by Rachel McDonough

Becoming God’s Financial Advisor – Stewardship

I see many parallels between the ancient, Biblical role of the steward and that of modern-day Financial Advisor. These roles require that decisions (or recommendations) be made based, not on self-interest of the one hired, but on the interests of another – the owner. It’s a sacred trust that the owner places in the manager.

Recently, I explained a complex private real estate investment to a new client who, despite her intelligence, wasn’t confident that she clearly understood all of the details. More than merely checking a box for compliance, it’s truly important to me to have engaged, well-educated investors. So I went through a number of the talking points again (how the investment aligned with her goals and values, current yield, risks, fees, liquidity, etc.) and paused to ask for questions. Sensing that she didn’t know quite what to ask, but also didn’t feel entirely comfortable yet, I informed her that I had recently recommended the same investment for my parents and had invested some of my own money in it as well. She sighed in relief and acknowledged, “That’s exactly what I needed to know.”

After that, the other details were quickly worked out and the transaction was completed. She is now the owner of a new investment, but I also took posession of something new. (No, I’m not talking about a big commission check. Don’t be cynical.) It’s her trust. She released something valueable into my care and trusted me to steward it on her behalf.

I carry her trust in my heart and mind, and the weight of that responsibility is my constant companion. It reminds me to pay attention to the investments I’ve recommended, and possible changes in my client’s financial situation, knowing that my client will most likely not be paying close attention.

Like our client relationships, trust is also the bedrock of effective, Biblical stewarship. The term, stewardship, means simply the management of resources that don’t belong to the manager. And since the Bible clearly teaches that all wealth ultimately belongs to God himself, we need to manage the assets in our accounts knowing that it’s actually His. Stewardship, then, is a lot like being God’s Financial Advisor, who takes discretion on His behalf and manages with his interests in mind.

Yet, our stewardship assignment doesn’t come with built-in systems that help us stay on track. And God doesn’t exactly call us to check in on how we’re doing or email us to request changes in our strategy. And just like portfolio drift can, and will, inadvertently occur over time without a watchful eye, we can experience stewardship drift in our role of managing God’s money if we are aren’t paying attention. 

Perhaps some of the systems and constructs that help keep us dilligent and trustworthy in our professional lives could be applied to our personal stewardship efforts to help us be more effective for our King. Consider how two of the most common financial advisor activites, Data Gathering and Quarterly Reviews, might translate into better personal stewardship.

Data Gathering to Build Relationship

All great advisors spend a lot of time asking questions of their clients and listening. They want to know everything they can about their goals, values, experience, family relationships, and even their hopes and anxieties. They don’t stop with a simple data gathering form at the beginning of the relationship, but rather they are perpetual students of their clients who seek to use every meeting, not only to teach, but also to learn. They intentionally look for ways to truly understand their clients, anticipate their needs, and deepen their connection so that they might be of service in a manner than cannot be easily replaced by a Robo Advisor, or even another competent financial professional.

This same relational attentiveness can help us become much more effective as stewards on behalf of our King. We must spend regular time in the Word, journaling the verses and ideas that jump out at us, and seeking wise counsel from other believers. 

We must be listening intently for God’s voice – it’s not enough to only read the Bible from an exclusively academic mindset. The same powerful book that has helped millions find abundant life and freedom has also been misused to inflict a yoke of legalism and even spiritual abuse. We must ask the living Holy Spirit to make it come alive for us and show us how to apply it in our daily lives. We must get to know him personally so that we can learn his values and goals and steward effectively on his behalf.

Be sure to keep a written record of what you sense He is telling you and teaching you as it’s surprisingly easy to forget the key revelation of even the most profound moments in his Presence.

Some resources if you want a little help taking your relationship with the Owner deeper include Secrets of the Secret Place by Bob Sorge and God Guides by Mary Geegh.

