Believing in Impact Investing
Photo by Edward Howell on Unsplash
It’s a short distance between social good and spiritual growth. But for whatever reason, this is a relatively ignored fact.
One of the more perplexing realities of impact investing is that the movement has not been led by believers. The GIIN (Global Impact Investing Network) 2020 Report revealed that the majority of impact investors were not faith-driven—a surprising fact given the biblical mandate on believers to love and serve others as an act of worship. But as FDIs step more boldly and directly into the impact investing space, we get to be a part of changing the reality.
We recently sat down with Mike Silvestri to talk about the excitement and potential of social impact bonds and the hope for FDIs to lead in perplexingly secular space of social impact investing. A Harvard Business School alumnus and Boston resident, Silvestri knows the difficulty of being a faith-driven investor in a largely secular city. He explained that he sees his role as “a prophet to my own people,” where he can make the short hop from socially conscious to Spirit-led investing, and take advantage of the opening that social/impact investing provides for gospel conversations.
The truth is, many of the goals of social impact investing are derived from biblical mandates. On a global, macro-level, even the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals are rooted in the gospel mission. Ending poverty, caring for the environment, eradicating disease and ending the hunger crisis, all of these are easily tied to commands in Scripture to love God and our neighbors. The biblical mission is the ultimate why for FDIs—and perhaps unknowingly, informs impact investors’ motivation as well.
When asked about living and working in a city that is in many ways, resistant to faith, Silvestri said that he is excited about operating in a space where people care about biblical values, whether they recognize them as such, or not. After all, building up communities and providing and enabling development are biblically aligned goals at the heart of socially responsible or impact investing. The close connection between gospel-aligned and gospel or faith-driven goals gives FDIs like Silvestri an opportunity to lean into faith in very clear ways.
Social impact investing bridges the gap between tithing and secular investing—and is a more sustainable method than solely relying on charity to build communities. Engaging in this practice can be, Silvestri noted, a form of Christian stewardship. This means that practitioners integrate their finances with their faith for the purpose of honoring God with what He (as the owner of it all) has given them to manage.
There is learning on both sides of social impact investing; believers can speak to the foundational motivations behind the practice, and the seasoned investors bring their own knowledge that can enable practical growth for the FDI community. Silvestri explained that a key to social impact investing is understanding root causes of issues that plague society. Where impact investors expend time and energy to understand the physical or systemic factors underlying these issues, FDIs know that even the deepest awareness of these is not the ultimate concern; rather, the core need of every person, in every place, is to know and put their faith in Jesus.
So for FDIs like Mike Silvestri, being able to both pray for and provide tangibly for those in need is an exciting opportunity that has the power to change investors, beneficiaries, and communities. If FDIs lead the charge of social impact investing, they can raise the bar not only in what to invest in, but in how to invest. Bringing knowledge and business acumen into their desire to live missionally, FDIs will set a standard of operational excellence and a deep level of gospel-driven care and compassion throughout the process. If done well, this opens the door for gospel conversations and can transform cities.