Social enterprise leaders, learn more about the loans RSF offers. Impact investors, learn more about investing with RSF. And read on for the stories of the newest social enterprises to join the RSF community! 

Capture6: Capturing carbon while addressing water shortages 

Capture6’s innovative technology addresses two environmental issues at once: their facilities convert saltwater into freshwater in water-scarce regions, while simultaneously capturing atmospheric CO2.  

A $1.5 million loan from RSF is supporting Capture6’s Project Monarch development in the desert community of Palmdale, CA. When completed, Project Monarch and its wastewater component, Pure Water Antelope Valley, will purify up to 4.5 million gallons of water each day and capture 25,000 tons of atmospheric CO₂ each year. 

“RSF’s support is instrumental in advancing Phase 2 of our Monarch facility, which will convert brine into usable freshwater while removing approximately 25,000 tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere annually, delivering up to 40% savings on brine disposal costs for local ratepayers, and creating hundreds of jobs across the Antelope Valley region. This non-recourse, project level financing…reflects the kind of innovative capital deployment that climate infrastructure demands.” — Ethan Cohen-Cole, CEO, Capture6 

Ventura Energy: Bringing low-cost solar to a certified regenerative ranch in California 

Ventura Energy develops, owns, and operates commercial and utility-scale solar across California, guiding each project from feasibility through permitting, construction, and operation. Its founder has helped bring more than 2 GW of solar online over the course of her career — enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. 

A $2.3 million loan from RSF is helping Ventura Energy develop a solar installation at a family-owned, certified-regenerative turkey ranch in California. Adding solar will bring the ranch’s energy practices in line with its regenerative ranching, deepening its commitment to sustainability. 

Ventura partnered with the Ward Oaks Foundation, a nonprofit whose charitable work centers on innovation in renewable energy and affordable housing. The Foundation leveraged a federal tax credit to support this project, helping Ventura expand access to low-cost renewable power. 

“This ranch has spent decades proving you can farm in a way that restores the land rather than depleting it, and powering their operation with clean energy is a natural extension of that work. RSF’s financing made it possible to do this on terms that work for a family business — exactly the kind of project I’ve spent my career trying to build more of.” — Clara Nagy McBane, Principal, Ventura Energy 

Agriseeds: Adapting crops to a changing climate 

As farming communities adapt to climate change, the seed varietals they’ve long depended on might no longer thrive in their new environments. US Agriseeds – A Namdhari’s Enterprise (Agriseeds) develops climate-smart, high-yield, and disease-resistant hybrid seed varieties that are well-suited for a variety of climates, giving farmers more options for successful crops. 

Agriseeds’ hybrid varietals are more resistant to impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat and irregular rainfall, and to increasingly common crop diseases. In part because of this, farmers who use Agriseeds’ hybrids see yield increases of 20-30% and earn greater incomes over the course of the year. These hybrids also do not require significant changes in cultivation practices, making them accessible to small-scale growers and encouraging broader agricultural participation. 

Agricultural businesses often have irregular cash flows throughout the year, with the majority of their income arriving at a single point in the growing season. For these businesses, consistent access to credit is essential. A $3 million line of credit from RSF will ensure that the business maintains a healthy cash flow for essential operations and research and development of new seed varietals. 

“At US Agriseeds, our work begins years before a seed reaches a farmer’s field. RSF’s partnership helps us invest in the long-term science of breeding crops that deliver better outcomes for farmers, consumers, and the agricultural systems that support them.” – Sandeep Durga, Corporate Growth and Strategy Lead, US Agriseeds – A Namdhari’s Enterprise 

École Imagine: Lowering the mortgage costs of an innovative Waldorf school 

From its beautiful campus in the heart of Val-David, a cultural village about 50 miles from Montreal, École Imagine offers a holistic Waldorf education to more than 100 children. Many of the families who send their children to École Imagine have moved to Val-David specifically for the school, and now form an integral part of the town’s thriving artistic and cultural community. 