Quarterly Reviews

To prepare for a client review meeting, advisors will look over all of their client’s investments and financial planning details closely. The majority of the work in the professional relationship revolves around the meeting itself: preparing for it and then following-up afterwards with any required implementation. It happens because there’s a scheduled meeting for which I must prepare.

As a steward, I know I must give an account to my King regarding how I managed the resources he entrusted to me at the end of my life, but I don’t have a series of scheduled check-ins along the way…unless I intentionally create them. 

Would we be more effective stewards if we set aside 1-2 hours every 3 months to pray, research, talk with God (and our spouses, if married), and seek wise counsel? I think it’s safe to say we would. And I think at least some of these meeting need to be done with an objective thrid party. (Note: even trained financial professionals benefit from godly advice).

The focus of these check-ins might be an self-honest assessment. Did my giving, saving, spending, and investing align with God’s goals and values, since He alone is the rightful Owner? Or did I fall into one of the money heart traps?

• Did I hyper-focus on accumulating assets for myself and provision for my family? 

• Did I give out of obligation rather than joy? 

• Have I been subconsciously putting my hope in wealth or finding security in it? 

• Was I distracted by the worries of this world or blinded by the decietfulness of riches?

• Did I ignore the voice of Holy Spirit in my conscience, valuing my own logic and reason above His still, small voice?

• Did I invest in something that prioritized return over integrity or impact?

Let’s get those reviews scheduled now so we can adjust our course as needed and keep our hearts pure. No temporal use of wealth could ever be as valuable a treasure as hearing the Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servent.”

As stewards, the more that we press in to know God’s heart, understand his heavenly values and ways, and seek his Kingdom, the more that our financial decisions align with and re–present Him to the world around us. Adding to our intimate knowledge of him a recurring, scheduled time to reflect on our performance relative to His goals will greatly improve our results as we co-labor with Him as his trustworthy children.

I’ll leave you with the first few lines of this poem, as a reminder that as His child, His imagebearer, and the temple of His Spirit, you have the high honor of carring His heart with you as you choose how you will steward not only your assets, but your hours, your energy, your relationships, and even your very life. Let’s live lives worthy of our calling.

“i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)”

e. e. cummings

by Amanda Lawson

It’s a big, big house, with lots and lots of rooms. 

Or maybe it’s an apartment complex, a multifamily living property that can serve as a model for this big heavenly house, full of people from all walks of life who share a community.

Today, about 37% of the population lives in multifamily communities. That number is likely to skyrocket due to shifts in multifamily living and even more as Gen Z-ers graduate from college and move to new cities. This presents an opportunity for FDIs in multifamily to increase their impact and reach people of all nations, ages, and family situations. 

David Snyder, founder of Apartment Life, explained that among the most significant changes in multifamily living are the increased tenure of residency, diversity, and motivations for apartment living. These differences pose interesting opportunities for organizations like Apartment Life to reach a broader range of residents over a longer period of time. 

Multifamily living used to be a predominantly short-term, needs-based living arrangement. Now, more singles and families are choosing multifamily, apartment life, over a house in the suburbs. A significant portion of this population is the millennial generation who for personal preference, rather than economic need, remain in apartments. Reasons include access to public transportation, walkability to work and groceries, and the community that tends to bustle in downtown areas. 

But one thing auspiciously missing from this list of apartment-living pull-factors is a local church. Not coincidentally, this surge in long-term apartment-dwelling directly corelates to an unfortunate trend of unchurched Millennials and Gen Z-ers. 

Taking into account the negative reality of gentrification that pushes some of the needs-based multifamily residents into different communities, there is still a high level of diversity in multifamily living. This leads to communities blended with singles, marrieds, parents, and retirees of a plethora of nationalities and races, coming from different economic and faith backgrounds. 

How then, can this increasing—and increasingly diverse—population be met with the gospel? While churches can reach out and have occasional touchpoints with multifamily residents, property management has constant opportunity to engage in their daily lives. Regardless of socioeconomic status, education, or family style, residents of multifamily living have universal needs that FDIs know can only truly be met through a relationship with Jesus. 

