Heartland Capital Strategies

Obama Administration Joins Heartland Forum On Economic Impact Investing

By Marco Trbovich, Vice President of Strategic Communications for Tricom Associates

President Obama’s Special Assistant and Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, Jonathan Greenblatt, joined capital stewards, pension fund managers and other investors at the Heartland Economic Impact Investment Forum: Jonathan Greenblatt, Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation, joins Heartland Forum Washington, D.C., the sixth of such forums since 2012. Sponsored by Heartland Capital Strategies (HCS), the forum focused on the need to rebuild the built environment of our cities and to revitalize the nation’s industrial commons.

In addition to providing market-competitive returns and minimizing risk, “Economic Impact Investments” result in community prosperity through the growth of good jobs, innovative enterprises and a more resilient built environment. Heartland fosters a “Community of Practice” for Economic Impact Investments (EII), and this network has invested successfully for decades in Washington, D.C. and around the country. These innovative fund managers and capital stewards came together in 2012 under the banner of Heartland’s Responsible Investment (RI) Forums to re-build cities hit hard by the recession.

The challenge of pursuing a more sustainable built environment in the nation’s capital was the focus of the forum’s opening panel, moderated by Leanne Tobias, President of Malachite LLC.

Heartland D.C. Forum Highlights Potential of Workers’ Savings For Building Sustainable Communities

Pension Funds Encouraged to Invest in Community Prosperity

By Marco Trbovich, Vice President of Strategic Communications for Tricom Associates

At Heartland Capital Strategies’ recent Economic Impact Forum in Washington, D.C., CityCraft Ventures presented evidence of the firm’s success in revitalizing communities by investing in a holistic approach to building community wealth, and asserted that scaling up such a strategy is essential for the survival of union pension funds and the sustainability of the U.S. economy.

As the leadoff speaker on the panel Imagining the Livable City, CityCraft president John L. Knott, Jr. strongly encouraged pension fund managers participating in the forum to stop “exporting capital globally” and to focus instead on becoming leading investors in “restoring the long-term economic, social and environmental health of our cities.”

Interview with Edward M. Smith, CEO, ULLICO Inc.

By Marco Trbovich, Vice President of Strategic Communications for Tricom Associates

Since early 2011, Ed Smith has been Chief Executive Officer of ULLICO Inc. and The Union Labor Life Insurance Company, which provides insurance and financial solutions for labor unions, union employers, union benefit funds and union members. Ed went to work as a laborer at age 13, was a business manager for a Laborers’ union local and pension trustee by age 21. He has been a member of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) for 45 years. ULLICO is a sponsor of Heartland Capital Strategies.

Q. Can you tell us what your vision is for ULLICO?

A. “ULLICO has one customer: the American labor movement. Ours is a simple vision: how can we use this financial, insurance and economic organization to protect and grow union members and their employers. How do we do both?

Responsible Investment Strategies - Impact Investments

Introduction to "Responsible Investment Strategies" a new Heartland Blog Series

Responsible investing continues to grow as a share of total capital markets. This growth has led to the development of a plethora of resources that seek to enable greater investments in a responsible and sustainable manner alongside obtaining positive financial returns. This is an introduction to a blog series aimed at describing the various guidelines, tools and investment beliefs available to investors for responsible investing. Our hope is to increase investor understanding of these resources and, ultimately, help direct investors to the resources most suitable to their responsible investment goals. In addition, this series will focus primarily on social issues within the environmental, social and governance framework, or the S in the ESG, as measured and reported through these resources. This blog series is authored by Annie Malhotra, Strategic Advisor to Heartland Capital Strategies.

For more information contact: Annie Malhotra, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Impact Investments
Third of Series, "Responsible Investment Strategies"

By Annie Malhotra, Strategic Advisor to Heartland Capital Strategies

From Impact Investments to Economic Impact Investments

What is an impact investment?

A microfinance provider based out of San Francisco, California, enables individuals to lend as little as $25 to enterprising individuals around the world, having channeled over $420 million in loans in less than a decade with a loan repayment rate of over 99%.
An innovative collaboration space with multiple locations in Toronto, Ontario, whose mission is to “catalyze, connect and support new ideas that make positive change in the world” raised its first $2 million by issuing a series of community bonds valued between $10,000 to $50,000.
A private foundation from Battle Creek, Michigan, made quasi-equity investments worth $5 million in an innovative education/technology company that improves education quality and teacher effectiveness, particularly targeting vulnerable children.