As someone who likes to keep busy, I wear a lot of hats. I’m a father, a CEO, an entrepreneur, an impact investor and a United Nations ambassador for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Now, I’m adding documentarian to that list.

Over the last several months, I’ve been overseeing the development of Impact, a new documentary showcasing the power of entrepreneurs who have infused purpose into their businesses by aligning with one of the U.N.’s SDGs.

The idea for this project first sprouted after I watched Revenge of the Electric Car. I was particularly struck by Elon Musk’s storyline and how he risked everything he owned for an idea he was so passionate about.  The film impacted me so deeply – more than any book, movie or speech had ever done before. I came away inspired to pursue cutting-edge ideas and re-align my business with my passion and values to make a positive impact.

The rest, you can say, is history. I’m now an evangelist for impact investing – investments that generate a measurable positive impact alongside a traditional financial return.  In my quest to inspire others to become impact investors, I realized that a documentary would be the ideal tool for attracting people interested in using their businesses and investments to make the world a better place. The storytelling format of a documentary is a powerful medium that can emotionally connect you to people and ideas in a way that no other format can. It’s one thing to read about an entrepreneur’s novel business plan. It’s another thing to see that entrepreneur in action, and how he or she impacts people’s lives on a very personal level.

Impact is a great illustration of two such entrepreneurs in action. It follows the stories of David Katz, founder and CEO of The Plastic Bank, and George Taylor, CEO of TRU Colors Brewing Company. The Plastic Bank is a startup that takes plastic debris bound to pollute the oceans and turns it into currency. TRU Colors is a craft brewery that recruits active gang members and offers them a second chance in life. Not only have these entrepreneurs achieved financial success, they’re also making a difference in the world by using their business for good. They’re helping people take care of themselves, providing a means to support their families and their communities. The Plastic Bank provides a consistent, above-market rate for plastic waste, giving impoverished communities access to a stable income. TRU Colors gives gang members a chance to change their destiny, dramatically reducing violent crime in the process.

These examples illustrate how entrepreneurs think differently. Where most people would see plastic on a beach as junk, David sees treasure that can help people move out of poverty. When most employers would require a job candidate to quit a gang, George makes active gang membership a job requirement so that meaningful dialogue and positive change can begin to take shape in the community.

David and George both embody the artistry that takes place when entrepreneurism aligns with the SDGs. By nature, entrepreneurs are immensely creative. The SDGs provide us with the palette of colors to express that creativity and innovation when we align our businesses and our investments with our passion and values.

When Impact premiers at the U.N. this September, I hope viewers come away with a clearer understanding of the power of impact investments. This is not a niche. This is a movement. With impact investing, you can align your passion and values with your investments, change the world and increase your wealth. I hope you’ll join me on this vastly rewarding journey.

The other week, I had the privilege of addressing hundreds of young entrepreneurs and investors from around the world at the 2018 NEXUS Global Summit. As part of my remarks, I challenged the audience to pursue what I like to call a “congruent life” – making sure your values and passions fully align with your business and investments.  

My passion for social entrepreneurship developed when I started my first business at the age of five. I would go up the horse trails behind my family’s house, collect manure in a wheelbarrow and then sell it to my neighbors for $1 a load to fertilize their gardens. I’ve been a champion for creative startups ever since.

Today, people often tell me that I don’t fit the mold of a typical financial firm CEO. I take that as a compliment. Many financial companies make their investments solely based on performance metrics without taking society into account. I always knew I felt differently. I didn’t want to run a company that turned a blind eye to the problems in the world for the sake of making a quick buck.

To that end, I rebranded my firm, Vanderbilt Financial Group, to embrace impact investing. As the sustainable broker-dealer, Vanderbilt now specializes in investments that generate a positive environmental or social benefit alongside a traditional financial return. Since this shift, Vanderbilt has experienced unprecedented growth. In fact, 2017 was our best year ever.

Despite some of the challenges encountered along the way, rebranding Vanderbilt was a meaningful achievement in my pursuit of a congruent life. Using my business to make the world a better place wasn’t just some KPI I conjured up to checkoff of a five-year plan. It’s the core of what I aim to do with the rest of my life.

That’s why I love speaking at events like the NEXUS Global Summit. I want to inspire, educate and celebrate more entrepreneurs and investors to infuse purpose into their businesses and investments. It’s also why I accepted the role as the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Global UN Ambassador last year. In this capacity, I help other entrepreneurs use the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a set of global targets to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all – to integrate purpose into their business to achieve congruence.

