Endowments Investment Challenge – a lesson in sustainability!

I had a lovely experience last week having been invited – by the Friends Provident Foundation – to join an expert panel to support the deliberations of the ‘Future Generations Panel’ at an event at the Barbican.

The ‘FGP’ was a group of 18-25 year olds tasked with selecting the best ‘Investment Services Provider’ (ISP) for an endowment investment of up to £50million, made available by six charitable foundations focused on supporting younger generations.

Their remit of the young panel was to select the most aligned ISP –  the investment proposition that would most benefit ‘future generations’.

The group considered financial, sustainability and social characteristics of the five finalist ISPs – all of whom presented and took questions on the day. The finalists were selected by, the the Future Generations Panel, from a long list of 60 applicants. Alongside their vote there was also a ‘popular vote’ from audience members – so all highly transparent and democratic.

I would like to congratulate Triodos Investment Management for winning the challenge (both votes), and the other finalists Foresight (WHEB), EdenTree, Tribe Impact and Octopus investment (highly commended).  All were, in my view, excellent and very credible. (Conflicts of interest were disclosed and discussed).

So why was this a lesson in sustainability?

People who have heard me present over the years may have had the unenviable experience of occasionally seeing me ‘well up’ when talking about the impact our behaviours on younger people..  And the need for change.  (Which is why it matters where we invest, and largely why I do what I do – although I am also rather keen on wildlife and nature – and don’t mind some older people 🙂 ).

You will also probably be aware of the 1987 Brundtland report (Our Common Future) that helpfully articulated the concept of sustainable development as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ – spelling out the connection between today and tomorrow, and our pointing to our shared responsibilities.

So it was an absolute delight to be part of a process that focused specifically on the impact of investment decisions on future generations – with well informed, engaged and confident young panel in the driving seat.

The process had been underway for many months before I became involved – and is ongoing.  The individual foundations will decide how they allocate their money.

But in short the process captured the need think more deeply about the impact of the decisions we make today, include youngster generations in the process wherever possible – and vote with our feet on topics really care about.  Their clarity of thought, direct approaches and unambiguous, jargon free use of language was a wonderful tonic.

ps  the areas that most bothered the panel were: climate breakdown, austerity, ‘mag 7’, investment in defence / armaments  and inequality. Their focus was on excluding companies with negative impacts (including defence companies), and investing to solving the problems that effect so many young people today.  They were sceptical about other approaches.

Find out more about this here: https://endowmentsinvestingchallenge.com/about/