Tellus Institute brings stakeholders together to discuss problems in agriland investments
BOSTON — Following the release of three country-specific reports by the Oakland Institute on agricultural land investments in Africa, the Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute hosted Oakland Institute Executive Director Anuradha Mittal and Board Member Jeff Furman for an in-depth briefing and discussion with stakeholders representing a variety of NGOs, academics, investors, students, and labor groups.
Mittal and Furman presented and led the discussion along with C-SocPhil director Josh Humphreys. Dr. Humphreys provided insight into recent trends that have driven increased investment by college endowments and other institutional investors into alternative asset classes such as agricultural land.
Mittal and Furman explained the Oakland Institute’s findings that these investments are particularly enticing because their managers claim to yield high returns and tout them as “sustainable” ways to “feed Africa” and the world. In fact, however, any food, fuels, or other goods produced on these purchased lands are often exported out of Africa, and the development of these sites can force hundreds of thousands of people from the land on which they have lived their entire lives. No social or environmental impact assessments are conducted before these developments occur, Mittal said, and the human rights violations, conflicts, and resulting risks for investments are underplayed by investment managers.
The discussion that followed involved participants from Tellus Institute, Grassroots International, the Initiative for Responsible Investment at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, Oxfam America, the Responsible Endowments Coalition, Reynders McVeigh, the Service Employees International Union, the Sustainable Endowments Institute, and Trillium Asset Management.
Questions and conversations focused on power dynamics and the need for greater transparency and accountability in the agricultural land investment process. Mittal described situations in which investors have evaded community consultation by convincing tribal leaders that their investments will help the people living there. She also provided examples of local resistance sparked by land grabs and labor conditions in Ethiopia and South Sudan. Furman suggested that if any standards were to be put in place to enforce the actual social, environmental, and economic sustainability of these investments, such requirements would have to be rigid and accountable in order to prevent these dangerous cases. Participants highlighted the particularly weak transparency in college investments even though endowments benefit from tax exemption.
The group also discussed prospects for the development of new more responsible forms of investment in smaller scale, sustainable agriculture.
For more information about the event or about C-SocPhil’s work on alternative investments and other research related to endowments, contact Josh Humphreys at jh@socialphilanthropy.org or (617) 575-9660.
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR SOCIAL PHILANTHROPY
The Center for Social Philanthropy (C-SocPhil) is an innovative, nonprofit social enterprise working on the frontiers of philanthropy and finance. We provide data, research, resources and tools to help foundations, donors, and other mission-driven investors leverage their assets more fully for long-term, sustainable social and environmental impact. The Center is housed at Tellus Institute, a think tank in Boston pursuing a Great Transition to a more just, sustainable and equitable global civilization.
ABOUT THE OAKLAND INSTITUTE
The Oakland Institute is a policy think tank dedicated to advancing public participation and fair debate on critical social, economic, and environmental issues. For more information, please visit http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/.
New C-SocPhil research documents 16% growth in sustainable alternative investments
WASHINGTON, DC – In late October, US SIF Foundation released Sustainability Trends in US Alternative Investments, an in-depth report on the market of US alternative investment funds that incorporate environmental, social or governance (ESG) criteria. The report measures the growth of the ESG alternative investment market from 2010 to 2011 and tracks emerging trends, including the most prevalent ESG themes and the role that investor networks and field-building organizations are playing in supporting the industry’s growth.
New report documents exorbitant executive salaries and radical wage inequalities at Massachusetts’ wealthiest colleges.
View the full report here: http://www.tellus.org/publications/files/issue-brief-exec-comp-201109.pdf
BOSTON — In a newly released special issue brief, the Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute documents the excessive compensation of top staff at Massachusetts private colleges and universities, including often undisclosed compensation from outside corporations. The report also highlights the dramatic income disparity between these “key employees” and lower level faculty and staff at the same schools.
Connecting sustainable investors, increasing social impact
SAN FRANCISCO — The Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute is please to announce its support and co-sponsorship for the Seventh Five Fund Forum, taking place September 7th, 2011, at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, in affiliation with SOCAP11, the annual Social Capital Markets conference dedicated to the flow of capital toward social good.