I believe that highly evolved entrepreneurs are artists, and our businesses are our canvas to share our creativity in business with the world. As such, the UN’s SDGs can be our pallet of colors to change the world with our businesses and not only solve challenges in the world, but create a more purposeful life for us, the artist entrepreneur.

Experts estimate that $90 trillion is needed to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Philanthropy and government intervention alone will not be enough to meet the UN’s vision. The business community will need to step up, and entrepreneurs are in a prime position to make the most impact through innovative solutions that tackle the challenges outlined in the SDGs. Collectively, we can make a world of difference and in doing  so, help to pass on to the next generation a better world.

WhyWhisper Collective’s dedication to corporate social responsibility is impressive and inspiring. They pledge 5% of annual profits to charities, volunteer quarterly, consult clients to embrace CSR, and are a celebrated B Corp recognized as a “Best for community honoree” and in the 2015 “Best for NYC” awards.

WhyWhisper Collective challenges visitors to their website to “be bold”. The first image you encounter on their site is of a ferocious lion, mid-roar, with text overlaid that reads, “Bold approaches to better our world.” When describing their commitment to corporate social responsibility they explain that they donate 5% of their profits “to causes that roar against injustice when others have whispered.”

We love the message and mission that WhyWhisper Collective asks us to contemplate. We’re proud to know this wonderful company, and excited to see just how much impact that roar will have!

Alex shares her inspiring impact journey in our Impactful Insights video series. Check out her story and what she’s shared with Impact U on her expert page, here.

Joan has a lot of experience in microfinance serving as the Executive Director of the International Association of Microfinance Investors (IAMFI). IAMFI led the microfinance investment industry with proprietary research, contributions to third party publications, educational and networking meetings, tailored member services and consensus-building for investor best practices.

Prior to IAMFI, Joan was Deputy Executive Director of The Resource Foundation, supporting community-building programs in 20 Latin American countries, benefiting annually 4.6 million under-served children, youths, women and men.

Previously, Joan spent 15 years in the financial services industry, holding international sales, financial advisory and operations management positions at Bankers Trust and Citibank, with direct experience in the Spanish, Mexican and Argentine markets. She oversaw a combined portfolio of $225 million in client assets.

Perhaps most notably, in here Impactful Insights interview, we learn that Joan has always had a knack for finance and for making a difference. Starting from watching her father travel, she learned universal truths about human nature and has applied that knowledge to finance with a focus on making an impact.

To learn more about Joan Trant, and to check out more of her content, find her expert page here.

Chintan was selected as a 2014 and 2015 New York Metro Rising Star by Super Lawyers. Well regarded in the sustainable community, Chintan can often be found speaking at Impact and ESG events.

If you’ve read our blog post, “A Story of Two Impact ‘Aha! Moments’” you’ll recall that a conversation that Chintan had with our Founder Steve Distante was the spark that inspired the ultimate creation of Impact U.

Check out Chintan’s Impact U content, including “How to Have Impact with your Investments” and “Impactful Insights”

To learn more about Chintan Pancahl, and to check out more of his content, find his expert page here.

Steve Distante is the Chief Entrepreneurial Officer of Vanderbilt Financial Group an independent broker dealer and RIA that has a unique focus on the ESG, sustainable, and impact investing space. Steve’s eyes were opened to the world of Impact Investing in 2013, when he had what we call an Impact ‘aha! moment’, read the story here.

Steve describes Impact Investing is a “sea-change in investment attitudes” where investors will intend to make a traditional profit but also do good things for the world with their money through an ESG perspective. He believes that business “thrives when they have this sort of investment attitude” and encourages all entrepreneurs and investors to wake up to this change.

Steve encourages the 150 financial advisors who are affiliated with Vanderbilt to adopt Impact Investing. He is a champion of Impact Investing, even incorporating it into his presidency of the Entrepreneurs Organization. Check out his latest EO podcast.

To learn more about Steve Distante and to check out more of this content, check out his expert page here.

Follow his impact journey on social media!
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If you have not had your Aha moment yet, we’d like to share two stories in hopes that you will be inspired and enlightened.

Steve Distante’s Aha! Moment:

In 2013, our CEO Steve Distante was sitting with his friend Chintan Panchal, an attorney. The conversation turned to Steve’s desire to align his personal passions and values with his business, when Chintan explained Impact Investing. Chintan’s law firm, RPCK Rastegar Panchal is dedicated to structuring and advising their clients from an impact investing perspective. Steve’s Impact journey began that day as he discovered how to tie his personal passions with his broker dealer and RIA, Vanderbilt Financial Group.

