by Angelica Morrone
Like a wave that started slowly and is gaining speed and strength as it progresses, the world is talking about impact investing and making a positive impact through our philanthropic contributions. This is not to say that in the past our ancestors and predecessors did not do this, but the idea of investing our time, our money, and directing our donations in a way that is in line with the intellectual legacy, the legacy we wish to leave behind has never been more prevalent than it is now.
Let's try to hash out what it means to use these channels to have impact: my answer is "stay local"! When our impact investing and philanthropic efforts are focused primarily in Ticino, we are able to monitor the results and most importantly we are able to derive enormous satisfaction given the proximity of the beneficiaries.
Let's see how. The terminology that populates speeches, writings and actions is varied: impact investing, venture philanthropy, philanthropy, charitable giving, seem like the same thing or a slight variation of a common theme, but the differences are substantial and worth noting.
The definition of impact investing aims to make a profit while creating positive social and environmental change. It can be very local (wanting to invest in companies in one's local area) or international (wanting to make an impact in distant countries). There is no fixed time horizon; the approach, the mindset, is to invest for as long as it takes to see a positive impact.
Venture Philanthropy is a more structured approach than pure philanthropy, it is usually done in partnership with funds and foundations, it has a time horizon of three to five years, and there is a deep involvement of investors with beneficiaries, with a lot of emphasis on measuring financial and impact metrics.
While impact investing aims to support individual organizations and projects, with venture philanthropy one has the opportunity to support whole sectors or geographic areas. Bringing these definitions back to our area, while with impact investing we focus on a Ticino project or company, with impact on proximate beneficiaries, venture philanthropy would be able to have a positive and measurable effect on one of our valleys for example.
Then there are, of course, the two most established forms of giving, philanthropy and charity. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but they are different. Charitable giving is dictated by an emotional reaction to an immediate situation; giving occurs in the short term in the form of monetary or time donations. Philanthropy, on the other hand, addresses the root causes of social problems and has a longer-term horizon. As responsible and empathetic beings, our natural instinct is to give to charity whenever we perceive a difficulty that can be helped with our time or our money, and this happens almost daily. But in order to have a deep or broad impact, it is necessary to focus and join forces with other organizations, it is important to be able and know how to measure the impact you want to have with every investment and every donation.
Starting from our own territory, from our small Ticino, it is an important and indispensable step of an impact path as proximity allows us to see the positive effects that our donations and investments can have, allows us to have a greater involvement and therefore to derive greater satisfaction from our actions.
Knowing one's values and ability to contribute time and money to causes best aligned with us is the first step to begin exploring the causes, sectors, projects and areas we want to positively impact. The avenues are many, the opportunities are plentiful, and a systematic approach helps to capture the ones most relevant to us. A long marathon always starts with a small step, even a small gesture is enough to get started. Go and be impactful!
Foto di Clark Tibbs su Unsplash