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Module 2: A case for impact, your role in the change & emerging alternatives

Are we ready for a change?

Module 2 is all about the alternatives to our current, conventional financial system. What's in our toolbox that can help us to drive change in different contexts? What are approaches to 'impact' that really make a difference? From creating a map of alternatives to diving deeper into a few great examples and truly understanding the nature of impact investing - we hope this module will give you a taste of what’s possible & out there already.

Additional resources

Post Capitalist Philanthropy: Healing Wealth in the Time of Collapse - Alnoor Ladha & Lynn Murphy (book)

Week 4: Exploring new Paradigms of Finance - Bioregional FinanceWeek 5: Mapping Emerging Alternative Economic & Monetary SystemsWeek 6: Making Economies for the Common Good a Local Reality
Just Money: Banking as if Society Mattered - MIT/Presencing Institute

📹 Just Money and Ego to Ecosystem - with Katrin Kaufer (45 min)

Dr. Katrin Kaufer is a Lecturer and Program Director at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Director of the Presencing Institute (https://www.presencing.org). Her work includes research focused on leadership, organizational change, values-based banking as well as on participatory action research. Her 2013 book co-authored with Otto Scharmer is titled “Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-system to Eco-system Economies”. In 2021 she published: “Just Money. Mission-based banking and the future of finance.” (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2021).

The Just Money Program runs every year from July to November in partnership with MITx. - What is the role of a bank in producing societal well-being? This program looks into banks that operate differently, namely, “just banks" that use capital and finance as a tool to produce positive social, environmental, and economic change. No previous knowledge of finance or banking is needed to take this course.

https://www.u-school.org/programs#just-money-programs and here https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+11.405x/

Institute for Social Banking

📹 Investing for Society - with the Institute for Social Banking's Chai Locher

Chai Locher, director at the Institute for Social Banking, shares about the institute's work to promote and advance the concept of social banking. This is an approach to banking that prioritizes social and environmental goals alongside financial sustainability. Chai Locher talks about the different initiatives and data in the space of social banking and will highlight the ISB's education and training, research, networking, and advocacy. The institute serves as a platform for education, research, and networking within the field of social banking.

The Global Alliance on Banking Values

📹 Banking with Values - from the GABV's Tytti Kaasinen

The Global Alliance on Banking Values is a network of banks who advocate for members to integrate sustainable banking values into their business models. Tytti Kaasinen, the new head of research and impact metrics at GABV also shared about their work with the Leadership Academy program in this call.

Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)

Yuki Yasui, APAC Managing Director joined us for this presentation on GFANZ and the work it does to inspire change in some of the largest organizations globally. Learn more about the GFANZ here - gfanzero.com/.

📹 Making Change Happen Globally with GFANZ - Fellow Call

📹 GFANZ' mission as a network of investor networks and their work to inspire action to tackle climate change - Watch It Here.

📹 Sustainability Perspectives from Asia While Yuki was at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), she gave an overview of how sustainable finance has progressed in Asia, including some case studies specifically about Mongolia, Japan, and China. She highlighted the fact that Asia is where we have the highest risks (such as physical changes in climate) yet also opportunities for sustainable investments. Check out the interview here. -

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