Week 4 Resources
Recommended Readings and Resources for General Knowledge
📃Money, Power, and Monetary Regimes by Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
📹 Leverage points & the iceberg model (video, 8 min)
Doughnut Economics - a global and local city economic model design. Check out 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist
Change the Goal
See the Big Picture
Nuture Human Nature
Get Savvy with Systems
Design to Distribute
Create to Regenerate
Thrive Beyond Growth
Week 4 - Past Workshops
Check out these additional ways to engage with speakers and content from the space. Here are some additional past sessions that would be of use to you
Past Resources for Introduction to Sustainable Finance
Jenny Coombs
📹 Watch https://youtu.be/VhcJoTpmVvM
Carlos Vargas
📹 Watch https://youtu.be/2mdl-ozOMDQ
📚 Additional Resources - https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1R-L5JYE47zTXScrExj4yMgFKP191kLtf
Doing an Impact Investing Deal - Morgan Lewis
Our partner and supporter Carl Valenstein of Morgan Lewis has been a long-time supporter of the program and previously hosted a deep dive with us on how to make an impact investing deal happen. Carl will come back and give us another workshop on the topic in November as a skill session. Here is a great resource you can check out to learn more about an important part of Impact Investing, making the deal happen.
Carl provides us with some great resources like: - Introduction to Key Legal and Financing Basics - Doing an Impact Investing Deal - An Investor’s Guide to Due Diligence in Early Stage Companies
Check out the recording here
The Fundraising Journey of Young Ventures - Village Capital
We were very happy to have Village Capital join us for our last session of the 2024 Spring Cohort of the Fellowship program. With two great speakers, Heather Matranga, VP of Impact Investing, and Nathaly Botero, Innovations Manager, we went deep into the fundraising journey that young ventures and startups are on. We explored why debt and equity are not the only two solutions for funding and why a spectrum of capital needs to be developed to create impact. For more context and the article referenced during the session, please read - The Fundraising Journey, Impact Entrepreneur
Nathaly Botero and VP of Impact Investing, & Heather Matranga in conversation:Village Capital - The Fundraising Journey - YouTube
Finally, Village Capital has a tool to help entrepreneurs understand the funding tools available to them. This is a very helpful learning tool you have access to and can explore. Village Capital developed the underlying framework over 10 years of training thousands of entrepreneurs and working with hundreds of investors across the world. Check out Abaca - Improving access to capital for impact-creating businesses
Sustainable Regulation Landscape with Finpublica
We’re also excited to welcome 👨Adam Wasserman for a skill session on the sustainability regulatory landscape. Adam will give us an overview of the State of ESG Regulation in the USA and the EU. He will discuss, among other things, the proposed disclosures promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the State of California, such EU disclosure requirements as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and the standards set forth by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). Finpublica has been a partner of our Fellowship program and has given our Fellows the chance to explore and connect with like-minded individuals in the field. Also, Adam runs a killer newsletter on ESG news - highly recommended! More resources & opportunities from finpublica below in the recordings section.
🙆♂️Adam’s Bio:
Adam Wasserman is the Founder and Executive Director of Finpublica – a non-profit focused on inspiring and empowering current and emerging finance leaders to achieve their environmental, social, governance, sustainability, and impact goals. With more than two decades of legal, financial services, and nonprofit experience, Adam is dedicated to working with finance leaders to help them, their companies, and the industry pursue sustainability and responsible investing focused on both value and values. Adam previously spent more than seven years as the Head of Enforcement of the New York Stock Exchange – where he rebuilt its market regulation department and led its preeminent enforcement program. Adam also served as a litigation partner for a leading global law firm, where he represented financial services clients in institution defining matters (including the Board of Directors of Lehman Brothers in all matters arising from the 2008 financial crisis), led the New York office’s award-winning pro bono program, and was recognized for his “experienced, sage counsel.” He is an Aspen Institute Finance Leaders Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leaders Network. Adam graduated from Pomona College and Harvard Law School and lives in the suburbs of New York.
🏨 More On Finpublica:
Finpublica is a non-profit platform that inspires and empowers current and emerging finance leaders to achieve their sustainability and impact-related goals by cultivating a deeply engaged community, providing expansive and accessible content, and serving as a catalyst for action. Its members include leaders from 25+ countries and all major sectors – including banks, funds, pensions, index providers, ratings agencies, insurers, endowments, Fintech, Greentech, and more. Join their community for the networking, events, research, and further opportunities. Over the past year, Finpublica has grown to more than 350 members, built a website curating a wide-variety of open-source educational resources and tools, sponsored more than a dozen panels, discussions, and other programs on issues of interest, and launched several member-led initiatives.