But FDIs also know that multifamily residents have tangible needs that as believers, they are called to address. The diversity of residents provides incredible opportunities for the Church (the body of believers, rather than just the local parish) to actively be the Church and really live out the call of its origin story in Acts 2:42-45

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and are together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This may mean that for some residents, a weekly Bible study or community group is the most pressing need. For others, childcare or a cooking class. Others may simply need prayer. While the local church may play a part in this, it is the call on every believer to live out both the Great Commission—make disciples, teach, baptize—and the Great Commandment—love God and love others. 

Being known and loved and knowing the saving grace of the gospel is the most foundational need of every person. As FDIs step into the evolving culture of multifamily living, they will continue to find unique opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus to an increasingly diverse community of people. In this way, multifamily living mirrors the picture of a big, big house—with room for many and all kinds of people—where residents believe they are known and cared for by loving and true (land)Lord.

Article originally posted here by Tech Crunch

by Tech Crunch

Colin Kroll  was the co-founder of Vine and HQ Trivia, both consumer sensations that brought joy to millions; Anthony Bourdain had been a chef, journalist and philosopher who brought understanding and connectedness to millions of lives; Robin Williams built a career as a brilliant comedian and actor.

What these three share in common is that they were all people at the pinnacle of their industry and they all died too soon. Their premature loss is a tragedy.

The most brilliant and creative amongst us are sometimes the most troubled, and nowhere is that clearer than in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. With each passing unnecessary death, the importance of mental health comes briefly into focus… but that focus lasts no longer than a news cycle and nothing changes. The time for lip service came and went long ago. We must take these issues seriously and we need to act.

The mental health epidemic is real. There are 18.5 percent of Americans that will suffer from mental illness this year; 4 percent of them will suffer so acutely that it will substantially limit their ability to live their lives.

That means it is extremely likely you or someone you know is suffering right now and could use support. Moreover, unlike many of the challenges we face today, the most common expressions of mental health disorder (anxiety, depression, substance abuse and imposter syndrome) are largely addressable through individual action. Not only should we all take action, we all can take action.

While national mental health statistics are troubling, they are downright terrifying for entrepreneurs. According to a study by Michael Freeman, entrepreneurs are 50 percent more likely to report having a mental health condition, with some specific conditions being incredibly prevalent amongst founders.

Click here to read the full article!

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more:TEDx .

by Danita Bye

Article originally posted here by Eventide.

by Shaun Morgan

As America’s fear was escalating alongside the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released the results of a poll it conducted with small business owners. The highlights of the poll were unsettling:

• 24% of small businesses said they were two months or less from closing permanently

• 11% were less than one month away from permanently going out of business

• 24% of small businesses had already shut down temporarily

• Among those that had not shut down, 40% said they were likely to close at least temporarily within the following two weeks1

This means a total of 54% of all small businesses reported that they had already closed or were expecting to close temporarily in the following 14 days.

The Greater Purpose of Business

Countless organizations and government programs have rushed to help save small businesses.

But why?

It’s simple—the health of our communities is largely tied to the health of the businesses within them. When just one business, whether large or small, closes its doors, the impact of the closure goes far beyond the company’s profit and loss report—it reverberates to its customers, employees, suppliers, host communities, the environment, and the broader society that rely on its success. This negative ripple effect on stakeholders is the reason for the visceral outcry of people across the country to save businesses.

Surely the deep concern for the health of businesses during a global pandemic comes from the realization that business serves a greater purpose than simply generating a profit. Profit generated by business is merely one of the essential elements that allow it to fulfill its greater purpose. As Charles Handy explains, profit is a necessary condition, not a sufficient one that gives purpose or meaning:

We need to eat to live; food is a necessary condition of life. But if we lived mainly to eat, making food a sufficient or sole purpose of life, we would become gross. The purpose of a business, in other words, is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That “something” becomes the real justification for the business.2

The “Something More” of Business

So, what is that “something more” that business provides?

