At the end of every podcast recording, we like to ask our guest where God has them in this season. This is what Jimmy Song shared with us.

by Jimmy Song

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Ephesians 4:28

I love that verse first of all, because it says don’t steal. And I think at least in the fiat economy, I think we’re all guilty of that, whether we know it or not. And stopping from that and working with our own hands, creating something that is good. So he will have something to share with one who has need. That to me sometimes is interpreted as go and make money so you can give alms to the poor. For me it means go make something with your hands so that you can contribute something to civilization, to someone else in the market that can get value from whatever it is that you create.

And the verse is really about money and the role of money, which from a spiritual sense is a signal to you, to each individual to know how it is that you can provide most value to other people. And when the money is not corrupt, it’s the purest sort of signal for what we should be doing because it tells other people, I find what you’re doing, your goods or services more valuable than the money that I am willing to give it up for. So for me, that’s what it is. The other thing I’ll share is that this book for me is sort of like, as I mentioned before, the merging of two huge passions in my life, Christianity and Bitcoin.

I was at a conference last year, a big block boom. It was Bitcoin conference and it was in Dallas. And I gave a talk and somebody asked a question and I revealed that I was a Christian at that conference. And I also told the audience at the end, hey, I’m writing a book about this, if you’re interested, please. Talk to me afterwards, no less than 30 people throughout the next two days came up to me and told me that they are Christian, that they are Bitcoin. They were afraid of saying something. And for me, that was a huge validation of what God was doing, because it was clear that there are a lot of Christians that don’t want to be known as Christians. And a thing for me when I think about that is, wow, how sad is that? Because according to the Bible, these are Jesus’s words. He says, if you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my father

My hope for your listeners is that they learn to be bold with their faith. And, you know, we tend to think, OK, God doesn’t want me to be ashamed of him, but then I’m going to get embarrassed. That’s not the way it is, at least for me. My experience has been that God has blessed me, that he wants me to be bold so that he can bless me and what I am doing. And this book has come out as a result of that. We’ve got a lot of reviewers from that conference that were able to chime in on Bitcoin and Christianity and give us some really good feedback that we incorporated. But for all your listeners that are thinking about investing better in these industries where, you know, it might not be cool to talk about Jesus, take a chance people about it, because God wants to bless you.

Article originally posted here by Access Ventures

by Vanessa Koenigsmark

In case you missed it, we are in the middle of a discussion about what economic agency is and looks like in the real world. We saw in last week’s blog how democratized investments models like Village Capital’s peer selection process can reroute capital flows to benefit entrepreneurs. The impact of this program comes from more than just the redistribution of power from one decision-maker to another. Breaking the barriers that excluded groups experience when accessing capital for entrepreneurial endeavors is a powerful way to address economic inequality.

Entrepreneurship To Build Economic Agency

Business ownership is a powerful tool to support wealth building. In the Tapestry of Black Business Ownership in America, AEO reports that black business owners have 12 times the wealth of black non-business owners and it’s not because they started out wealthier. Business owners tend to start out less wealthy while growing wealth faster than non-business owners. We can bolster the capacity for historically disadvantaged groups to fuel their own economic empowerment by reallocating resources to structures that support inclusive entrepreneurship.

When we look at economic agency through the lens of entrepreneurship specifically, we begin to see a new set of disparities as well as actionable steps to help address troubling trends. Wealth accumulation impacts who is able to become an entrepreneur, because of the importance of startup funding in ensuring business viability. Accordingly, BIPOC people continue to have lower rates of entrepreneurship than their white counterparts. 

While only 1% of U.S. businesses ever raise venture capital, nearly 90% are male-led, 72% are white-led, and 78% come from the nation’s top 10 largest metropolitan areas.

When seeking outside capital to support business ventures, the trend continues. Women are less likely to receive bank loans from bank officers than men, even after accounting for objective venture characteristics. One study found that men were 60 percent more likely to secure funding than women when pitching the same business. Similarly, minority-owned businesses receive lower loan amounts on average than non-minority businesses of the same caliber. 