❣ Finpublica’s Invitation As a NEIII Fellow you are offered the opportunity to expand your sustainable finance network and resources by joining the Finpublica community - by clicking here. Registration is complimentary and takes just a minute, but please note that after entering your information you’ll need to press confirm on the summary screen for the system to process it.
Membership provides several benefits, including:
Participate in and network with a community of more than 350 global finance leaders interested in sustainability;
Invitations to a variety of exclusive events, including expert panels, fireside chats, and members-only salons, discussions, and networking sessions;
The opportunity to participate in member-led initiatives and working groups on environmental, social, governance, equity, and impact issues of interest.
Shareholder Advocacy with Trillium Asset Management
For nearly 40 years, Trillium Asset Management has been at the forefront of ESG thought leadership and draws from decades of experience focused exclusively on responsible investing. Trillium uses a holistic, fully integrated fundamental investment process to uncover compelling long-term investment opportunities. Devoted to aligning stakeholders’ values and objectives, Trillium combines impactful investment solutions with active ownership. Are you curious about the approaches that Trillium uses? Think this session will be a great challenge to the industry in general and how much traditional Asset Management needs to change. Join this talk with Lisa Hayles who is the Director of International Shareholder Advocacy, overseeing engagement with corporate leadership on environmental, social, and governance issues. If you are curious to go deeper into the topic you can use check out this event we did in the spring with Kate Monahan when went deep into the topic and gave a helpful overview of Proxy Voting https://youtu.be/JJAT41vvEqM
Risk in the Financial System with David Carlin
👦 David Carlin is the founder of Cambium Global Solutions, an advisor to governments, corporates, and financial institutions on climate and sustainability. He has authored numerous reports that provide practical tools and guidance to firms looking to thrive in a changing world. David led the creation of UNEP FI’s risk programming. David is now reporting a lot through his lense of risk analysis in United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and does a lot of other really great things like having a great LinkedIn page to follow. Register here - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87062950557
Week 4 - More Resources - Basic Knowledge to Develop
Here are additional resources if...
CFA Materials - Basics of Finance
Basics of Finance
CFA Institute makes available to us and the public sessions on the basics of finance but also on very specific topics related to sustainable finance and sustainability issues. We will highlight sessions that should be of interest to you and your work.
For example, in the coming week, there is a session titled: How Climate Matters in Investment Decisions.
Check Out Upcoming Events Read Up On ESG Research
Check out CFA Climate Investing or ESG study materials (Google Drive) We’ve compiled a ton of resources from the CFA if you are interested in going deeper into the topic of sustainable finance and want more technical understanding. Do check out the drive in your own time. Google Drive CFA
Blended Finance and SDG Investing - UNDP
As part of our Spring program we had a very useful deep dive into Blended Finance by a director at the UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub who works on public/private partnerships. Artak Melkonyan helped us to understand investing in the SDGs and the tools available for investors to explore this funding area. Check out the recording for more info.
The UNDP shared with us their training programs to help you access further information on this topic and to upskill yourself. Part of the United Nations Development Program's Sustainable Finance Hub, the SDG Finance Academy brings together trainings on a variety of important climate and blended finance issues. Check it out here
We highly recommend the following two online courses which will take 1-2 hours to complete. If you complete either of those you will receive a certificate.
Introduction to Impact Measurement & Management And Unlocking Private Capita & SDG Assessment
SDG Finance Academy
Courses on System Change, Sustainable Finance, Carbon Management Unlocking catalytic finance to advance the SDGs through financial instruments and policy reforms - developed by the UNDP Free - With Certificates - Fellowship specific opportunities
Impact Measurement and Management Introduction
Fernando Morales who will introduce us to the secrets of Impact Measurement & Management. Fernando is a Vice President Builders Vision and has years of experience working in the space. Don’t miss this session if you’d like to dive deeper into the topic.
Fernando's organization Builders Vision is an impact platform dedicated to supporting people and organizations building a more humane and healthy planet through philanthropy, investment, and advocacy. As an impact platform, they work to help address some of the most difficult environmental and sustainability challenges across three interconnected sectors: oceans, food & agriculture, and energy.
Fund Reporting Frameworks
Check out the Presentation that was prepared as part of the 2024 Fall Cohort Peer Project
There is a variety of frameworks relating to various aspects of impact reporting out there! We have attempted to breakdown their use and target audience in the next tab "Details - Frameworks/ Standards"
The rest of this document focuses on the public report published by all impact investing funds on their impact - The Impact Report. This is separate from the regulatory disclosure/ any direct reporting they provide to investors of the funds. We have dwelled into 3 impact reporting frameworks. Amongst these "Impact Frontiers" focuses on on specifics of what should go into a Impact Report. Another standard readers may want to explore is the "International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Disclosure Guidance".
DONT FORGET - What You Need To Do:
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