École Imagine spent decades renovating their current campus, a heritage building constructed for the Sisters of Saint Anne in 1924. RSF’s $750,000 loan refinanced their mortgage, allowing them to pay less on interest and devote more funding to essential programs for the students they serve.  

“Unlike with a regular bank, with RSF, we really feel we are building a long term relationship with an organization that truly supports Waldorf education and understands our reality.” – Joanna Desseaux, School Administrator, École Imagine

88 Acres: Deepening a commitment to allergen-free foods 

Inspired by her husband’s history with food allergies, 88 Acres founder Nicole Ledoux was determined to create a food business for people who wanted healthy snacks free from common allergens. From the beginning, the business was committed to equity: they partnered with a neighborhood economic development group and a local food startup accelerator to build a small-scale bakery that provides neighborhood jobs in Boston. 

Initial financing from RSF helped fund 88 Acres’ partnership with Delta Airlines. A second $750,000 loan infuses the business with additional credit to sustain them through a period of growth.  

In this piece in Financial Times’ Private Wealth Management column, RSF CEO Jasper van Brakel outlines where ESG didn’t go far enough – and offers specific guidelines for private investors who want to generate real impact.

Read the full piece here.

Read the full piece here.

Read the full piece in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

Watch the clip with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec here!

The IA50: A Leading List of Impact Fund Managers

This year’s IA50 marks the 15th year for the definitive guide to impact investing fund managers globally, as well as the 15th anniversary of the firm. Launched in 2011, the IA 50 has grown into the most recognized and respected list of fund managers in the impact investing sector.

The IA 50 is a publicly available database of private impact investment managers. As a leading, curated resource for investors and advisors, the IA 50 highlights fund managers delivering demonstrable social and environmental impact, setting the standard for uncovering opportunities across private markets.

“Over the past 15 years, impact investing has evolved into a sophisticated global marketplace,” said Jed Emerson, Founder of Blended Value Group and Chair of the IA 50 Review Committee. “The depth, scale and diversity represented in today’s IA 50 demonstrates that impact investing is now a core investment strategy — one that brings together a wide range of asset classes, geographies and investment themes to drive measurable change.”

Among those included in this year’s showcase, 52% – including RSF – concentrate their efforts domestically, within the United States. Social impact strategies continue to lead, with 58% of fund managers primarily targeting financial and economic inclusion, community development, affordable housing, and health and wellbeing. Environmental strategies also represent a significant share of the field, as 34% of fund managers focus primarily on energy, clean technology and decarbonization. Together, the 2026 IA 50 fund managers deployed nearly $17 billion towards impact in just a year.

“Across the IA 50, we see sustained investor commitment to affordability and economic development strategies that strengthen communities and expand access to opportunity,” said Margret Trilli, CEO and CIO of ImpactAssets and ImpactAssets Capital Partners. “From affordable housing and community development to capital for small businesses and underrepresented entrepreneurs, these managers are directing capital where it can help build an inclusive economy while delivering competitive financial returns. That alignment between impact and performance is what continues to drive momentum in the market.”

How ImpactAssets Selects Firms for the IA50

A practitioner and leader in the impact investing market, ImpactAssets brings a unique vantage point to the IA 50. Its experience and scale of private market investments, as well as institutional expertise in evaluating fund managers for clients and its investment platform, continue to be integral to the analytical framework that underpins the IA 50. 

Selections are made by an independent IA 50 Review Committee of 13 globally recognized industry leaders, following a rigorous, multi-stage process that leverages both qualitative and quantitative analysis led by ImpactAssets Capital Partners. The IA 50 Review Committee makes the final selection, ensuring the analysis adheres to a structured framework of fairness, rigor and objectivity. All selected firms must demonstrate a track record in impact investing, clear impact objectives, and U.S. investor accessibility.