The Five Fund Forum is a sustainable investment showcase presented by Watershed Capital Group, bringing together five leading international cleantech and sustainable investment funds with investors, such as family offices, funds of funds, LPs, asset managers and strategic investors.
Only accredited investors who are serious about sustainable investing are eligible to participate. For more information or to enroll, please visit Five Fund Forum VII.
C-SocPhil director co-authors article in the Journal of Investing
BOSTON — In the fall edition of the Journal of Investing, Meg Voorhes, research director at US SIF Foundation, and Joshua Humphreys, senior associate and director of the Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute, have published a new article on “Recent Trends in Sustainable and Responsible Investing in the United States.”
Based on research conducted for US SIF by a team of researchers at Tellus Institute’s Center for Social Philanthropy, Voorhes and Humphreys describe several of the leading measurable trends driving the +$3.1 trillion sustainable and responsible investing space, including the increasing incorporation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors by institutional investors and money managers, the growing use of shareholder advocacy and active ownership strategies, and the expansion of community investing institutions, providing responsible access to capital to underserved low-and-moderate income communities.
Voorhes and Humphreys present a bird’s-eye view of the landscape of investment products now incorporating ESG factors — from mutual funds and ETFs to institutional separate accounts and commingled funds, to alternative investment vehicles. They highlight the leading ESG issues and themes shaping sustainable investment (from labor and human rights to climate change), as well as the motivations that are leading managers to take ESG issues into account.
The article is available here, free for JOI subscribers and fee-based for non-subscribers.
For more data-driven insights at the nexus of finance, philanthropy and sustainability, drawn from the Center for Social Philanthropy’s research, please visit the C-SocPhil Knowledge Center.
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR SOCIAL PHILANTHROPY
The Center for Social Philanthropy (C-SocPhil) is an innovative, nonprofit social enterprise working at the frontiers of philanthropy and finance. We provide data, research, resources and tools to help mission-driven investors leverage their assets more fully for long-term, sustainable social and environmental impact. The Center is housed at Tellus Institute, a think tank in Boston pursuing a Great Transition to a more just, sustainable and equitable global civilization.
Tellus Institute roundtable tackles controversies in international microcredit
BOSTON — The Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute and Oikocredit USA co-hosted a lunch meeting today with leading Boston-area impact investors to discuss controversies and challenges in the rapidly changing microfinance field.
The meeting provided an opportunity to introduce Oikocredit USA’s new National Director Sharlene Brown to the Boston impact investing community. Sharlene comes to Oikocredit USA after working with leading social finance organizations such as Domini Social Investments, US SIF - The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (formerly known as the Social Investment Forum), and Grameen Foundation, and she arrives at a time of organizational transition ahead of the anticipated retirement of its current Executive Director Terry Provance in 2012.
Brown and Provance joined C-SocPhil director Joshua Humphreys in leading the discussion. Dr. Humphreys provided a broad critical perspective on microfinance and the globalization of subprime lending, while Provance and Brown provided insights into recent controversies that have plagued specific microfinance organizations in India, Bangladesh, Mexico and Nicaragua, based on their long-standing work with partners in the field. Repeatedly they stressed the challenges faced by microfinance organizations and investment vehicles to remain true to their central mission of fighting poverty when profit-maximizing investors continue to commit capital to the field. Brown also provided insight into the kinds of questions that investment advisers should be asking as they begin to seek responsible investment opportunities in the space.
Clearly, there remains a critical role for mission-driven philanthropic and responsible impact investors to engage with microfinance institutions and investment vehicles in order to ensure that poverty alleviation and social empowerment remain central to the industry and thoroughly reflected in lending practices.
Investment advisers and analysts, portfolio managers, and other trustees and officers from groups such as Accion International, Ballentine Partners, First Affirmative Financial Network, the Harvard Initiative for Responsible Investment, Kiva, Oxfam, Rainbow Solutions, Springcreek Global Investments, the Sustainability Group at Loring, Wolcott, and Coolidge, The Philanthropic Initiative’s Center for Applied Philanthropy, Trillium Asset Management, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, US Trust, Veris Wealth Partners, and Zevin Asset Management joined in a wide-ranging, frank discussion about default rates, asset building and asset stripping, governance challenges, usury, currency and credit risk management, due diligence, gender dynamics, commercialization and securitization problems, and emerging innovation opportunities in areas such as mobile banking, credit reporting and rating, and new transparency standards for the industry.
