Thematic Dine Arounds 1. Mindfulness, Spirit, Faith & Impact Investing

CO Impact Days Dinner

March 12, 7:30 pm - Limit 10 at $75 per person wine included. Sign-up here: https://www.impactfinancecenter.org/corporate-strategics-impact-investing-1/thematic-dine-around-mindfulness-spirit-faith-amp-impact-investing

Panzano, 909 17th St, Denver, CO 80202

An Inquiry into the Intersection of Spiritual Practice and Investing

Introduction:

As part of an investing movement designed to cultivate, grow and safeguard impact, we are increasingly aware of the intense divisions in society, and the ways we may be contributing to or complicit in them. With growing inequality and polarization, alongside deep mistrust of our institutions and capitalist system, many feel called to examine and perhaps actively build and invest in an economy that is inclusive and regenerative. Our investment decisions can play a meaningful role in how that economy emerges. Faith, spiritual and wisdom traditions can help shape a new praxis for entrepreneurship and investing that supports shared prosperity and belonging.

For this praxis to emerge, we need spaces for dialogue that help bring it into being. This dinner will offer a space for individuals to come together to connect with each other and explore together the dimensions of where investment strategies/ approaches might intersect with emerging spiritual practices, such as mindfulness, ancient wisdom, religious ritual and faith practices etc.

Questions that this group will explore include:

Sensing:

What are some emergent patterns where we see paradigm shifts underway at the intersection of spiritual practice and investing?

What are the established faith, spiritual and wisdom traditions that have / are shaping your personal life, which could also transform your work and, collectively, our economy?

Being:

What does it mean to integrate those practices with the practice of investing?

Doing:

What processes have been developed, or could we develop, to translate and apply spiritual practice to the practice of investing?

What systems – particularly ecosystems – might exist or need to be cultivated to sustain and grow these communities of practice?

Leader:

Elizabeth Garlow, Impact Investment Officer, Lumina Foundation

Carl Palmer, Founder at LegacyWorks Group

Mar 12: 11:45-1:00

Location: Four Square Ballroom

Lunch Keynote: If Angels Invest in Unicorns, Do Heroes Invest in Racehorses, and What About the Champions and Catalysts?

Venture Capitalists love to talk about “unicorns”, where a giant financial return is possible. But that myopic focus has created an investment culture that limits how much investment and philanthropic capital actually funnels into our communities and some of society’s most promising innovations. In this keynote session, Teresa Ish (The Walton Family Foundation) and Dr. Stephanie Gripne (Impact Finance Center, CO Impact Days, and Impact Investing Institute), join forces to look beyond the “unicorns.” Together, they will lead our audience through a theoretical case study of a sustainable fisheries investment to demonstrate how different alignments of capital and levels of expected investment return - i.e. 10x investment versus 10% versus 0% versus -50% versus -100% investment (aka philanthropy) - change the corporate structure, risk, liquidity, and most importantly, impact of the organization invested in. They will explain the need to diversify available capital (from a -100% financial return to a 10x return) in order for the full range of social ventures (i.e. projects, nonprofits, small businesses, cooperatives, startups, and funds) to be able to find an appropriate line of capital that will empower them to achieve their mission.

Speakers:

Teresa Ish, Program Officer, Environment Program, Walton Family Foundation

Dr. Stephanie Gripne, Founder and CEO of Impact Finance Center, CO Impact Days and Impact Investing Institute

Carl Palmer, (Introductory Remarks) Founder at LegacyWorks Group