All investing should be impact investing

There’s a myth out there that you can’t (or shouldn’t) invest in doing good in the world and reap a financial reward. That there’s a tradeoff: The more you invest in solving the world’s most pressing issues—like global poverty, climate change, or the housing crisis—the less financial return you can (or should) expect. But what if that wasn’t true?

The Bureau of Small Projects is proud to partner with an organization like Realize Impact, who does more than reject that myth. Realize Impact enables its opposite. Every day, they work to make impact investing—investing in positive social or environmental benefit and seeking financial return—easy, rewarding, and possible. They do this because it’s critical.

The problems we’re collectively facing today are big, and when we make assumptions about solving them—like, that it’s the government’s job to solve climate change, or it’s philanthropy’s job to solve hunger—we diminish our very potential to do so. Sure, government and philanthropy are useful tools. But we need the whole tool belt. That means broadening our support to include environmentally and socially driven for-profits: organizations that dream big, move quickly, and can scale to create solutions near and far, whether it’s housing for refugees in Spokane, micro-lending for low-income women entrepreneurs of color in California, sustainable agribusiness in Kenya, or ocean plastic removal around the world.

Realize Impact knows that people want their charitable dollars to have an impact, and they understand people want to manage their assets wisely, too. But far too often, money that could be used to drive change is parked in a foundation, in a donor-advised fund, on Wall Street. It’s just sitting there on the sidelines.

It doesn’t have to be like this, and that’s why the Bureau of Small Projects supports Small to Midsized Businesses and Startups making a difference in the world.

Realize Impact is here because they believe that all investing should be impact investing. They’re here to make it easier for more people—not just the wealthiest among us—to solve more problems by directing their resources to for-profits they believe can make a difference. They’re here to help spread the word and invite others to join in. They’re here to empower entrepreneurs and for-profits to make an impact at a far greater scale than philanthropy alone.

And when it’s all said and done, Realize Impact is here to direct the returns on those investments back to investors—so they can do it all over again.