Since then, Steve has founded Impact U, an online community focused on connecting main players in the Impact Space and pushing the movement forward through education, collaboration, and crowdfunding. As a champion of the space, Steve has received speaking engagements and interviews like the one published by InvestmentNews on July 25^th, “Independent Broker-Dealer Vanderbilt Revamps to Focus on Impact Investing” by Liz Skinner.

“Eventually the others will wake up — they’ll see. When a client or a client’s child inherits some money, I guarantee they’ll be interested in this sort of a thing.”      – Steve Distante

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Jeff’s Aha! Moment:

Jeff Gitterman had a very similar experience to Steve’s as he explains in the August/September 2017 issue of Morningstar Magazine. In the article, “Re-Energized by Sustainability: A Shift to ESG helped Jeff Gitterman rediscover his passion for the profession” by Ilana Polyak, Jeff discusses how his Impact journey began. For a while, Jeff was expressing his passion for ESG through projects in his personal life, like being a producer for the film Planetary which explores our relationship to our environment, and through his book, consulting company and radio show, Beyond Success: Redefining the Meaning of Prosperity which focuses on success and happiness not just in a professional sense but in all aspects of one’s life.

A Financial Advisor for over 25 years, Jeff established a successful firm, Gitterman Wealth Management, made up of a team of advisors managing $450 million in assets. In 2016, Jeff had the same desire Steve did, and set out to create ESG portfolios. Within a year, the firm was able to move $20 million into their newly created ESG portfolios, called SMART Portfolios (Sustainability Metrics Applied to Risk Tolerance).

“It was surprising to find a broker-dealer with a strong interest and affinity to the SRI community,” – Jeff Gitterman

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Two Impact Enthusiasts are Better than One!

In 2017, Gitterman Wealth Management made the decision to leave their broker dealer to go somewhere that valued and supported their ESG focus. When they discovered Vanderbilt, The Sustainable Broker Dealer, they knew they found an accepting and innovative firm that would take their SMART Portfolios to new heights.

Now that you’ve heard Steve and Jeffs’ stories, you may be feeling more like an “Impact Aware” financial advisor. Ready to take the next step? Join us in New York City on October 19th for the Sustainable Investment Conference to learn how you too can adopt Impact Investing and easily incorporate this investment strategy into your practice to drive growth and find passion and purpose in your profession. 

REGISTER
Sustainable Investment Conference
October 19th

This content is property of Vanderbilt Financial Group and is not to be duplicated or redistributed without prior written consent. Not an offer, recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell. Further Information is available upon request.

About Vanderbilt Financial Group: Founded over 50 years ago in 1965 and located in Woodbury, NY, Vanderbilt Financial Group is the Entrepreneurial Broker Dealer known as the Sustainable Broker Dealer and RIA committed to investing with purpose. Vanderbilt is a full service Broker Dealer and Advisory firm with a focus on Impact Investing. Vanderbilt’s refreshing, unique, and innovative culture is a driving force to constantly strive to positively impact their community.

Vanderbilt Financial Group CEO and Impact Enthusiast, Steve Distante, had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat with Kevin Mahn on February 19th, 2016. This is part two of our two part interview series; if you missed part one, you can check it out here!

Kevin is the Chief Investment Officer of SmartTrust® UIT. Steve nicknamed Kevin, the “Chief Impact Officer” after learning of his passion for sustainable and responsible impact investments, what Kevin calls, “the new SRI”. 

In the video below, Kevin talks about why investors should consider Impact for their portfolios, highlights SmartTrust® UIT, and discusses the companies partnership with Argus Research and IW Financial.

Kevin is the Chief Investment Officer of SmartTrust® UIT. Steve nicknamed Kevin, the “Chief Impact Officer” after learning of his passion for sustainable and responsible impact investments, what Kevin calls, “the new SRI”. 

Kevin explained why SmartTrust® has taken a stand in the space of Impact Investing, becoming the first and only Impact based UIT. Steve expressed a frustration that seems to be a common pain for Impact enthusiasts; “I love Impact Investing, but the most frustrating thing about the space is trying to find products. That’s why I love what SmartTrust has done.”

In this video, Kevin shares SmartTrust’s perspective on Impact Investing, its place in the market and details how SmartTrust has partnered with IW Financial and Argus Research to create Impact based portfoliosfor investors.

Check back next week for Part 2 of this interview with Kevin Mahn where we discuss the UIT more in depth!

Download Kevin Mahn’s White Paper on Sustainable Impact Investing; The Next Step in the Evolution of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) 

This blog was originally posted on www.blog.joinvanderbilt.com