I believe it can and it creates an interesting vehicle from which people can actually invest in their own community.
Why is Impact Investment needed?
via LinkedIn Impact Investing Forum
Charlie Kamps:
I believe it can and it creates an interesting vehicle from which people can actually invest in their own community. Sure taxes paid are an investment – in a sense; but one has nominal control as to how those funds get deployed other than voting out the decision makers which takes many, many years. In this instance if it makes sense it gets funding and if it doesn’t garner support it is somewhat Dead On Arrival. Pretty much like Kickstarter. Each year we launch a round of Impact funding for helping to get affordable eco-homes put in place. Each home helps a family, saves energy and creates an awareness that people can build things that help save the planet.
bit.ly/11nwFCM
Charlie Kamps is Non Executive Chairman at AmeriSus, USA.
via LinkedIn The Xavier Group Ltd
Can investing in culture be Impact Investment? (Felix Bopp)
Paul Peters:
If not it should be… My ex-wife is a painter and my mother in law was an opera singer and theatre animal. If there is something i learned, besides bel canto singing, is that we humans don’t so much ‘make art’, but in our most natural state we ‘are art’. We are the story we tell, homo narrans, and our culture is as much an evolutionary force as natural selection.
Paul Peters, architectus factotum, Italy
Paul Peters, architectus factotum, Italy
J.A.W. Buisman:
Cultural Impact Investment is a form of Social Impact Investment directed to cultural enterprises, including non-profits such as museums.
Our museum, the Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis, is in the process of creating a cultural impact investment fund for its real estate. The equation is in fact rather simple. The monumental buildings are multifunctional and these are situated on an A-location within the inner city of Amsterdam. The use of the buildings can be either for regular office or residential, or they can be used fully or partly as a museum with gallery rooms.
The use of the buildings as a museum generates a social value; however a museum is not able to generate enough income for a rental level comparable to the alternative office or residential use of the buildings. By developing more commercial functions – so not only its ‘pure’ museum functions – the museum can generate as a ‘cultural enterprise’, e.g. museum restaurant, museum shop, catered events in its gallery rooms etc. This additional income can be used to satisfy the cultural impact investor, though, of course, there is a downward risk attached to this commercial part, which a museum in principle will not bear.
Hence, in short the position of the cultural impact investor is as follows:
– The value of the property is the market value of the empty buildings.
– Depending on the percentage of the buildings to be used as a museum, respectively to be used alternatively for office or residential, the cultural impact investor receives (more) social revenue (non-financial) or more rental income.
– Depending on the profitability of the commercial enterprise of the museum, the social impact investor receives on top of the social revenue and a low (basic) rental income, also an additional part of the profit, which the museum generates.
– The downward risk for the social impact investor is rather low, because in case the museum totally fails (is liquidated or removed), the remaining buildings keep their market value as described above (full use for office / residential).
The fund should be managed by a professional property fund manager (not by the museum). Investors could be cultural funds directed towards support of museums, and also private and institutional investors, who are interested in low risk cultural impact investments.
An example of such a cultural impact investment fund is the Koninklijke Concertgebouw NV, of which the shares are floated on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. However, in this example the shareholder only receives social revenue. The fund, which our museum proposes, does generate a basic dividend (based on rental income).
The tax aspects should be taken in account too, as this could be an attractive incentive for the cultural impact investor.
We are looking forward to comments on the above concept: buisman@geelvinck.nl
J.A.W. Buisman, Museum, Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
via LinkedIn Voor de Wereld van Morgen
Robert L. Eikelboom:
Too bad I cannot be there. We are working on impact investments here in Curacao. I would be very interested in the presentations afterwards. Is there a chance that you (COA) would be interested in holding a conference here in Curacao? Thanks.
Robert L. Eikelboom is Founding Father of The TribeQa Group, Netherlands Antilles.
Andrei Kotov:
Social impact investing is a great way to expand beyond the charity mindset. It’s tremendous way to contribute in kind from the position of relative economic strength, i.e., where one has a relative competitive advantage. Moreover, it’s one way through which corruption may be reduced – pure money donation is the easiest to divert away from the intended charitable means whereas a donation in kind is more difficult.
Andrei Kotov, Business Planning Manager, Projects & Technology , Shell Upstream International, the Netherlands.
via LinkedIn Sustainability Professionals
Claire A. Nelson:
Say.. Club of Amsterdam.. I am working on doing a FORUM on this in the Caribbean would love to have you as a partner..
