Our Community
Some of our members are happy to share their stories, but would rather stay a bit anonymous. That is the case with the woman that we are profiling this month.?
GG didn’t learn about investing or the complexities of dealing with money until after she finished college. Raised as a first generation American and refugee to the US, GG remembers that money was never abundant during her childhood. “Yet,” she explains, “I never felt poor. The messaging from my family was about saving, stretching a dollar, generosity, and giving. If I found a quarter on the sidewalk my mom would have me leave it so that the person who dropped it could find it.”?
The lack of a financial safety net growing up informed a lot of decisions GG made as an adult and determined the path her life would take. When she found herself in a more stable financial position in her adult life, GG became motivated to learn about impact investing. She came across Janine Firpo’s book, Activate Your Money: Invest to Grow Your Wealth and Build a Better World, when researching how to ethically invest her money and was “blown away.” GG joined an IFB circle shortly thereafter and has become a valuable member of the IFB community.
Joining an IFB circle was an integral step in her values-aligned investment journey. GG bonded quickly with her group, remembering that they were very welcoming. “I learned so much from these women. We were able to be vulnerable in talking about our dreams, our goals, our opportunity areas, and our fears.”
During the COVID pandemic, GG sent her annual email to her friends and family asking about how they invest and donate their money ethically. The responses she received showed that people were donating, but didn’t feel like they had a coherent strategy for their giving. This peaked GG’s interest in the worlds of philanthropy and values-aligned investing even more. She began sharing her research with friends, and eventually turned these findings into her own finance and social justice podcast.?
GG credits her IFB circle with lasting “ripple effects” in her life. She is still in contact with her circle a year later, and is considering joining another circle next year because she believes she could get even more out of the program the second time. And, she is motivated to make her money grow in ways that align with her deeply held values. While GG describes her relationship with money as “ever-evolving,” she points to IFB as a critical tool in response to her interest and an anchor in her continued learning.
If you would like to share a story about your money, your work, or your leadership with the Invest for Better community, please let us know. We would be happy to consider it for a future edition of the newsletter.
August?Calendar
领英推荐
Date: August 9th at 12:00 pm PT / 3:00 pm ET
Title: Invest in Affordable Housing?
Anna Smukowski, Senior Director, Enterprise Community Loan Fund
The need for affordable housing is one of the most pressing challenges facing urban areas across the United States. In this Invest session, you will learn about an Impact Note that is offered by the?Enterprise Community Loan Fund (ECLF). This financial product enables investors to support the creation and preservation of safe, decent, and cost-effective housing options for low-income individuals and families. Our speaker,?Anna Smukowski, who is responsible for ECLF’s Impact Note, will explain how affordable housing works, the role that ECLF plays in the ecosystem, and the specifics of their investment product.?
If you are interested in investing in affordable housing or just want to know more about how this problem is being addressed, this session is for you.?
This event is exclusive to Invest for Better members.?Register through Mighty Networks.
Date: August 17th at 9:00 am PT/ 12:00 pm ET
Ask the Expert: Real Asset ESG
Uma (Pattarkine) Moriarity, CFA, Senior Investment Strategist,
CenterSquare Investment Management
Uma Moriarity?will be our expert for this month’s Ask the Expert session. She is the Global ESG Lead & Senior Investment Strategist at?CenterSquare Investment Management. The firm is a global investment manager that specializes in real estate and actively manages many of the investments in their portfolio. In her job, Uma focuses on investment strategy across the firm’s public and private real estate investment platforms, is an active thought leader for the firm, and is part of the listed real estate investment team.
If you are curious about the role real estate can play in a values-aligned portfolio, interested in how a company like CenterSquare makes investment decisions, or have any other financial questions, be sure to join us.
This event is exclusive to Invest for Better members. There will be no video recording.?Register through Mighty Networks.
Date: August 23rd at 9:00 am PT/ 12:00 pm ET
Title: Use Fidelity & Schwab to Research Your Investments?
Caitlin Appleton, Senior Portfolio Manager, South Shore Capital Advisors
Caitlin Appleton?recently led IFB’s Values Align Your Stock Portfolio Deep Dive. During that time, she realized that many of our members would benefit from better understanding how to use freely available websites, like those provided by Fidelity and Schwab, to research individual stocks, stock funds, and other financial products. As a result, she has kindly agreed to offer a tutorial to explain how these platforms work and how investors can use them to quickly assess and analyze potential investments.?
This will be an interactive session, so please join us if you are ready to become a savvier and more confident investor.
This event is free. Invest for Better members can?register through Mighty Networks, and non-members can?register via Eventbrite.
If there are specific topics or speakers you would like to hear about – or from – in the months ahead, please let us know.
Just Released in Paperback
When you join Invest for Better as a member (more info), you will receive your own copy of the book.?All profits from book sales are donated to?Invest for Better.
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Invest for Better is a non-profit educational organization. We are not registered investment, legal, or tax advisors. The information we provide is offered for general educational purposes only and is not intended to replace financial planning, legal, tax, accounting, or investment advisory services. Specific investments are described for informational purposes only and do not imply a recommendation or endorsement. Since investing is risky, you should always perform your own research and/or seek professional advice before making your investment decision. You can find our complete disclaimer?here.?