The vast majority of venture capital dollars go to white male founders in the country’s largest cities. While only 1% of U.S. businesses ever raise venture capital, nearly 90% are male-led, 72% are white-led, and 78% come from the nation’s top 10 largest metropolitan areas. Less than 1% of venture deals go to startups led by LGBT+ founders. 

Studies over decades have indicated that limited access to financial, human and social capital alongside racial discrimination, are partly responsible for the disparities in performance for minority businesses. Should minority businesses perform on par with their representation in the population, they would gross nearly $2 trillion in economic activity nationwide. This represents potential growth not just for our economy as a whole, but more importantly, the potential for improved economic agency for historically excluded individuals and entrepreneurs. 

In Our Portfolio

Through our strategic investment in Collab Capital, Access Ventures hopes to combat these entrepreneurial inequalities, specifically for black-owned startups. Collab Capital is an investment fund leveraging financial, human, and social capital to help black founders build sustainable, innovation-centered businesses.

Collab Capital builds wealth for black entrepreneurs not just through traditional financial capital investments, but through intentionally crafted networks of mentors, investors and influencers. Their approach recognizes the exclusionary nature of the status quo and actively works to open up closed networks through diverse investor engagements. The fund’s Strategic Partners are selected and compensated based on their ability to help black-owned startups grow effectively. What’s more, the fund targets cities like Atlanta, Detroit, and Baltimore, which are traditionally overlooked by meaningful VC investment. 

On a recent episode of our podcast More Than Profit, we talked with Jewel Burks Solomon, Managing Partner of Collab Capital, about why she started the fund. “I met investors who did not invest in my business because I was a black woman,” she said. “We are intent on disrupting the wealth gap by investing in black-owned companies.”

By investing in funds like Collab Capital, Access Ventures aims to subvert the flow of capital from traditional, often exclusionary, capital networks. Providing accessible capital options for black-owned startups, provides the opportunity for black entrepreneurs to build wealth for themselves, through their own ventures, and on their own terms. Join us next week as we conclude our conversation on economic agency by exploring Access Ventures’ regional fund Render Capital and an exciting new program being launched.

by Chris Meyer

Engaging Environmental Issues Through Shareholder Advocacy

How shareholder advocacy can make a difference

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on the Praxis Mutual Funds website and is reprinted with permission. 

Earth Day occurs April 22, as it has since its founding in 1970. Some credit Earth Day’s establishment as the beginning of the modern environmental movement. As a child, I remember attending school assemblies commemorating Earth Day. Speakers stressed the key environmental themes of the era such as “reduce, reuse, and recycle.” There was an emphasis on activities like picking up litter and planting trees, which we sometimes participated in during school. 

My family also had our own environmental practices, such as recycling and planting thousands of trees on my grandparents’ property, which was barren from strip mining done decades before. Our church had a Creation Care Sunday that coincided with Earth Day and highlighted larger-scale problems and emphasized our role as stewards of the natural world. 

These experiences contributed to my increasing understanding of the fragility of the Earth and the enormity of our environmental challenges. My interest in finance and public policy blossomed as I began to see systemic change as the best way to mitigate damage and encourage a more sustainable trajectory.  

I joined Praxis Mutual Funds® nearly 15 years ago, at a time when “make Earth Day every day” had become the mantra. I’ve been privileged to work on environmental issues through shareholder advocacy, using the rights of stock ownership to promote corporate change. The future of our planet is top of mind in my work, whether the subject is the climate crisis, environmental justice, or toxic chemicals. However, moving from one seemingly intractable problem to another can become exhausting. 

This Earth Day, I’m taking a step back to reflect on some of the achievements and positive developments in corporate environmental policy since I began my career, through the lens of shareholder advocacy. Here are a few examples of the progress I’ve witnessed: 

ESG materiality
It’s hard to believe that a short time ago, it was an uphill battle to convince many companies and investors that environmental, social, and governance factors were material and worthy of consideration. Now, nearly all large-cap companies produce significant sustainability or corporate responsibility reports and routinely integrate ESG issues such as climate change and human rights risks into their core business operations. 

