The Franciscan Sisters of Mary in St. Louis have backed the Lyme Forest Fund and pay-as you-go-solar firm M-KOPA. The Church Pension Fund and Wespath Benefits and Investments each invested $30 million in Developing World Market’s impact fund. Ascension, which manages $29 billion on behalf of Ascension Health and other Catholic institutions, backed Goodlife Pharmacy, a chain of pharmacies in East Africa.
A new report from Nexus Impact Advisors in Washington D.C. estimates the size of Christian, or Biblically responsible investment, at $260 billion, or 3% of all socially responsible invested assets. Christian, or Kingdom, impact investing could be as much as $3-4 billion. The “measurable ‘Christian’ return” can take many forms, the report says, “from overt evangelism to the faith convictions of a company owner.”
- Private-equity and venture capital… firms aligned with Christian values include Creation Investments in Chicago and Transformation SME in the Middle East and Asia. Business accelerators include Praxis Labs in the U.S., Sinapis Group in Brazil and Africa, and Ibec Ventures around the world.
- Investment advisors… include Ascension Investment Advisors (see, “More Catholic capital flows toward impact investing”) and Christian Investment Services.
