{"id":35893,"date":"2022-09-30T00:47:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T04:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=35893"},"modified":"2022-10-31T00:28:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T04:28:50","slug":"impact-investing-for-social-justice-looking-back-and-moving-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/impact-investing-for-social-justice-looking-back-and-moving-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Impact Investing for Social Justice: Looking Back and Moving Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to October 2022 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n

\"AdamLike so many impact investors, we\u2019ve hit an inflection point. For several years, our Foundation has taken steps to explore the terrain of impact investing, steadily learning how to complement and enhance our work to move toward positive value in this world. Now, we must take stock of where we are and chart a course for the future.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Start at the Beginning<\/h2>\n

In 1917, John Emory Andrus \u2014 a businessman, investor, and public servant \u2014 established the Surdna Foundation with 45 percent of his fortune. At first, the Foundation focused on direct services for orphaned children and the elderly. (pictured above)<\/em> Over a century later, Surdna is governed mainly by Andrus\u2019 descendants and has a long tradition of supporting innovative solutions to meet the core issues of the day. Since 2008, in response to the dramatic social and racial inequities across the United States, Surdna has worked to foster sustainable communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, inclusive economies, and thriving cultures. These pillars \u2014 environment, economic opportunity, and culture \u2014 form the backbone of a more fair and just society for all. They also pose new and distinct challenges in their scale.<\/p>\n

Our Learning Journey to Mission-Aligned Investing<\/h2>\n

We believe all our capital \u2014 intellectual, social, and financial \u2014 has a shared purpose. As such, in 2014, at nearly 100 years old, Surdna set out to learn how our endowment, and the broader global financial system, could complement and augment our service to communities in need. For Surdna, impact investing answers the question of \u2018how do we scale our impact and instill replicability to bring about lasting improvements in people\u2019s lives.\u2019 Against the enormous challenges of today, scale and replicability are a must. While having a greater than $1 billion endowment seems like a lot of capital, it\u2019s small compared with the broader financial system\u2019s hundreds of trillions of dollars. But it does represent a gateway to beginning to invest in solutions to today\u2019s biggest pressing issues.<\/p>\n