We believe that the “something more” that a good business provides is the ability to create value for its stakeholders rather than merely redistribute resources. Consider the following ways in which a good business creates value:

• It creates a product or service that brings enjoyment, practicality or efficiency to the lives of its customers.

• It creates dignified work for its employees and provides them with income so that they can flourish outside of the workplace.

• It creates avenues for other businesses to succeed by being a reliable and responsible customer to its suppliers.

• It creates opportunities for its host communities by contributing to a flourishing economic culture.

• It creates products and practices that sustain the resources of the environment.

• It creates a positive impression on broader society by carrying out its mission.

We believe that the ability to take raw goods and labor and create something more or better is far more than just profit generation—it’s value creation. Good businesses create value.

The Business of Business is More Than Business

What is perhaps most remarkable about good businesses is the lengths to which they will go to ensure value for their stakeholders. Amid this crisis, we have seen several struggling businesses become scrappily creative about how they care for their stakeholders. CEOs are taking pay cuts and private investors are doubling down to float cash flow needs with the caveat that stakeholders are taken care of.

While this behavior is generous, it is not entirely selfless—there is a deep understanding on the part of business that its future wellbeing is heavily dependent on the wellbeing of its stakeholders. Indeed, the future health of a business’s stakeholders will determine its future success or failure. Stakeholders have a true impact on businesses.

This symbiotic relationship between businesses and their stakeholders has been brought to the forefront during this pandemic, reminding us to consider that the business of business is more than business.

References

1. “New U.S. Chamber – MetLife Poll: One in Four Small Businesses on Brink of Permanent  Closure, Half Eyeing Temporary Shutdown.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://www.uschamber.com/press-release/new-us-chamber-metlife-poll-one-four-small-businesses-brink-of-permanent-closure-half.

2. Handy, Charles. “What’s a Business For?” Harvard Business Review. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://hbr.org/2002/12/whats-a-business-for.

Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. This article was from a collection of White Papers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s Global Event.

by Ben McLain

I need to make a confession, of sorts. Two years ago, I submitted a paper (“King Jesus and the United Nations”) encouraging the Christian Economic Forum community to embrace the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals[1] and vigorously pursue their achievement. I made the case that the Bible speaks clearly to each of the issues addressed by the 17 SDGs and that Christians today have a unique opportunity to lead the way in demonstrating excellence and innovation by promoting true flourishing in our world through the achievement of the SDGs. Even more, we may simultaneously accomplish the completion of the Great Commission as we pursue the SDGs through a biblical lens. This vision deeply inspired me and drove me to identify a means by which I could practically engage in this work. I knew the path would be challenging, but I now believe I overlooked many of the complications and nuances involved with actually implementing a biblical SDG framework in a real-world investment portfolio. It has been a bit of a bumpy journey to date. I still believe the SDGs are a worthwhile framework, but there are significant flaws, and it will require meaningful collaboration among faith-driven investors to ensure the SDGs are actually useful and beneficial to the Christian investing community. 

Late last year, I eagerly joined the team at Impact Foundation. Our unique organizational structure as a steward of hundreds of Donor Advised Funds (we call them “Impact Accounts”) has afforded us the privilege and responsibility of managing a portfolio of companies that currently numbers about 250. My primary role is to shepherd these companies as they seek to maximize their Kingdom impact by supporting their wide-ranging needs and helping them navigate the numerous challenges presented by daily operations and organizational growth. I have also embarked on an ambitious endeavor to actually implement a biblical framework for the SDGs across Impact Foundation’s portfolio of companies. My goals for this project are a) To determine the real-world value of adopting the SDGs at both a company and a portfolio level and b) To develop content that articulates a biblical, Christ-centered philosophy of the SDGs as a counter to the secular-humanist underpinnings many organizations enact upon them. Seems simple enough, right? 

