Are you interested in faith driven impact investing, but unsure where to start? You’ve come to the right place.

Jumpstart your investing journey with a few key resources, questions to ponder, and the tools to turn curiosity into action.

Learn

Learn the industry: terminology, FAQs, key deal terms, and how to avoid common problems.

 

Learn: Introduction

Impact Foundation sits at the intersection of three growing trends—faith driven investing, impact investing, and innovative philanthropy.

 

Faith driven investing is a philosophy
An approach to investing where people incorporate their values. It goes beyond the motivation of the investor to the actual practices employed. If you see your faith influencing where you place capital and how you relate to CEOs + other investors, then you are a faith-driven investor.

$360 Billion

assets stewarded by faith-driven investors

Impact investing is an investment strategy
It seeks to generate measurable social and environmental outcomes alongside financial return. In our context, families often desire to address spiritual concerns, such as evangelism and discipleship, in their investment decisions as well. In this way, impact investing helps define where families invest.

$715 Billion

assets in impact investing 2020

Philanthropy is innovating
Investing with charitable capital helps families put more of their donor advised funds and private foundation assets to work for good. Most charitable assets are invested without regard for mission. Approximately $1 Trillion has been set aside for gifts to charity in donor advised funds and private foundations. Only 10% is given each year. We aim to change that.

$1.3 Trillion

Private foundation and DAF assets

Learn: Basic Investment Types

A brief introduction to the five main types of investments we see.

Learn: Additional Resources

One web page cannot cover everything a new investor needs to know, so check out a few other sources of knowledge and inspiration.

  • Faith Driven Investor

    FDI is a movement dedicated to helping Christ-following investors believe that God owns it all and that He cares deeply about the how, where, and why behind our investment strategies. They offer content, community, and connections.

  • Ambassadors Impact Network

    AIN provides an enriching and active community for both investors and faith-driven entrepreneurs. Their network of investors fund redemptive business leaders advancing the Gospel.

  • OUTSIDE-IMPACTS Framework

    In this article, an experienced venture capital investor and Chicago Booth professor shares a helpful framework for evaluating new companies, summarized by the acronym OUTSIDE-IMPACTS.

  • Lion's Den—Dallas/Ft. Worth & Birmingham

    The Lion’s Den provides investors and entrepreneurs an environment to connect & collaborate on kingdom-impact opportunities and hear pitches from business-as-mission companies.

    The Dallas event is annually in April and Birmingham in October. Learn more about Lion’s Den Dallas and Lion’s Den Birmingham.

  • Kingdom Advisors

    Kingdom Advisors is a growing movement of professionals seeking God’s glory and client success. The organization provides community, tools, training, and an annual conference to integrate faith and financial practice to maximize kingdom impact.

  • Praxis

    A venture-building ecosystem with a redemptive imagination, supporting founders, funders, and innovators motivated by their faith to address the major issues of our time. Praxis programming includes a venture studio, accelerator, community groups and more.

Discern

What kinds of projects is God inviting you to fund? It’s time to consider risk level, time horizon, causes, and industries

Discern your financial return target.

 

There is not a “right” answer to this question that applies to all individuals or families. Consider your cash flow needs: do you have a large grant commitments over the next few years? Keep in mind what you hope to accomplish. Some commentators like to suggest that you can achieve outsized financial return and huge impact at the same time. That may not always be the case. For example, if you feel called to poverty alleviation, you might need to consider lower financial return targets than if you are trying to create healthcare innovations in the developing world.

 
 

Greg Lernihan, chairman of Impact Foundation, shares how stewardship of God’s resources sometimes leads to investment decisions that seem counterintuitive. He explains why he and his family prioritize survivability and sustainability over scalability in investments and suggests the metrics he uses when making faith driven investment decisions.

 
 

Investment Gleaning

We see at least four uses of capital commended: charity, tithing, investing for market-rate returns and gleaning.

The biblical mandate for gleaning can influence an investor’s understanding of financial return. True gleaning involves excellence, access, work and sacrifice. Click to listen to Aimee Minnich’s podcast on investment gleaning.

Rethinking Risk/Reward as a Steward Investor

Every fund manager knows investment decisions must be guided by the owner’s risk tolerance and time horizon. The strongest financial return is often found in the riskiest investments, e.g., venture capital. Safe investments, on the other hand, yield less return, e.g. money market accounts.

 

Discern your impact targets.

Impact is about more than just the money a company gives away. We believe…

Impact goes beyond grants.  God designed His economy to run on the fuel of our generosity and, yet, charity alone cannot solve the world’s toughest issues. In many places, a job is more valuable than a handout.

Business can be a significant force for good.  God chooses business people to work in partnership with Him in the renewal of creation. Business has the scale and capacity to affect lasting change.

Impact investing multiplies the opportunity for transformation.  The same dollar of charitable capital can make an impact twice: first when invested in a transformational company; then, returns fuel future grants.

 

discover companies that align with your passions….

What is “redemptive methodology”?

An enterprise whose primary positive impact on the world happens through the way business is conducted. Its leadership, being rooted in Christ, follows the Spirit to intentionally participate in God’s transformational work in the lives of employees, vendors, & customers while creating sustainable value.

To see redemptive methodology companies in our portfolio click here.

Jump In

It’s time to take your next step!

 

Open an Impact Account

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