It’s spring and the crocuses are finally peeking through in the garden. I am excited about the prospect of rebirth and regeneration that comes with this season. As I look around, I see some exciting new growth in impact investment opportunities as well. One that caught my eye recently is a press release from Enterprise Community Partners announcing the launch of their Community Impact Note.
Why is this noteworthy and why do I think this bodes well for the spring impact investing season? Well first, I am thrilled to see an industry leader like Enterprise creating a new vehicle to help investors support the development of not only affordable housing – but green affordable housing. I read about the work Enterprise is doing in a Wall Street Journal article last year. Dana Bourland, a Vice President with the Columbia, MD-based nonprofit predicted that the affordable housing industry will be 100% green by 2020. Why? Her answer was “Not only are green buildings better for the environment, but they make better financial sense too ….because they come with lower water and energy bills and lower tenant turnover rates.” An obvious win-win from my perspective!
I should also note that Enterprise had embarked on it’s Green Communities initiative back in 2004 when they “set out to prove that is was possible to bring the health, economic and environmental benefits of green building to low-income communities nationwide.” Over the past five years, the Enterprise Green Communities initiative has invested $700 million to build and preserve nearly 16,000 green affordable
homes. But Enterprise has not limited itself just to building green affordable housing; they want to transform local, state and national policies to encourage “a national commitment to healthier, greener affordable homes.”
With the introduction of the Enterprise Community Impact Note – Enterprise has given investors an easy way to put their money where their heart and their values are: investing in green affordable housing and community enhancing projects that also provide a financial return. Having a well established affordable housing developer offer this type of triple-bottom line investment instrument is an important sign that a true marketplace with investor friendly tools is growing in the fertile soil of impact investing. The challenge for many community based lending and investing organizations has been creating an instrument that enables investors to support their work while still meeting the needs of those investors. Enterprise has taken an important step forward with their Note and we at Mission Markets are pleased to spread the word about this innovative new impact investment product.
This new Note offering provides a wonderful new way to finance the supply of green affordable housing that uses environmentally sustainable and safe materials, reduces negative environmental impacts while improving energy efficiency. If you would like to learn more about the terms of this new note – please click here and read the press release. We look forward to seeing what else is growing in the impact investing garden this spring!
- Vicky Stein, Mission Markets Director of Community Investments
Mission Market's goal is to increase awareness of and conversation about the social and environmental capital markets. Postings focus on ways to effectively develop viable investment asset classes within the subsectors that make up these markets, with the goal of increasing the flow of capital, information, and transparency, in support of environmental conservation and socially focused initiatives.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Mission Markets Musings: Andrea Alexopoulos
My job here at Mission Markets gives me the unique opportunity to be inspired on a daily basis. I am in charge of Member Services -- that means I assist companies seeking capital that demonstrate a social or environmental mission to list their offering on our platform. Aside from providing these groups with the listing requirements, walking them through our platform, and encouraging their patience with our website, I have the privilege of learning about these different companies and the great work they are doing in the social and environmental space.
From funds to start ups, and from fisheries to habitat / conservation banks, I have seen so many different companies register on or inquire about Mission Markets. Some of the most interesting companies have been traditional consumer goods companies incorporating a social or environmental component -- like organic food delivery services or social enterprises employing women in developing countries. Others are tackling existing infrastructure shortcomings by using social and environmental strategies -- including LEED certified housing projects and natural gas vehicles locally owned in Latin America. Most of these companies praise our efforts to create a sustainable investment platform but I think the companies on our site are the ones that deserve all the praise.
All of these organizations have one thing in common -- they are harnessing the power of business to solve some of the world's most pressing sustainability issues. Granted, none of these companies can ever single-handedly "save the world", but they can set a great example for the way business should be conducted. If enough companies can realize the benefits of doing good while doing well, we may see a paradigm shift in what we accept from companies doing business. It might start out small, but when I see all of the companies that have expressed an interest in Mission Markets, it makes me very optimistic that one day we will see social and environmental missions replacing even those of the largest corporations.
Forever an optimist,
Andrea Alexopoulos
Mission Markets Director of Member Services
From funds to start ups, and from fisheries to habitat / conservation banks, I have seen so many different companies register on or inquire about Mission Markets. Some of the most interesting companies have been traditional consumer goods companies incorporating a social or environmental component -- like organic food delivery services or social enterprises employing women in developing countries. Others are tackling existing infrastructure shortcomings by using social and environmental strategies -- including LEED certified housing projects and natural gas vehicles locally owned in Latin America. Most of these companies praise our efforts to create a sustainable investment platform but I think the companies on our site are the ones that deserve all the praise.
All of these organizations have one thing in common -- they are harnessing the power of business to solve some of the world's most pressing sustainability issues. Granted, none of these companies can ever single-handedly "save the world", but they can set a great example for the way business should be conducted. If enough companies can realize the benefits of doing good while doing well, we may see a paradigm shift in what we accept from companies doing business. It might start out small, but when I see all of the companies that have expressed an interest in Mission Markets, it makes me very optimistic that one day we will see social and environmental missions replacing even those of the largest corporations.
Forever an optimist,
Andrea Alexopoulos
Mission Markets Director of Member Services
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Mission Markets Feature Story in Green Money Journal
Mission Markets was featured in the Spring 2011 issue of Green Money Journal in a great article written by CEO and Founder Michael Van Patten about his journey from Wall Street to the social and environmental markets. Here is a brief quote from the article:
"Mission Markets: One Market(place), Many Missions"
"My early years heavily influenced my decision to focus my career on growing the impact investing space through the establishment of my current company, Mission Markets. I spent the majority of my teenage years in Ecuador, where my father worked as a diplomat. At this impressionable age, I had the unusual opportunity to experience life in the developing world--Every day I was faced with the extremes of poverty and vast wealth. To this day, I am stunned by the inequalities that exist in the world."
Click here to read the full article!
- The Mission Markets Team
"Mission Markets: One Market(place), Many Missions"
"My early years heavily influenced my decision to focus my career on growing the impact investing space through the establishment of my current company, Mission Markets. I spent the majority of my teenage years in Ecuador, where my father worked as a diplomat. At this impressionable age, I had the unusual opportunity to experience life in the developing world--Every day I was faced with the extremes of poverty and vast wealth. To this day, I am stunned by the inequalities that exist in the world."
Click here to read the full article!
- The Mission Markets Team
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