Mission Markets Musings: Peter J. Mastella

I recently joined the Mission Markets team as the Director of Climate Change Markets.  What does that mean?  As with any position or title, the person grows with the role and the role is plied as the person grows.  For now, it seems my role is to oversee many aspects of the environmental side of the Mission Markets platforms.

Did you know that Mission Markets incorporates more than traditional impact investment?  More than your typical (if anything truly is typical) microfinance opportunity?  Mission Markets is actually a financial services firm leveraging technology and cloud computing to provide solutions to the sustainable market and community.  I bet you didn't know that.

Mission Markets has developed three unique, secure transaction platforms that, when combined, create a holistic and expansive sustainable marketplace for discerning buyers and sellers in search of opportunities throughout the impact, environmental, and socially responsible sectors.  So, "yes, Virginia. . ." (forget about Santa) "sustainability" incorporates the impact, environmental, and socially responsible sectors.  That's why I'm here; because of the environmental side of sustainability.  I'm also here because I believe in what we're doing at Mission Markets; that is, providing stakeholders in this sustainable community with tools enabling them to execute.

Great Response to First Mission Markets 101 Webinar

We are thrilled to report an overwhelmingly positive response to our very first Mission Markets 101 educational Webinar! We had a very high turnout of over 60 participants and many interesting questions. If you are interested in being placed on our list to receive Mission Markets news and notifications about future Webinars please email your name, organization and email address to media@missionmarkets.com. If you are an accredited or institutional investor, sign up now to see the impact investment opportunities that have gone through our rigorous listing process. To see a brief recorded demo of the platform by our Founder and CEO Mike Van Patten, click here. As always, questions and comments are welcome!

- The Mission Markets Team

Mission Markets Musings: Theda Braddock

Stormwater runoff has been identified as one of the largest sources of pollutants in the Nation’s waterways.  Stormwater is rain and snow melt that runs off impervious surfaces such as roads and rooftops. In the draining process, the runoff picks up chemicals such as nitrogen and phosphorus as well as oil, heavy metals, fertilizers, pesticides, trash, and animal waste. Whether it is channeled in a storm drain or flows directly into streams and rivers, the end result is pollution of the ultimate receiving waterbody.  In addition, if the flow rate is not controlled, the runoff delivers unnatural sediment loads to waterways and/or scours the bed of the receiving waterway destroying habitat.  In urban areas the problem is acute due to the concentration of pollutants in stormwater.  If the urban area is located on an estuary, the runoff gradually concentrates if tidal flushing fails to carry it away. Puget Sound and the Chesapeake Bay are two such estuaries surrounded by urban areas which both are experiencing pollution from stormwater runoff.

Mission Markets presents to Northwest Leaders Network on Impact Investing (NW-LNII)

Mission Markets CEO Mike Van Patten presented the Mission Markets investment platform to the Northwest Leaders Network on Impact Investing (NW-LNII) last week in Portland. Below is a write up on the event from the Springboard Innovation Blog.

"Mission Markets Founder Presents to NW-LNII"

Mike Van Patten, a 20-year veteran of Wall Street, recently launched a platform for impact investing, defined broadly as making money while also making a difference. Mission Markets is a brilliant idea–a gift to the future really. It is also the first of its kind… An emerging, disruptive innovation, the kind we claim we want. Innovation is often not created, but recognized. We should recognize this opportunity and make it not just an adjunct to “real” investing, but drive it to be a mainstream strategy for economic and community development.

“This is new infrastructure”, he says, “but it needs content at all points of the investment opportunity. It is designed to build on the trend of impact investing that Rockefeller Foundation, JP Morgan, and the Global Impact Investment Network  believe will reach 400bn to 1trillion in the decade.”
Mike presented to the NW-LNII group in Portland, Oregon, a new group that includes a wide range of professionals, from the Mayor’s Office to academia, nonprofits, business incubators and funders. It was exactly the kind of cross-sector, cross-pollination we must cultivate in order to grow hybridized, multiple-return enterprises. Amy Pearl opened the session my sharing the five critical gaps we must fill, and then introduced Mike and Mission Markets as filling one of those five. One seeded, four to grow.

Mission Markets 101 Webinar

We are proud to announce that we will be hosting the first-ever "Mission Markets 101" Webinar on Wednesday, January 26 at 3:00pm EST. Mission Markets President and Co-founder, Steve Rocco, will be giving a live demonstration of our user-friendly marketplace and will discuss the services we provide, including:

• A diverse selection of pre-vetted and third-party certified impact investment opportunities
• Secondary liquidity for investors
• Measurement and reporting of financial, social and environmental performance
• Transaction clearing and settlement
• Improved access to investors for double and triple bottom line companies and organizations seeking capital
• Greater efficiency and reduced cost of raising capital

Space is limited. Click here to reserve your Webinar seat now!

- The Mission Markets Team

Mission Markets Earth Exchange featured in Private Landowner Network (PLN) Blog

The Mission Markets Earth Exchange was featured today on the PLN blog in a post entitled, "Farmers, Foresters, Ranchers, and Wall Street". Here is a brief quote from the article:

"Mission Markets Earth (MME) is all about monetizing ecosystem services, making the prices of these things more available to private landowners and others who want to buy or sell the credits," explains Michael Van Patten, MME's creator and Executive Director.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Mike in his Soho office in New York. We both share a desire to secure the long-term future of ecosystems and working lands. We both are also using cutting edge internet-based technology and information systems to do it. Click here to read more.

- The Mission Markets Team

Mission Markets mentioned in Huffington Post

Mission Markets was mentioned in Huffington Post article, "The Rise of the Entrepreneur Activist". The article discusses the rise of social enterprise and how different organizations are using social media and technology to support the growth of social enterprises around the world.

- The Mission Markets Team

Mission Markets Musings: Steve Rocco

First let me get this out of the way: I’m a finance guy, I’ve always done finance, my first job was working in micro-finance and perhaps I’m biased, but my long history making deals in what is now known as "impact investing" has given me the well-earned practical experience that impact investing works to make real positive change in the world.  But rather than bore you to death by rehashing my bio, I would like to address the fundamental question behind our mission here at Mission Markets: "Why is impact investing important?"

In today’s world of increasing income disparity and poverty, the shortcomings of traditional approaches to addressing social issues grow ever more apparent as does the need for a market-based solution to fill the gap between traditional financial capital markets and philanthropy. This is where impact investing fits in.  And this is absolutely important or I wouldn’t be working hard each and every day to nurture the growth of this industry.

Mission Markets Milestones, 2010

As we look back on 2010, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in our activities and share with you our progress to date and our plans for the upcoming months. During 2010, we have transformed our vision into reality. The investment platform launched successfully in July and our membership of accredited investors and companies offering double and triple bottom line investments has been growing steadily. We are grateful for your support, encouragement, and partnership. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who you think may be interested in the sustainable and impact investment space. 

Platform Developments and New Services

Since our launch, we have been listening closely to our growing member community and we understand that it is essential to provide high-quality, impact-generating, socially and environmentally responsible investments on our platform.   To this end, we are constantly working to improve our Minimum Listing Requirements (MLRs) and internal screening processes.  One key listing requirement is that every company, organization, or project must show proof of a third party Assessment, Rating, or Certification (ARC) that confirms the social or environmental mission of the offering. We are currently working with B Lab and Trucost as preferred third party ARC providers, but accept a wide variety for different sectors.