You may be wondering why I believe this is a worthwhile undertaking. I have three primary motivations. First, the SDGs have garnered widespread adoption in the global investing community and essentially provide a standard taxonomy for the social and environmental outcomes that are the heartbeat of “impact investing.” The manner in which the SDGs have established collaboration and a common framework throughout the global investing community is rather extraordinary. I believe we would be demonstrating our ignorance of the broader impact investing space if we do not incorporate the SDGs into our communications as we encounter external parties in the marketplace. For example, instead of saying we are focused on “poverty alleviation,” we can report that we are targeting “SDG 1,” and most everyone in the global investing community will recognize our intentions. This benefit alleviates some of the challenges we have faced when we say that many of our portfolio companies are focused on “redemptive methodology” (blank stares usually ensue…). Plus, there are fancy icons for each SDG that we can post on our website and in our reports. 

A second benefit is that there is an increasingly robust and maturing catalogue of targets, indicators, metrics, and reports associated with the SDGs. One of the biggest frustrations with “impact investing” is determining and then communicating the actual impact achieved! The past few years have seen significant progress in this area, and the SDGs have helped forge collaboration and have advanced the standardization of data collection and reporting methods. There is still much room for growth, but by adopting the SDGs, an organization gains access to a curated and rapidly improving library of knowledge and tools that enables it to more effectively assess the impact it is making and to communicate that news (both the good and the bad) with its stakeholders. This is one of the areas that I am most excited about implementing at Impact Foundation. I believe having more visibility into the work of our portfolio companies “on the ground” will reveal dramatic stories of God’s activity in our world and will also enable our donor/investors to experience the joy of generosity more deeply. 

A third motivation to implement the SDGs in our portfolio is that I believe it will afford us with numerous opportunities to engage with the broader investing community. Even in the world of COVID, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of seminars, conferences, learning communities, and other groups that are devoted to pressing deeper into the SDGs and exploring how to advance their achievement. I have personally been invited to participate in over a dozen groups that are examining various aspects of the SDGs, such as metrics, outcomes, global awareness, etc. Building on what I advocated in my previous paper, I truly believe these groups provide Christians with an awesome opportunity to demonstrate excellence and innovation as we seek to achieve the SDGs. In my experience, when you truly press into the motivations on why these people are so passionate about causes such as improving the environment or ending poverty, their cores are quite hollow because it is based on a secular/humanistic worldview. The message of a loving and self-giving Creator/Redeemer Who actually demands and deserves our worship is a revolutionary concept to many and leads to some riveting conversations. How could I pass up that opportunity? 

Unfortunately, I have discovered that implementing the SDGs is not so simple, and there are significant obstacles to overcome. For example, many of the SDGs are poorly defined, and they overlap with one another. Remember how I said we could replace the term “poverty alleviation” with “SDG 1”? To be truthful, the cause of “poverty alleviation” could legitimately be mapped to SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and arguably 2 or 3 additional SDGs. Would Impact Foundation’s stakeholders be better served if we adopt a custom set of well-defined “causes” instead of adopting the SDGs? Are we reporting with integrity if we claim to be addressing multiple SDGs, when perhaps only one SDG is truly being addressed? How can we actually know where to draw the line between individual SDGs such as “No Poverty” and “Zero Hunger”? At this time, I am not sure of the answers to these questions, and I am hoping to conduct a pilot in the near future to gain clarity on a path forward. 

