Impact Investing

Wetherby can help direct your capital to do more than generate financial returns.We have been advising clients on impact investments for over a decade and have implemented impact investments across nearly all asset classes and impact themes to meet our clients’ financial objectives and impact goals.

Impact Investing Landscape

What?

The Global Impact Investing Network defines impact investments as investments made in companies, organizations and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.

Why?

Impact investing offers clients the opportunity to advance social and/or environmental goals while generating financial returns.

Who?

Impact investing attracts a spectrum of investors, individual and institutional, with a diverse set of impact goals and financial return expectations.

How?

Impact investing is a portfolio strategy that can be successfully implemented across most recognized asset classes.

Our Impact Investing Principles

We seek to identify those opportunities where the impact strategy drives a fundamental investment thesis.

No Compromises

We believe that impact investing does not require an investor to accept a sub-par risk/return profile but, rather, can serve to reduce risk and/or enhance returns.

Sustainable Perspective

We seek to take a forward-looking approach toward delivering long-term sustainable investment outcomes that maximizes the regenerative nature of environmental resources and minimizes resource depletion.

Holistic Alignment

We look for impact alignment throughout the value chain looking at business practices and operations and how investment decisions are made and by whom. This commitment to alignment extends to our own firm and operations and how we seek to create shared stakeholder value.

Impact Management

Impact metrics should be used to manage and improve impact and financial performance over time. We seek to deepen our influence and collective impact by using our investor voice to support progress.

Evolution

We do not believe in making the perfect the enemy of the good; rather, we believe in getting started and pushing to broaden and deepen impact as the market evolves and the investment opportunity set develops over time.
How We Work With Clients

We believe that the best approach to providing financial advice on any topic begins with asking what you want your wealth to do for you – now and over the long-term.

Start with your goals. We start by helping you articulate and prioritize clear goals for your portfolio. We review the social and environmental challenges you hope to address and translate these into impact objectives which serve as the foundation for a customized impact investment strategy.

Total portfolio approach. We take a total portfolio approach towards incorporating impact into your portfolio. Impact objectives are one consideration amongst many used to construct a portfolio designed to optimize for your financial, non-financial and impact goals.

Customization to your goals. In many cases, your targeted impact goals can be met directly; however, a broad-based approach to creating impact might be more financially prudent in other cases. We believe that, ultimately, many impact themes are interrelated and inextricably linked such that most of your impact investments may directly and/or indirectly contribute to your impact goals.

Monitoring and reporting on impact. Your impact allocations are integrated directly into our financial reporting systems. We complement this with in-depth, customized impact reporting on your impact investment strategy. We monitor your investments and check with you regularly on changes to your impact goals.

It’s a journey. Our process is naturally iterative and flexible – your strategy may be modified over time as the impact investment universe evolves. We guide you through the shifting landscape of impact investment opportunities, while sharing our own learning and client best practices.

Our impact objectives are mapped to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of collective targets to build an inclusive, sustainable and resilient future for people and planet. A global declaration that investing in sustainable development offers fundamental investment opportunities, the SDGs are fast becoming the universal impact investment framework.

Industry Affiliations

Wetherby is proud to partner with leading networks and communities in the impact investing field to catalyze the use of investment capital in generating meaningful social and environmental impact.

As You Sow harnesses shareholder power to create lasting change that benefits people, planet and profit. Their mission is to promote environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building and innovative legal strategies.

The California Green Business Network leads the state and nation in working with small- to medium-sized businesses to create a vibrant green economy. Led by a coalition of cities and counties, the network helps to make our communities healthier and more livable while also conserving resources and saving money.

Wetherby Asset Management is a Certified B Corporation®. B Corporations are leaders of the global movement of people using business as a force for good™. Certified by the non-profit organization B Lab, B Corporations meet comprehensive standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.

Invest for Better is a nonprofit campaign on a mission to help women demystify impact investing, take control of their capital and mobilize their money for good. A project of The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), Invest for Better offers open-source resources to the entire ecosystem of investors, advisors, philanthropists and infrastructure organizations.

The Investor Alliance for Human Rights is a collective action platform convening, informing and activating investors to act on human rights and business risks through targeted action, education and multistakeholder engagement.

The FSB Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) develops voluntary, consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies in providing information to investors, lenders, insurers and other stakeholders to encourage companies to align their disclosures with investors’ needs.

The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (US SIF) is a network of investment management and advisory firms, research firms, non-profit associations, pension funds, foundations and other asset owners working to advance sustainable, responsible and impact investing across all asset classes.

Proxy Impact is a proxy voting and shareholder engagement service for foundations, NGOs and other mission-based or socially responsible investors. Proxy Impact offers a full range of shareholder engagement services on social and environmental issues including filing resolutions and corporate dialogues.