“The steady expansion of the IA 50, along with an increase in investment professionals across underrepresented groups and continued strengthening of impact practices, signals a market that is growing with discipline and integrity,” said Cynthia Muller, IA 50 Review Committee member and Director of Mission Investment at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

A Growing Impact Investing Movement

When the first IA 50 was introduced in 2011, the 50 selected fund managers collectively represented $8.9 billion in assets under management (AUM), and no manager on the list had more than $500 million in assets. Fifteen years later, the IA 50 reflects a dramatically expanded and increasingly institutionalized marketplace. In 2026, managers across the IA 50, Emerging Impact Managers and Emeritus Managers lists represent a combined $202 billion in assets, showcasing the accelerating scale of impact investing.

The impact investing industry continues to mature, emerging from a niche practice 15 years ago to a more mainstream investing approach today. In 2026, 32 firms on the IA 50 reported AUM exceeding $1 billion, compared to 24 in 2025 and 18 in 2024. More than half of all firms included have been operating for over a decade.

“The IA 50 reflects both how far the industry has come and where it is heading,” added Trilli. “Through our extensive work within the impact investing sector – including deep engagement in private markets — we have seen continued growth in assets, stronger impact measurement practices, and more expansive impact focus areas from both established and emerging managers. The field has matured significantly, and the IA 50 continues to provide investors with a trusted resource in this evolving marketplace.”

The full IA 50 database is available at impactassets.org/IA-50.

About the ImpactAssets 50 

ImpactAssets 50® (IA 50) is the definitive guide to impact investing fund managers globally. The publicly available database is composed of experienced and emerging private debt and equity impact investment fund managers committed to generating positive impact. The IA 50 2025 reflects the innovation and exponential growth of impact investing that the IA 50 has helped to spotlight over last 15 years.  

The IA 50 is not an index or investable platform and does not constitute an offering or solicitation to buy or sell securities or a private placement, or recommend specific products. Nor is this an endorsement of any of the listed fund managers. It is not a replacement for due diligence. Additional details on the selection process are available here. 

About RSF

RSF’s mission is to change finance and finance change. By offering investment notes, donor advised funds, and loans, they mobilize money toward positive impact. Since 1984, they have innovated finance tools and invested in healthier food systems, cleaner climates, whole-child education, community impact, and more. Learn more about RSF at rsfsocialfinance.org 

About ImpactAssets

ImpactAssets is an impact investing trailblazer dedicated to changing the trajectory of the planet’s future and improving the lives of all people. As a leading impact investing firm, ImpactAssets offers deep strategic expertise to help its clients define and execute on their impact goals. Founded in 2010, ImpactAssets increases flows of money to impact investing in partnership with its clients through its impact investment platform, philanthropic solutions, and field-building initiatives, including the IA 50 database of private debt and equity impact fund managers. ImpactAssets has more than $5 billion in assets, working with purpose-driven individuals and their wealth managers, family offices, foundations and corporations. ImpactAssets is an independent 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at www.impactassets.org

About ImpactAssets Capital Partners 

ImpactAssets Capital Partners (IA Capital) is an SEC-registered investment adviser specializing in impact investing for institutional investors, including foundations, corporations, and family offices. IA Capital offers a full range of custom services, including investment and impact strategy design, sourcing and origination, due diligence, portfolio construction, monitoring, risk management, and reporting. IA Capital also structures and manages bespoke fund vehicles for aligned investor cohorts, providing support from mandate design and formation to capital raising, deployment, and administration. As a subsidiary of its non-profit parent entity, ImpactAssets, IA Capital works across both market-rate and impact-first investing approaches to help clients align capital with mission.

Contacts

impactassets@gregoryagency.com
Gregory Agency

In this conversation, our panelists outlined several different forms of alternative ownership. They explored how alternative ownership has helped distribute power and profit more equitably across their organizations. And they got to the heart of why the “how” we do business is just as important as the “what.”  

Read on for five big takeaways from the conversation – and tips for how you can get involved in the alternative ownership economy.  

Takeaway #1: Ownership isn’t neutral. It’s a design choice. 

When someone founds a business or a nonprofit, they actually have quite a few options for how they set it up. Those early choices about ownership matter.  