Shareholder resolutions
When I began at Praxis, the goal of filing a shareholder proposal on environmental or social issues was to achieve a meeting with the company, or at least to get a mid-single-digit percentage of the vote to satisfy resubmission thresholds for the following year. Not only do proposals now generally receive a much larger share of the tally – and even an occasional majority vote – they often spur companies to make substantial policy changes. And proposals can make a difference even if they don’t end up on the ballot; about half of the resolutions Praxis has filed in the past five years were withdrawn by the shareholders because of negotiated agreements with the company. 

Emissions targets
Climate consciousness has spiked in the past decade. Where it was once a struggle to get corporate recognition of the existence of climate change, companies now are going far beyond acknowledging the climate crisis and setting ambitious targets for emissions reductions, even in lieu of public policy mandates. For example, most of the electric utilities Praxis has engaged have made net zero carbon emissions commitments by 2050 or earlier, and all have set major emissions reduction targets. Shareholder dialogues are now largely focused on the practical, incremental steps needed to achieve these climate goals as quickly as possible. This is true progress.

Productive dialogues
Perhaps the most important development in corporate engagement has been the willingness of companies to invest real time and effort in speaking with shareholders on environmental and social issues. When I started in this field, we felt lucky to gain an audience with the general counsel and head of investor relations, let alone anyone relevant to the issue at hand. As companies have become more accustomed to speaking with shareholders – and shareholder concerns have regularly proven to be prescient – they increasingly see dialogue and relationship-building as valuable and mutually beneficial. This bodes well for shareholders and stakeholders who seek sustainable corporate change.

Despite the fundamental progress that companies have made, there’s no question that the quest for sustainability has so far fallen short, as witnessed in publications such as the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. If the Earth becomes uninhabitable, frankly, nothing else matters. At the same time, however, it’s fair (and healthy) to take stock of what has been achieved in the recent past. For me, this progress offers a basis for hope on this Earth Day. Perhaps it can provide hope and encouragement for you too.

About Praxis Mutual Funds

Founded in 1994, Praxis Mutual Funds is a leading faith-based, socially responsible family of mutual funds designed to help people and groups integrate their finances with their values. Praxis is the mutual fund family of Everence Financial, a comprehensive faith-based financial services organization helping individuals, organizations and congregations. To learn more, visit praxismutualfunds.com and everence.com, or call 800-348-7468.

Consider the fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before you invest. The fund’s prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other information. Call 800-977-2947 or visit praxismutualfunds.com for a prospectus, which you should read carefully before you invest. Praxis Mutual Funds are advised by Everence Capital Management and distributed through Foreside Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA. Investment products offered are not FDIC insured, may lose value, and have no bank guarantee.

Author

Chris Meyer, Manager of Stewardship Investing Advocacy and Research. 

Chris joined Praxis in 2006. He leads the company’s work in corporate engagement and supports its investment screening and proxy voting functions. He has led shareholder dialogues on many pertinent issues such as climate change, toxic chemicals, child slave labor, and predatory credit card practices with multinational companies. Connect with Chris on LinkedIn.

[Photo by Singkham from Pexels]

Article originally posted here by GIIN

by GIIN

To achieve a future where impact considerations are integrated into all investment decisions, the GIIN is working with diverse communities to mobilize more capital for impact investing. The faith-based investing community is one of those with whom the GIIN has been deepening ties.

Examples of faith-based investors leading responsible investing initiatives date back centuries, and by expanding into impact investing, these investors have an opportunity to achieve measurable, evidence-backed impact that aligns with the values of these diverse faiths. Given the vast wealth held by faith-based investors, activating their assets toward impact can lead to substantive contributions to global development agendas, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Climate Agreement.

Engaging Faith-Based Investors in Impact Investing outlines key insights from interactions with the faith-based investing community along with proposed engagement strategies that could be assumed by field-building organizations—like the GIIN and others—to support faith-based investors on their impact investing journey.

Read his whole report here on the GIIN website!