A second challenge involved with implementing the SDGs across our portfolio is that while much progress has been made on developing tools and measurement standards to assess progress on the SDGs, there remains a long way to go in effectively tracking outcomes and determining what “good” is truly being done in the world. For example, Chinese President Xi 

Jinping made international headlines earlier this year by declaring “victory over extreme poverty in China.”[2] Xi claimed that nearly 100 million Chinese citizens had been delivered from extreme poverty since he assumed power in 2012. Certainly, this news seems wonderful at face-value and would seem to have little downside. However, when examined more closely, the price of such “deliverance” may be quite steep. For example, reports of forced relocation of rural Chinese peasants to urban areas and the involuntary requisitions of Chinese farmers’ lands are widespread.[3] Also, hugely harmful effects on air quality and drinking water safety have been linked to the country’s increasing industrialization.[4] Are such personal freedom and environmental trade-offs simply the “price of admission” for lifting people out of poverty, or are there better, more redemptive ways to accomplish this goal? Are the SDGs the right framework to make this determination? 

Another difficulty in implementing the UN SDGs across Impact Foundation’s portfolio is that there is increasing hostility towards biblical ethics and overtly faith-based organizations among many of the world’s leading governing bodies, including some facets of the United Nations.[5] For many of our donor/investors, the United Nations and other “global” organizations are viewed with suspicion and seen as a serious threat to our religious liberty. Why, then, would we want to embrace their espoused framework and seek to further its advancement? This is certainly a valid concern, and my sympathy with it has grown over the past year. While I do see a legitimate cause for worry over the punitive actions being taken towards faith-based organizations (some of which are being labeled as “hate groups”), I still believe that Christians will refute these detractors most effectively and make our case as “societal benefactors” by demonstrating our faith as working through love and emerging as leaders in the achievement of the SDGs for the glory of God and the good of humanity. 

A final challenge involved with implementing the SDGs across our portfolio is that many (perhaps most) of our donor/investors remain unfamiliar with the SDGs, and significant education is needed to equip them to adequately engage with this framework. Whereas the majority of the global investor community has quickly adopted the SDGs, Christians—for all the reasons I have outlined above and more—have been slower to hop on the bus. This reality presents an interesting conundrum: Some Christian investors are absolutely against the SDGs and have developed a robust rationale on why the UN is evil, while other Christian investors barely give a thought to the UN and have never heard of the SDGs. Given all of the controversy and complexity surrounding the United Nations and the SDGs, is it worth expending all of the resources necessary to educate our donor/investors and articulate our view on the SDGs and how we are implementing them across our portfolio? That is precisely the cost/benefit analysis I am hoping to conduct over the coming months as I engage with our Impact Foundation team, our portfolio companies, and our community of donor/investors. 

Now that I have provided you with some background on my dilemma, I humbly request your assistance as I seek to move forward. Collaboration is one of CEF’s hallmarks, and I would deeply appreciate your feedback and engagement with determining the merits of implementing the SDGs across an investment portfolio. I don’t think I am the only person wrestling with these topics, and I welcome anyone seeking a partner in this journey. Here are some questions I would like to explore more deeply: 

• What additional benefits or drawbacks beyond what I have listed in this paper can you identify with utilizing the SDGs in your portfolio? 

• Who is further along on this journey? What learnings have been experienced? 

• Who would be willing to engage in an on-going collaboration on this topic? 

So, in the final analysis, are the UN SDGs redeemable? Given their shortcomings and questionable origins—and their knack for creating controversy and division in the Christian community—can they be used for good? Are the SDGs actually helpful in assessing the impact an individual organization and an investment portfolio is making on the world? I now realize that these questions do not have quick or easy answers and require meaningful and sustained collaboration for them to be resolved. I welcome the opportunity in the coming months and years to engage as a community of Christian investors to evaluate the value of the SDGs and explore the possibility of effectively implementing these goals across an investment portfolio. Presently, I remain optimistic that the benefits of engaging with the SDGs outweigh the risks, but I hold this conviction loosely and am willing to change my mind on the matter. For now, my love/hate relationship with the SDGs continues… 

[1] https://sdgs.un.org/goals 

[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56194622 

[3] https://www.hrw.org/news/2004/03/25/china-forced-evictions-spur-protests# 

[4] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20964129.2020.1779010 

[5] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/10/government-restrictions-on-religion around-the-world-reached-new-record-in-2018/