Take a look at the three types of alternative ownership laid out above. They offer clear pathways to bring a greater share of power and profit to employees. Yet many founders forego these models, either not knowing about these models or willfully avoiding them, and choose structures that consolidate power among a select few or outsource it to external shareholders. That early choice – often not perceived as an active decision – contributes to a system that is inherently unequal. 

Brenna Davis, CEO of Organically Grown Company (OGC), encourages business and nonprofit leaders to recognize that ownership structures aren’t neutral – and to choose options that have a positive impact. OGC is owned by a purpose trust that holds them accountable to their mission while maintaining their independence – forever.  

“Alternative ownership gives leaders and boards the option to think beyond just personal upside and the typical exit narrative, and towards preserving the legacy of their purpose,” Brenna says. 

Takeaway #2: Alternative ownership isn’t radical. The status quo is.  

Because it’s a new concept to many of us, it’s natural to think of alternative ownership as radical. But in fact, many forms of ownership that we now think of as “alternative” have been around for a long time.  

“Farmers banding together into co-ops,” says Nicole Vitello, Vice President at Equal Exchange, “is a very, very basic concept borne out of necessity,” In many cases, the farming cooperatives Equal Exchange sources from are rooted in generations of tradition – and amplified by the need to band together to gain power in a globalized system that’s stacked against them.  

What’s actually radical is the extractive financial system, growing inequality, and increased consolidation that we’ve come to accept as normal. Nicole encourages us to challenge that assumption and imagine a system that’s more equitable. “We really do owe it to ourselves and our communities to think, how could this be done differently? And then how can we find some critical mass together?” 

Takeaway #3: To mainstream alternative ownership, we need more education. 

All of us acknowledged that alternative ownership is still… well, alternative! But as Nicole said, we don’t want it to feel like a radical, out-there concept. We want it to feel normal.  

“There are a lot of leaders that don’t know this model exists, or they think they only work at a small scale,” Brenna says. Her colleagues at Purpose Trust Ownership Network are spreading the word by building a resource library about purpose trusts and employee ownership models. “There’s a directory of businesses that are purpose trust owned…and   different documents that run through the types of ownership.” You can access that resource library here. 

Equal Exchange has created a network of “citizen-consumers” who organize to put Equal Exchange’s products in stores, spread the word about alternative trade, and even sit on Equal Exchange’s board. They also invest in educating their worker-owners about how cooperatives work.  

“When you start at Equal Exchange, you’re here for a year, and then there’s a vote of your co-owners to vote you into the company,” says Nicole. “During that year, you’re going through cooperative education and education about the business. We have monthly staff meetings, open-book financials, so there’s a lot of financial training and other things that go into owning a business with your peers.”  

Takeaway #4: To build a regenerative economy, we need regenerative finance. 

Alternative ownership is one facet of a regenerative economy – one where money circulates instead of accumulates, contributes instead of extracts, heals instead of harms. 

A big part of the reason these models are still “alternative” is because the overwhelming majority of money flows to and through corporations that are owned by disconnected shareholders motivated by profit.  

At RSF, we want ownership models like cooperatives and purpose trusts to be mainstream, not marginalized. “Alternative ownership is a cross-cutting impact area that can benefit social enterprises in any of these industries and impact areas,” says Dana Stranz, Chief Risk Officer at RSF.  

We seek out organizations with alternative ownership structures that could use our values-aligned financing to grow. In the case of OGC, we actually financed their transition to a new ownership model, because we saw the impact that would create. 

“It’s not every day that someone shows up at your door and says, we’re trying this new alternative ownership model, and guess what, loan us millions of dollars to do it,” Brenna says. “You worked with us through the process to support the diversity of food systems.”  

Takeaway #5: You don’t have to be a business owner to get involved in the alternative ownership economy. You can start today! 

At the end of our panel, Brenna and Nicole offered a few examples of alternative ownership in action – and ways that anyone could get involved.  

“You can join a local food co-op and become a member of that,” says Nicole. “There’s a lot of real community investment out there. There are real estate co-ops. There are different community bonds and other things that allow you to literally invest your money in your community. And it’s not as hard or inaccessible as you would think.” 