For more information about the event or about C-SocPhil’s work on microfinance and other forms of impact investing, contact Josh Humphreys at jh@socialphilanthropy.org or (617) 575-9660.
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR SOCIAL PHILANTHROPY
The Center for Social Philanthropy (C-SocPhil) is an innovative, nonprofit social enterprise working on the frontiers of philanthropy and finance. We provide data, research, resources and tools to help foundations, donors, and other mission-driven investors leverage their assets more fully for long-term, sustainable social and environmental impact. The Center is housed at Tellus Institute, a think tank in Boston pursuing a Great Transition to a more just, sustainable and equitable global civilization.
ABOUT OIKOCREDIT USA
Founded in 1975, Oikocredit is an international cooperative microfinance investment vehicle that seeks to empower the poor with credit. Today, Oikocredit is one of the world’s largest sources of private funding to the microfinance sector and a provider of credit to trade cooperatives, fair trade organizations and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the developing world. Oikocredit promotes global justice by empowering disadvantaged people with credit. It reaches more than 28 million people through 875 partners in 71 countries.
As a responsible investor, Oikocredit supports the adoption of client protection and transparent pricing principles, and encourages poverty assessment by its investees and project partners. In recognition of its strong commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, Oikocredit was awarded CGAP’s inaugural ESG award in October 2010. In 2011, Oikocredit joined the United Nations Principles for Investors in Inclusive Finance as an inaugural signatory, reaffirming its commitment to expanding access to affordable and responsible financial products and services for poor and vulnerable populations.
C-SocPhil’s report on endowments and the financial crisis in the news
BOSTON — The Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute was cited today in an online story on the pending Massachusetts Higher Education Transparency Act.
As Matt Rocheleau reports on Boston.com, “The bill is driven by a report released last spring that examined six area schools, including five in and around Boston.
“The report, issued by the Center for Social Philanthropy at Boston-based Tellus Institute and partially funded by the Service Employees International Union, says some non-profit, tax-exempt higher education institutions were involved in high-finance-style practices that contributed to the global financial crisis.”
“They made foolish financial decisions,” said state Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, a Somerville Democrat and the lead sponsor of the bill. “And the question is now, have they changed or are they, like many people on Wall Street, doing the same thing they were before the financial crisis and making other people pay for their mistakes?”
Sr. Fellow James Goldstein files affidavit in support of community groups in Atlantic Yards dispute.
BOSTON – On March 3, James Goldstein, Senior Fellow and Director of the Sustainable Communities Program at Tellus Institute, joined a panel of leading authorities in urban planning and community development who submitted affidavits on behalf of a coalition of community organizations in Brooklyn, New York, challenging the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and Forest City Ratner over the impacts of major delays in the controversial Atlantic Yards project.
In his affidavit, Goldstein analyzes several large urban development initiatives which have experienced lengthy construction delays impacting local communities in Boston and New London, Conn.
Goldstein concludes his affidavit by stressing, “The recent cases of Filene’s One Franklin development, Harvard’s Allston Initiative, and New London’s Fort Trumbull project all highlight the quantifiable and qualitative costs that arise in the course of unanticipated project delays. They invite a much more deliberate reconsideration of expectations about project costs and benefits once a delay occurs and, as in the case of One Franklin, demand a much more thorough analysis of the unanticipated impacts that inevitably arise from those delays.”
Research supporting Goldstein’s analysis was provided by a team from the Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute, led by the Center’s director Joshua Humphreys.
