Social Finance

In the ramp-up to the Fall giving season, one way that progressive CSR teams are creating more impact in their employee programs is by using their grant budgets. Here’s how...

Around the world, 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion have inadequate sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies of preventable water-borne disease. These water-related challenges stunt international development and economic growth around the world. In response, Know Obstacles, Global Water Challenge and H2O for Life are teaming up to bring awareness of these challenges.

I have read the Wall Street Journal cover-to-cover nearly every business day for the last 20 years. It’s been a central part of my financial education, and has allowed me to research a myriad of topics that I did not immediately understand. Steadily, I have increased my knowledge of highly specialized financial structures and concepts.

Earlier this year, hundreds of people from around the world took on a challenge to fix our global food system by looking to nature for design solutions. Now, eight finalist teams have been invited to prototype their solutions in an accelerator program that will award $100,000 to the top contender in an effort to increase speed to market for biomimetic solutions to global problems.

We see clear signs that more people want their values and money to be aligned. They are beginning to shift what they purchase, where they bank, and how they invest. They yearn to connect directly with the producers of their food, for example, and seek to know that their financial decisions are beneficial, not harmful, for both people and the Earth.