“If you’re an executive or a board member, exploring transitions is worth bringing up,” Brenna continues. “For folks that are in the consulting world or practitioners or advisors, learn about these structures and make them accessible and understandable. And as investors, choosing to have patient capital benefits the world and the legacy you’re leaving behind.” 

Want to dive deeper into the world of alternative ownership?  

• Shop Equal Exchange’s fairly traded products 

• Explore Organically Grown Company’s produce and services 

• Check out PTON’s resource hub – including a directory of purpose-owned companies 

• Learn more about regenerative investing with RSF 

As CFO, Marc is in charge of making sure that RSF’s capital stack and finances are as robust and regenerative as the financial system we’re building in the wider world. Our CEO Jasper van Brakel recently sat down with Marc to learn more about what drew him to RSF, his approach to this leadership role, and his vision for RSF’s future.

Jasper: Welcome to the team, Marc! Can you tell us what first drew you to RSF?   

Marc: RSF’s integrated approach to raising and deploying capital really stood out to me. Many impact investors screen deals for impact, but stop there; RSF goes further by working to truly understand and support regenerative businesses. By going deeper with borrowers, RSF both learns the impact those borrowers have today, and identifies ways we can help them amplify their impact in the future. 

In my previous role, I was in charge of growing the reach, market share, and impact of a regenerative agricultural business. One of my biggest challenges was finding financing that helped us grow, without creating additional hoops we had to jump through. Coming from this perspective, I’m struck by how RSF helps borrowers with financing that supports fair pricing, sustainable supply chains, and affordable products. RSF meets businesses where they are – and helps them grow in alignment with their values. 

At the same time, RSF offers investors a way to grow their capital while contributing positively to communities and natural systems. That helps shift expectations across the broader financial system about what money can actually do. That mindset change is what makes this model so powerful. 

Jasper: You have a wealth of experience as an impact investor and social enterprise leader. Can you walk us through how you got to this point in your career?   

Marc: Early in my career, I noticed that many promising ideas stalled because organizations were limited by shoestring budgets. New ways of working often required new sources of capital. 

At McKinsey, I worked with organizations like LISC, Living Cities, the Canadian government, and the City of Washington, DC to build public–private partnerships that unlocked investment for community-serving real estate – small business spaces, health clinics, and public places where people could gather and connect. These projects generated solid financial returns while also creating meaningful community benefits.  

Later, I launched NatureVest at The Nature Conservancy, where I was able to build portfolios that focused on nature-based investments like forests, wetlands, and other natural resources. Unlike industrial assets that lose value as they age, natural assets appreciate with time – but their value is often overlooked by traditional finance. I deepened this focus on nature-based investments at Terviva, where I helped build a portfolio of tree-based food and energy products, showing how regenerative agricultural systems can create value across an entire business.   

Throughout my career in urban development, conservation, and agriculture, I’ve seen how the right type of financing is critical for supporting thriving systems. RSF calls that “right type” of financing regenerative finance. It makes sure the highest-impact businesses and nonprofits can access regenerative finance. And it’s working to build a financial system where regenerative finance is the norm. Joining this team feels like a natural next chapter.   

Jasper: When we first met, I was struck by how you speak about the identities you hold. Can you tell us more about how your identities show up in the work you do?

Marc: As a child, I appreciated how my mom stretched a single parent-income to provide the essentials for me and my brother. She invested in our education – and her own – to grow as a person and as an earner. She was able to do this because of social supports like affordable student loans, free and reduced lunch for us, and the earned income tax credit. I took advantage of similar supports as I launched my own career, and personally appreciate how investing in social services leads to long-term, generational impact for working families.  

When I was working at Terviva, I was responsible for ensuring our frontline agricultural nursery and field colleagues – most of whom were Latino, Spanish-speaking, and immigrants to the United States – could access benefits, build career pathways to higher salaries, build technical and management skills, and participate as full business owners. Opportunities like these help people feed their families, invest in their children, and build generational wealth. But too often, they’re denied to people who aren’t white, don’t speak English natively, or were born outside of the United States, especially in primary industries like farming.  

