Heartland Capital Strategies

Responsible Funds

Responsible funds in the U.S. and Canada (and globally) are generating good returns for their investors and creating positive impacts for workers, retirees and their communities.  Spanning the investment classes of private and venture equity, real estate, project finance and other fields, the impacts these investors have yielded include:

• Retaining, modernizing and growing strategic industries, such as advanced manufacturing, technology and other vital sectors;
• Saving or creating hundreds of thousands of living-wage jobs, many of them permanent;
• Creating new and renovated living spaces (affordable, multi-family and workforce housing) and workplaces, along with commercial and community facilities;
• Developing renewable energy, efficient transportation and green construction industries, along with the supply chains linked to those systems;
• Providing capital to clean economy infrastructure, energy efficiency retro-fits, power projects, products and services, like wind and solar farms, advanced battery systems, smart grids, etc.
• Supporting the growth of SMEs (small/medium-sized enterprises); starting up ESOP and co-op companies; and providing micro-finance to smaller-scale enterprises.

Managers of responsible funds have more information than is available to most investors when they make their decisions.  They take into account the quality of labor relations, the impact of investment on environmental quality and sustainability, and the impact on communities; all  clues to potential risk and profit. They aim to earn large and sustainable returns by considering factors that are missing from conventional analysis, factors that other investors often ignore.

While these responsible investment managers have historically responded to longstanding market gaps to make investments in affordable housing and manufacturing enterprises, they are now paying close attention to investment opportunities in the clean economy and green construction.

Responsible Funds Highlighted in Up From Wall Street