Is investing in portfolios of socially responsible companies really doing good and doing well with your money? Lucy Bernholz and Jon Entine debate the pros and cons about SRI in this article. On the plus side, your money would be serving a dual purpose, going beyond mere charity dollars while still earning a return. On […]

Santa Clara University has a program that helps tech-savvy social innovators achieve social justice. The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) is exclusively for social entrepreneurs that have shown commitment to and success in applying technology “to address urgent human needs throughout the world.” The participants live and take classes together for two weeks, developing their […]

Good Capital, LLC, a San Francisco-based investment company, has appointed Marie Trexler as Chief Investment Officer. Ms. Trexler is an accomplished venture investor with more than a dozen years of domestic and international experience. She will lead Good Capital’s investment activities, including the Social Enterprise Expansion Fund LP targeted for $30 million.

Trexler comes to Good […]

C4 has a platform called MyC4 that allows individual investors and funds to invest directly in opportunities in Africa. Last week they posted an opportunity to bid on a loan for an entreprenuer’s road-side telephone booth service. Within an hour, without even an announcement, Hope Akumakama’s €150 request was filled. Tim Vang sees this instantaneous […]

Civic Ventures is an innovative and influential national non-profit working to transform the aging of the population into a source of social renewal. They are seeking an associate director to provide day-to-day management of its national groundbreaking program, The Purpose Prize, which recognizes, invests in and brings attention to social innovators over 60. The position […]

Green clothing companies have long struggled to balance well-priced, fashionable products with organic, free trade idealism. When it comes down to mainstream retail, style trumps ecofriendly. A sad reality, but even with the wave of “going green” in the past couple years, if the product can’t sell itself, green is just another color. The Wall […]

If you’ve been intrigued by what you’ve heard about B Lab, the Underwriter’s Lab of companies doing good, then you can get involved and learn more at a salon we’re planning in the Bay Area in September. As B Lab co-founder Jay Coen Gilbert and I have been talking about it, we see it as […]

This website tracks the latest news on SRI and community investments. But the feature I want to point out is its SRI Fund Finder. It lists information on publicly traded mutual funds that have social and/or environmental screens. The site is not intended for investment advice, but rather presents basic information.

Social Funds

Earlier this week, MicroVest Capital Management announced that their MicroAcess Trust, more simply called “the Trust”, closed at $39 million. The $39 million portfolio will used to finance ten MFIs in Bolivia, Bosnia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Montenegro, Peru and Romania. MicroVest, the first private US microfinance investment fund, hopes that the Trust reach […]

The movement for socially and environmentally responsible investing has been active and growing, but hedge funds joining in come as a surprise to many. According to an article by InvestmentNews, there seems to be a rising demand for hedge funds to heed the call for social and environmental consciousness. Read more here.