As a Latino, I’ve experienced feeling different than the other “business people” in the room. It means a lot to me to ensure Latinos, and other underrepresented people, can participate in every aspect of business life, and that diverse perspectives are not seen as a weakness but welcomed as a strength. 

I also show up as a gay man, who has fought for marriage rights and equal consideration under the law. Too many Americans struggle to access health care, contribute to the workplace, or participate in school because of their gender, their race, their sexual orientation, the way they wear their hair, or the way they express their identity. I see a direct connection between these identities and my career in regenerative finance – a form of finance that honors the rights, dignity, and potential of everyone to contribute to a thriving system. 

Jasper: As CFO, you’re in charge of ensuring RSF’s financial health. Why is financial health so important for a mission-driven organization like ours? 

Marc: RSF connects investors who want to have a deep, meaningful impact with business and nonprofit leaders solving our world’s most complex problems and supporting thriving communities. If we grow our resources at RSF, more entrepreneurs and leaders will access capital that sustains the jobs and infrastructure that enable communities to thrive over time.  While I’m excited about growing RSF’s financial resources and impact, that growth has to be supported by strong systems across the organization.   

Strong systems help us show up consistently for borrowers, funders, and one another, even in uncertain times. When they’re running well, they reduce the friction that blocks us from achieving our greatest impact; when they’re running great, they unlock forms of impact we couldn’t achieve otherwise. I’m looking forward to working closely with colleagues across RSF to plan for, monitor, and manage our resources thoughtfully so we can deliver positive impact over the long term. 

Jasper: What does success look like for you after a month? A year? Five years?  

Marc: In my first month, success looks like listening – learning from staff, donors, investors, and borrowers about why RSF matters to them and how it shows up in their work and lives.  

After a year, I hope those conversations have helped us sharpen how we deploy capital and deepen our impact, while welcoming new participants into the RSF community.  

In five years, I’d love for RSF to be widely recognized as a thriving example of regenerative finance – expanding our reach to new places and partners and helping build more resilient communities and natural systems along the way. 

Jasper: RSF’s mission is to change finance and finance change. What does it look like to you when we’ve achieved that mission?   

Marc: We’ll be changing finance when others embrace the questions RSF asks about impact, accountability, and regeneration, and when those values show up more broadly in financial decision-making across the financial system. We will be financing change when we bring more sustainable business models to more people and places.   

Right now, RSF is unique. If we’re truly successful, RSF will be the norm. I hope to see a future where RSF is just one of countless organizations that use capital to regenerate communities, ecosystems, and human potential around the world. 

Want to join our movement to change finance and finance change? Learn more about investing with RSF, opening a donor-advised fund, or applying for a loan for your social enterprise.

This blog series breaks down each of the five principles that guide our work in regenerative finance. Here, we’re covering the fifth and final principle: Move with Change. 

Established financial thinking is inflexible and unfeeling. If circumstances beyond an individual or organization’s control prevent them from paying back a loan exactly on time, meeting a specific growth target, or even sustainably operating at all, traditional financial systems trap them in cycles of debt and false promises.  

A regenerative financial system, like the natural world it draws inspiration from, bends – not breaks – with change. In this system, we step back from narrow goals that stipulate “we need this payment, in this exact form, by this exact date,” and instead embrace a more expansive pursuit in which “we want this business to succeed because its existence makes the world a better place.” By doing so, we can shift from an economic system defined by perpetual conflict to one rooted in compassion and shared purpose.   

When circumstances affect the market conditions in which our borrowers do business, we change our terms to match. Because we’re not here to extract from the organizations we support; we are investing precisely in their ability to adapt, evolve and thrive. By offering an extension to a loan payment, readjusting terms, or providing additional financing, we can collectively help cultivate resilience and build financial strength.  

Take Lotus Foods, one of RSF’s longest-term partners. Their mission is simple: to preserve heirloom rice varieties and help small farmers grow those crops in a sustainable way. This rice also uses 50% less water, produces 40% less methane, and requires 90% less seed to produce 2-3x more output. Over the last few decades, RSF has supported Lotus Foods through unprecedented periods of change – a global recession, a global pandemic, a trade war – so that their vital work could continue. 