According to Humphreys, “Goldstein’s affidavit highlights the real costs that project delays can have on surrounding communities. We’re delighted to bring our organization’s expertise to the table in support of the petitioners’ attempt to hold this private, for-profit developer and their public nonprofit partner accountable for their impacts on the community. The cases of Harvard University’s Allston project and Vornado Realty’s Downtown Crossing disaster in Boston, as well as the notorious New London, Conn., redevelopment at Fort Trumbull provide fresh empirical evidence that project delays can have major consequences on communities that need to be thoroughly assessed. A new environmental impact statement is needed, and real community governance needs to emerge in the Atlantic Yards project.”
The other affidavits were submitted by Ronald Shiffman, the founder and former Executive Director of the Pratt Center for Community Development and a professor of urban planning at Pratt Institute, and Majora Carter, the founder and former Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx and president of the Majora Carter Group.
The petitioners include several of the sponsors of BrooklynSpeaks, an initiative of civic associations, community-based organizations and advocacy groups concerned about the future of development at the Atlantic Yards site in central Brooklyn. The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation, the New York Chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism, and the Fifth Avenue Committee, among others, are actively involved on behalf of the affected neighborhoods.
“When it approved the 2009 MGPP [the project’s modified general plan], ESDC ignored the law, the facts, common sense and, most importantly, the opportunity to engage the community to help make Atlantic Yards work for Brooklyn,” said Gib Veconi of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council. “The statements of these experts show how ESDC was deficient in its approval of Forest City Ratner’s proposed changes to the construction schedule, and that ESDC failed to learn from either the failures or successes of other large urban redevelopment projects.”
“Even though construction on the Barclays Center arena is underway, it’s not too late for the public to have a voice in the future of Atlantic Yards,” said Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. “Since ESDC and Forest City have so far refused to engage the local community or its elected representatives in a meaningful way, we have no choice but to ask the Court for a reversal of the 2009 MGPP and to halt further construction. Appropriate study of the impacts of 25 years of construction must be made.”
The full affidavit by James Goldstein can be found online here.
More information on the Atlantic Yards litigation can be found at http://www.brooklynspeaks.net/.
About the Center for Social Philanthropy
The Center for Social Philanthropy (C-SocPhil) is an innovative, nonprofit social enterprise working at the frontiers of philanthropy and finance. The Center provides data, research, resources and tools to help foundations, donors, and mission-driven investors leverage their assets more fully for long-term sustainable social and environmental impact. The Center’s work fosters greater financial transparency, accountability and sustainability and helps a wide range of stakeholders to understand and engage in today’s increasingly complex capital markets. Since 2009, the Center has been housed at Tellus Institute, a sustainability think tank in Boston.
C-SocPhil director joins panel on “Investing in Justice”
BOSTON — Joshua Humphreys, senior associate and director of the Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute, joined representatives from the Responsible Endowments Coalition and the Service Employees International Union for a panel discussion on the theme of “Investing in Justice” at Brown University.
The event was organized by student organizations in the Open the Books Coalition ahead of the winter meeting of the Brown Corporation. On the Corporation’s agenda was a recommendation from the University’s Advisory Committee on Responsible Investment Policy not to reinvest in HEI Hotels and Resorts, a hospitality private-equity firm with a notoriously bad reputation for its labor relations. Despite the stigma, leading college endowments have routinely invested in the firm’s funds.
Coverage in the Brown Daily Herald is online here.
Humphreys interviewed by Tufts paper on college financial disclosures
BOSTON — Joshua Humphreys, senior associate and director of the Center for Social Philanthropy at Tellus Institute, was interviewed at length for an article in The Tufts Daily about pending legislation in the Massachusetts State House that would require fuller disclosure of financial information by private colleges.
The legislation, inspired in part by research on endowments and the financial crisis conducted by the Center for Social Philanthropy last year, would require annual reporting by colleges of investment holdings, excessive compensation, manager and consultant fees, trustee and employee conflicts of interest, and the costs of tax exemptions. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Patricia Jehlen, whose district includes Tufts University.
“Although tax exemption creates costs to the state … there are no good estimates for what those costs are,” Humphreys said. “This bill would require colleges to report on the cost of tax exemptions so that a more well-informed and robust debate can occur about costs and benefits.”
Hearings on the Massachusetts Higher Education Transparency Act will occur on Beacon Hill in June.