Engaging Faith-Based Investors in Impact Investing

by Pete Ochs

From a Christian perspective, what is the purpose of business?  From the top business schools to the renowned economists of our day, the conventional wisdom is that the purpose of business is to maximize shareholder value. While this paradigm has brought many of the world’s poor out of extreme poverty, capitalism, without values, has created a voracious appetite of personal ambition that can extinguish the very good it fosters.  One must simply look at the likes of Enron, the tech bubble, the financial crisis of 2008, and quotes by well-known socialist politicians calling capitalism “unsustainable” and “irredeemable” (Burke 2019). Capitalism is a system that nurtures economic success, but in and of itself lacks the principles that make it virtuous. 

The purpose of business must be answered with the cross in mind. The redemptive purpose of business is to be a catalyst for flourishing.  Flourishing, the economist Anne Bradley explains, is “God’s Kingdom on earth.” It’s us living in God’s abundance, “as an image bearer of our creator.” Flourishing means becoming everything we were created to be.  Flourishing is what the Old Testament calls a blessed life, shalom.  Shalom, or human flourishing, was fully manifested for a brief period in human history. This period was after the creation of man but before man chose to be his own moral authority. Genesis 2:15-18 lays out this flourishing scenario for us. 

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’ The Lord God said ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’”

This passage lays out three essential elements required for flourishing: material provision, authentic relationships, and a purpose for living. 

The first is material provision. God placed man in the garden to work it and take care of it (verse 15). And the result of work is material provision – food, clothing, and shelter. These physical necessities of life we call “economic capital.” 

The second is relationships. Seeing that it was not good for the man to be alone, God created a helper (verse 18). We were created to live in community, to live with deep, authentic relationships with our fellow man.  It happens when like-minded people pursue the common good. This we call “social capital.” 

The third element is a strong purpose for living, a Moral Code, without which man cannot peacefully and successfully live in a free and open society. In verses 16 and 17 God defines the difference between knowing good and evil which is essential if we are to flourish.  The complexities of living in community with market-driven economic transactions, interdependent relationships, private property, and competing interests cannot be beneficially managed without a rule of law, a Moral Code, a Purpose for living for something greater than yourself. This is called “spiritual capital.” 

Over the last twenty years our company, Capital III, has come to fully embrace this triple bottom line approach to business. The philosophy or business model that we employ to ensure that our company creates economic, social, and spiritual capital is called Enterprise Stewardship. 

Enterprise Stewardship

An enterprise is “a business venture, especially one requiring boldness and energy.” Stewardship is “the trusted management and protection of another’s property.” It then follows that “Enterprise Stewardship” is “managing with boldness and energy the business ventures God has entrusted to us.” 

When a business is operating with these principles in mind, the business can be a catalyst for flourishing and the common good. This redeemed enterprise is operating at the intersection of economic, social, and spiritual capital creation. The most thrilling part of embracing this concept of Enterprise Stewardship is that it gives each of us a significant part in solving the world’s greatest problem: the poverty that is simultaneously economic, social, and spiritual.

Economic Capital

Economic capital is the material benefit derived from the stewardship of our LIFE (Labor, Influence, Financial resources, Expertise). It is the result of work that creates wealth that when accumulated results in capital.  The major question surrounding economic capital is this.

How should we as business people, allocate the economic capital (wealth accumulation) created by our businesses?  More specifically, how much should we retain to grow the business?  Should we maximize the bottom line or maximize the benefit to our employees?  How much should be allocated for dividends to the shareholders?  What is an appropriate ROI?  How much of our business profits should be invested in Social and Spiritual capital?  How much should we invest in job creation?  How much is enough?

The answers to these questions are not easy or straightforward, but they are questions we must address if we are to fulfill our role as stewards.  As we do this, we must remember that the primary purpose of economic capital creation is to foster the enjoyment and fulfillment of work itself, not to focus solely on the outcome, profit.   Our work is worship but we should not worship our work.  “So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?” (Ecclesiastes 3:22).  

Social Capital

Social capital is comprised of the mutual benefits (economic, relational, emotional, political, spiritual, etc.) derived by a group of like-minded people pursuing a common cause. The key driver is relationships with the vision to promote the common good.  

Social capital demands mutual trust, common beliefs, and shared rules. In one sense, it’s all the things economic capital can’t buy. Social capital manifests itself in the form of safe communities, good race relations, happy employees, an unpolluted environment, fine art, great music, patriotism, unified families, bipartisan politics, and a genuine love for our fellow human beings.  