Claire A. Nelson Ph.D., CEO/Ideation Leader, The Futures Forum/Sagient Futures, WHITE HOUSE Champion of Change. USA.
via LinkedIn European Civil Society Leaders
Hilary Barnard:
Is impact investment being seen as a substitute for public sector investment in Europe or better private sector practice in a world facing major challenges of inequality and environmental sustainability?
Hilary Barnard, Strategy and organisational consultant, HBMC, United Kingdom.
via LinkedIn The Xavier Group Ltd
Paul Peters:
Actually, at many companies (i’m referring to outsourcing) is that the act of buying capacities makes interest shift and at a certain moment the company just doesn’t know its own business anymore.. and they have become consumers of their own work. If they’re not engaged, they are dumbing down.. because real experience is not only retained for about 90% in memory, it shapes ones being.. whereas being just a bystander may only have 15% impact. This is a major problem with the current crisis, adding to the already present learned helplessness.
The little label ( http://www.fluxology.net/ppt/Ethics_2.0.jpg ) can help find an exit out of the current dumbing down, and a way to stimulate positive change. I haven’t really been pursuing it with a business plan though as it involves lots of collective effort, global academia would be a great platform though.
Paul Peters, architectus factotum, Italy
via LinkedIn The Xavier Group Ltd
Hans Konstapel:
There are many investors in the world and some of them are very rich but you need spectacular people (magicians) with spectacular technology (the right spells) to make a really big impact. You cannot buy them with money.
Hans Konstapel, Owner, Constable Research BV, the Netherlands.
via LinkedIn The Xavier Group Ltd
Harry Jones:
Nice blog, Paul, on the utopias/ dystopias cited early on, I guess I’m more of a “Walden Two” fan. If implemented on a grander scale, it would go a long way toward effecting the aims and principles of the blog.
Harry Jones, Consultant, outcomes engineering, ltd., USA.
via LinkedIn The Xavier Group Ltd
Paul Peters:
It’s nice to group initiatives, but ethical consumerism as a business model can be incredibly profitable as far as i can tell. Most vendors try to avoid the resulting onslaught though
On ethical consumerism, an easy way to deal with that in the upcoming age of information-rich shopping, is described in the second half of www.albertoforchielli.com/2012/10/11/a-tale-of-obsolesence-and-exclusivity
The little matrix is actually picked up in the US already and is being taught at Design classes.
Paul Peters, architectus factotum, Italy
via LinkedIn The Xavier Group Ltd
| Harry Jones: Did the Club of Rome move north? The “impact investment” sounds a little like the “benefit corporations” idea in the US — getting tax breaks and goodwill publicity for doing pro bono projects. And it’s vaguely irksome to see the old capitals of Europe infested by crass chain hotels like the Radisson. Harry Jones, Consultant, outcomes engineering, ltd., USA. via LinkedIn The Futurist Group Claire A. Nelson: The issue of our global survival requires that we rethink what and how we measure as valuable. Global economics as evolved from neoclassical economic theory as based on Western historical world view the White Man’s Burden or Bravura. Now that we have hopefully evolved and recognized that all are created equal we need new ways of measuring what matters. Impact Investment is just one way of doing this… @sagientfuturist Claire A. Nelson Ph.D., CEO/Ideation Leader, The Futures Forum/Sagient Futures, WHITE HOUSE Champion of Change. USA. via LinkedIn World Future SocietyFrancis Rabuck: This is a major movement in the US also. In general, it is more often referred to as “Sustainability” here in the US. I’ve been following the movement to “measure” companies over the last 3 years. The GRI is generally the most accepted reporting internationally, but recently the AICPA started SASB – Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. Last week I attended the GreenBiz conference in NY on this topic. What’s interesting is that the old school of thought focused on ROI or financial metrics. There is now a bigger trend to move these efforts toward risk avoidance/resilency. Organizations now realize that lack of water (top issue now), energy, knowledge workers is a threat to their existance. Threats of poor coorporate citizenship and damage to a brand name is very real in the digital twitter world.I have a real passion for this topic, and would be interested in working with others, possibly at the WFS conference or collectively in a shared digital space to further work in the evolving world of Sustainability. I’ve always “predicted” that we are only about 5 years away from a new Integegrated Reporting standard that involves not just the financial aspects of a company, but other sustainability metrics. My projection is no longer a question of “if”, but “when”.As a measure of where we are today, only about 30 companies out of 30,000 in the US do public reporting of sustainability today. We have a long way to go.I’m interested in what others think about this. Francis Rabuck is Technology Research Analyst, Futurist and Communicator at Bentley Systems, TechCast, Rabuck Associates. USA. |
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Club of Amsterdam editor@clubofamsterdam.com |