By 2008, Lotus Foods had already had a line of credit with RSF for several years. But when the recession hit, they were starting to struggle. So RSF transitioned their line of credit and helped refinance their more expensive debt with other lenders. This financing helped them push through their challenges, and four years later, we were able to increase their line of credit.  

Twelve years later, COVID-19 and volatile trade policies presented a whole other set of significant challenges. Because Lotus sourced 83% of their products from China, they were forced to pay millions of dollars in tariffs as a result of a 25% tariff imposed on Chinese imports in the wake of the pandemic. This far exceeded their pre-pandemic budget. Shipping delays further stressed their liquidity because of longer inventory turnover time. 

RSF stepped in by restructuring and increasing their loan, providing Lotus with more permanent working capital. But Lotus needed more support, and the restrictions of our typical borrowing-based line of credit was a hurdle. We encouraged them to raise new equity capital within a certain period of time to complement our debt, and they succeeded. Through collective flexibility, trust, and shared belief, we were both able to rise above the pandemic’s extraordinary challenges.  

Conventional finance tries to pretend that change won’t happen. Regenerative finance recognizes that change is inevitable and constant. By honoring that principle, we can practice a form of finance that helps mission-driven organizations move through change, adapt, and thrive.  

Want to build a financial practice that moves with change? Invest with RSF, open a donor-advised fund, or apply for a loan from RSF. 

This blog series breaks down each of the five principles that guide our work in regenerative finance. Here, we’re covering the fourth: Transcend Ego. 

Conventional economic systems center humans at the expense of other living things and the natural environments we’re a part of. But ecologically speaking, people are no more important than our neighbors on Earth. And if we continue to put ourselves first, by allowing profit to come at the expense of environmental degradation, we will “grow” our way out of existence.  

Investing in the planet’s health isn’t a means to an end – it’s a worthy goal in and of itself. And when we invest in the health, preservation, and maintenance of natural ecosystems, it’s not just the living things that live in them that benefit. We do, too — because humans are a part of that living system.  

Land trusts purchase land for the express purpose of keeping it off the speculative market, preserving it for anything from affordable housing to environmental conservation. By providing financing that supports these purchases, we can protect our invaluable natural resources from short-sighted, profit-driven speculation, and ensure a diverse and thriving ecosystem – not only for ourselves in this life, but for our descendants and the environment they’ll inherit.  

Living Lands Trust embodies this idea by working to keep farmland viable through regenerative land stewardship. Living Lands Trust acquires land through gifts and purchases, then leases that land to farmers, ranchers, and other stewards who are committed to biodynamic agriculture and regenerative practices.  

RSF was first introduced to Living Lands Trust in 2013, when they asked us for help purchasing 76 acres of farmland in Wisconsin adjacent to fields already being used for biodynamic agriculture. Gaining this land would be a major boon for the young dairy farmers the trust was already working with, but neither the farmers nor Living Lands Trust had the money to purchase and protect the new plot.  

Because RSF understood that regenerative agriculture requires regenerative finance, we supplied them with a loan to buy the land and, perhaps more importantly, demonstrate the viability of their pioneering model.  

“RSF fully grasps the challenges…They are also operating outside of the way conventional financial institutions work, providing small and innovative organizations access to capital where we would otherwise be excluded,” says David Outman, the Trust’s executive director. “If you’re not taking steps to protect investments that are being made in regenerative agriculture now, you lose them quickly.”  

Today, Living Lands Trust holds more than 2,400 acres in southeastern Wisconsin, Northern California, southern New Hampshire, and north-central Texas. And instead of putting our big, human egos and their short-term desires first, they’re ensuring that farmland remains viable for land stewardship practices that provide shared social, ecological, and economic value for generations to come. 

Want to build a financial practice that truly empowers everyone in the financial system? Invest with RSF, open a donor-advised fund, or apply for a loan from RSF.