A retired global bank CEO has come to be helpful. Conversations cluster in front of the requisite logo-covered background poster, ready for celebrity shots. A global foundation executive lauds ImpactAlpha as the go-to place for impact investing news.
In front of the fully stocked bar at the back of the Forbesâ reception space on New Yorkâs Fifth Avenue, the gentle jazz, soft drinks and vigorous handshakes recede, and the talks begin.
Thereâs more passion and vigor than technique. But then technique isnât going to be the point today. âWeâll keep the dealflow for our June â18 event,â says Brendan Doherty, Forbes Impact co-founder, wearing an up-turned jacket collar and a baseball cap with the word âcoffeeâ upside down. âWeâre building a rocket ship.â
The goal: bringing people with shared values but different personal narratives on board, with diversity at the heart. The endgame: to drive capital and culture, using the cultural references in sports, entertainment and corporate leadership.
Forbes Impact is building a community, and invites us to shed our pretense and come along, to shape ânothing but the future of investingâ says Paul Noglows, fellow co-founder.
On the passion front: âYouâre gonna see the best returns in this industry because everyone is starting to careâ says Kamine Development Corporationâ Justin Kamineâââa recent Forbes 30 under 30 laureate. âLetâs do sh$t and letâs all do it collectively together.â
âWe believe entrepreneurial capitalism can solve our worlds most vexing challengesââââCorey McGuire of Winston House, a community space for artists.
Hip hop star A$ap Ferg, whoâs teamed up with Uniform to provide school clothings for children in Liberia: âI kinda hate when people put charity on the side. I wanna put it full front.â
Justine Lucas, from the Clara Lionel Foundation (thatâs Rihannaâs charity for kidâs education and healthcare): Weâre building a community to make impact investing a cool thing. (Later, someone will remark it already is).
A moment of grace with a surprise guest appearance: AGT star Eric Yung, a 35-year-subway busking veteran whose career took a turn thanks to a viral video, sings Unchained Melody.
Erika Karp of Cornerstone, Jean Case of the eponymous foundation, and Nancy Pfund of DBL Investors bring perspective, and some deep thoughts.
Case: âImpact investing is a new way to solve old problemsâ. MBA students understand, why would you only invest for financial returns?
Karp quotes Abraham Joshua Heschel: âWonder rather than doubt is the beginning of root knowledge.â
Her own observation: âAll investing is impact investing, if you know what you are doingâ. And a closer: âItâs not ideological itâs practical. Cornerstone is radically practical investing.â
Pfund: âItâs gone from a hunch to happeningâ and âPeople canât get enough of thisâ. How does this begin to scale? âKeep dogging at it until you get to that inflection point.â
Noglows: âNot everyone can be a philanthropist but everyone can be an impact investor.â
The Pope makes a cameo: His challenge to the worldâs entrepreneurs has been launched in honor of his Laudato Si encyclical on environment and human ecology.
Actress Mary-Louise Parker and filmmaker Thomas Morgan take the stage. But hey, itâs kids oâclock and Iâve got to go. I hear ârefugeesâ and âkickstarterâ as I head into the dark and warm autumn night. Well, it is kind of a cool thing. Not only in New York, kids, not only in New York.
Brendan Dohertyâs name was spelled incorrectly in an earlier version of this story.