Social capital is created when we obey the Great Commandment; “Love your neighbor as we love ourselves” (Matt.22:39).  This then begs the next great capital allocation question.

How do we love our employees as we love ourselves?  Or in other words, how do we promote the common good in our businesses?  How do we help our employees become all that God wants them to become?  Do we truly offer the best benefits and pay?  Are we a place where relationships reign supreme?  Are we the best place to work?  Will our employees wholeheartedly agree that we live up to the values and virtues we espouse? Are we willing to spend the economic capital necessary to create social capital?

Social capital creation is essential if we are to live out the Great Commandment and love our neighbors (employees) as we love ourselves.  

Spiritual Capital

Spiritual capital defines the moral code by which we live and ultimately is the purpose for living.  It defines our why. For those of us who are Christians, it requires our whole-hearted allegiance to living faithful lives devoted to growing in our personal relationship to Jesus Christ and obedience to His Word.  

Spiritual capital is essential because it lays down the rules by which we create economic and social capital.  Capitalism without a moral code results in greed.  Capitalism with God, results in generosity.  Government without a moral code results in totalitarianism.  Government with God, results in political freedom.   When God is taken out of our culture it creates a moral vacuum that must be filled.   Most often this vacuum is filled with GOVERNMENT (rules and regulations) instead of GOD (self-governance) often leading to a loss of religious, political, and economic freedom.   If Spiritual capital is essential for flourishing, here then is the question for those of us in business. 

How do we, using the platform of business, take part in living out the Great Commission?  How do we winsomely share the love of Jesus with our team members?  How do we create a spirit of comradery without establishing a quid pro quo?  How to we honor God in all we do?  How do we publicly profess the name of Jesus to all we encounter?

Spiritual capital creation should be our answer to sharing the Great Commission.

How then should we do business?

You cannot have a redeemed business, enterprise stewardship, without having a redeemed steward as the leader.  Over the years we have come to embrace the four P’s that are essential for a successful business.  These are Principles, People, Products, and Profit.  Without all four fully functioning in a cohesive manner, the enterprise will not attain its potential impact for good.  Consequently, we have developed our values around the four critical components of business and they are reflected below:

Principles – Honor God

People – Serve People

Product – Pursue Excellence

Profit – Steward Capital

The most effective tool we use in our business is simply to ask these four questions whenever we have a major business decision. 

1. Will the initiative Honor God?

2. Will it allow us to truly Serve People?

3. Can we do it with Excellence?

4. Are we being good stewards by making this decision (investment)?

The enterprise is operated and evaluated according to the four P’s (Principles, People, Product, and Profit) which are governed by our four values (Honor God, Serve People, Pursue Excellence, and Steward Capital).

How then do we lead and evaluate the steward(s)?  We do this by associating a character trait to each of our four values.   We call these character traits the four C’s.  And their corresponding value is shown below. 

Honor God – Character

Serve People – Connection

Pursue Excellence – Competence

Steward Capital – Commitment

If one is to be a faithful steward they must be a person of Character (they Honor God), they should exercise the gift of Connection (they Serve People), they should be Competent in their respective talent (they Pursue Excellence), and they are Committed to managing well the resources at their disposal (they Steward Capital).

SUMMARY

Enterprise Stewardship is a tool to be used to redeem business.  It can have great impact as a catalyst for economic, social, and spiritual capital creation.  But business cannot be redeemed without a redeemed steward who will commit to Honoring God, Serving People, Pursuing Excellence, and Stewarding Capital as they live as stewards with great Character, Connection, Competence, and Commitment.  Below is a graphic representing the Enterprise Stewardship model.  

—

Citations: 

Bradley, A. (2015, July 2). Flourishing. [Institute for Faith, Work & Economics]. Retrieved from https://tifwe.org/flourishing/

Burke, M. (2019, March 10). Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Capitalism is irredeemable’ Retrieved March 24, 2019, from https://thehill.com/homenews/house/433394-ocasio-cortez-capitalism-is-irredeemable