Investing Philosophy
Our mission leads us to mobilize money, people and power to build a just, joyful, and generative world. Thus, we aspire to employ all our wealth – both our philanthropic dollars and our investment dollars – onwards this aim. As individuals and in small subgroups, we share information, resources and strategies among ourselves to move capital out of conventional extractive models toward regenerative investing. Aligning our investments with our values is not only powerful, it is healthy, fun and sane.
We explore the myriad philosophies of values-aligned investing including portfolios designed to earn both high financial and social returns to those that focus on retention of capital with social and environmental (non-monetary) dividends. We explore divestment, shareholder advocacy and consider environmental sustainability, social, and governance lenses as essential components to the analysis of a company’s profitability and risk.
Threshold’s membership includes people who have worked in SRI, PRI, Community Investment, micro-financing, and Impact Investing for many decades as well as those who are just beginning.
Our gatherings present opportunities for members at all levels of understanding to come together, share experiences, ask questions, and become better investors. We offer webinars and online groups to continue these conversations throughout the year. We develop conditions for peer-to-peer mentoring for those who struggle with complex situations within their families, businesses, trustees, or other structures that prevent them from realizing their investing potential. We offer an ever-expanding list of trusted resources to help everyone do more with more of their money.
ENDOWMENT
The Threshold Foundation endowment, relatively small though it is, provides us with additional resources to explore and expand our capacities as a foundation and community. Since the beginning, all of the investments have been intentionally aligned with Threshold values.
Investment Beliefs & Guidelines
Our investment philosophy has been to balance risk and return when seeking investment opportunities that are consistent with Threshold Foundation’s mission.
Note: Some Threshold Foundation members have been and are founders, entrepreneurs, and actors of and in the social investing/impact movement. The endowment has benefitted from their knowledge and that of the Foundation staff. We hope that this provides one model for translating social change values into investments. As with any model, you, the reader, may have different values and financial needs.
What we have done is not intended as investment advice but as inspiration.