Impact investment, the support of social and environmental projects with a financial return, has become a hot topic in the world's philanthropy and development circles, and is growing exponentially: in the next decade, it is poised to eclipse traditional aid by ten times. Yet for all the excitement, there is work to do to ensure it actually realizes its potential. Will impact investment empower millions of people worldwide, or will it just replicate the same failures that have plagued the aid and antipoverty industry?

Enter Morgan Simon. When she was a twenty-year-old college student at Swarthmore, Simon compelled Lockheed Martin to change their LGBTQ policies by convincing her college to stop investing in the firm. And that was just the beginning. With passion and counterintuitive arguments, Simon shows how impact investing can make real change. But she also illustrates how easy it is to make mistakes, showing how wind farms can lead to land grabs, and how short-term thinking by well-meaning investors can actually lead to more oppression and hardship in the communities they are trying to help. Impact investing, Simon argues, is making the same mistakes the aid industry has been making for years. But there are ways to invest and have real impact: by making sure the communities are involved in the decision-making and ownership of the project, that investors are adding more value than they extract, and that the risk and returns are balanced between the investors and the communities.

As an activist, and as a trusted leader in the field, Simon argues that we can work within the system and use capital to effect change. Centered around real, on-the-ground case studies from her decades of investment analysis and offering clear strategies that are proven to work, this book is a clarion call for more effective, socially conscious investing.

About the Author
Morgan Simon is a widely-recognized leader in impact investment who builds bridges between finance and social justice. Over the past 17 years, she has influenced over $150 Billion from high net worth individuals, foundations and endowments. She is the Managing Director of Pi Investments, in addition to supporting impact investments at the Libra Foundation, and is also co-founder and chair of the non-profit Transform Finance. Previously, she served as the founding CEO of Toniic, a global network of impact investors, and as the founding executive director of the Responsible Endowments Coalition. She has also worked with the United Nations in Honduras, in corporate reform with ForestEthics, and in domestic microfinance with the Women's Initiative for Self-Employment. She currently serves on the boards of the Restaurant Opportunity Center, The Working World and CARE Enterprises. A graduate of Swarthmore College, Simon serves as an adjunct professor at Middlebury College's graduate school program. She lives in the Bay Area.


Book Information
ISBN 9781568589800
Author Morgan Simon
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Nation Books
Publisher Avalon Publishing Group
Weight(grams) 460g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 150mm * 28mm