Introduction
Theoretical Background
Impact Investing from a Macro-Level: An Institutional Perspective
Impact Investing from a Micro-Level: An Identity Perspective
Dual Identity to Identity Multiplicity: An Overlooked Reality
Managing Multiple Identities Through Identity Work
Methods
Data Collection
In addition, we attended FDI’s first organizing conference in Utah in July 2019, and its larger (online) conference in September 2020. The initial FDI conference anticipated a small gathering of 30 people and grew to 175 + people from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. In September 2020, 1800 + people attended online. FDI currently has more than 10,000 people who engage annually with their content. Collectively, these investors manage billions of dollars and previously focused primarily on financial considerations. An important component of the conferences and the overall movement was impact investing, where Christian values, beliefs, and expectations are integrated into investment and management decisions. As mentioned, primary and secondary data illustrated the identity tensions experienced by these impact investors and affirmed the relevance of the sample.“We believe that God speaks to us through His word and that all of scripture is useful for instruction on how to formulate and execute an investing strategy. Scripture, when taken in aggregate, provides as a great handbook on every question of investing—why, how, where, what, and when” (B10).
Data Sources
Type of data | Description | Purpose |
---|---|---|
Interviews | 24 Interviews were conducted either in person or over the phone. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Transcriptions ranged in length from 3 to 41 pages (single spaced) | Data from key actors that is beneficial for coding and specific insight into the practice of and the mindset behind faith driven impact investing |
Conference presentations | 25 presentations by academics, individual and firm investors, religious leaders, and social entrepreneurs. Presentations were recorded and transcribed. Transcriptions ranged in length from 3 to 50 pages (single spaced) | Reflects the growing FDI movement and brings diverse actors together in the movement, sheds light on important components of FDI including motivation, examples, measurement, and direction for the future |
Podcasts | 22 podcast episodes relating to faith driven impact investing across four outlets: FDI, FDE, Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur, and Redemptive Edge. Podcasts were transcribed. Transcriptions ranged in length from 6 to 26 pages (single spaced) | Represents a high number of actors and real-world insight within faith driven impact investing and the broader field of FDI and FDE, spread not only across the nation, but globally |
Blogs/Articles | 13 blog posts and articles from both secular and faith-based outlets including FDI, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal that discuss the growing FDI movement relating to impact investing | Demonstrate the growing increase in attention on impact investing and faith driven impact investing, as well as shed light on the direction and focus of the movement |
Working Papers/Personal correspondence | 15 working papers and personal correspondence from individuals affiliated with the FDI movement either individually or through a firm | Publications and correspondence from individuals and firm affiliates that address topics related to FDI including measurement, screening, motivation, difficulties of impact investing and the future of the movement |
Second order theme | Data |
---|---|
Comparing role identity trade-offs | “Many are afraid to consider investments…accepting less than full market rate return is the purview of the unsophisticated.” B8 (Norms of Investing) “Do we invest in different companies that will get better returns? Or do we enter into transactions where maybe we’d invest in flourishing knowing full well that the flourishing is more important than financial returns?” P3, 1 (Human Flourishing) |
Shadowing | “I don’t like the distinction between social and spiritual outcomes. I don’t think that distinction exists in the way scripture presents it.” I24 (Equating Social and Religious) “We have measurables. It has stuff like wages, benefits, whether their kids are going to school. We track all those social things and we count that under the spiritual pocket.” I8 (Measuring as One) |
Distinguishing | “Over the years we’ve defined that in our business as economic, social, and spiritual capital…triune approach to the bottom line” P20, 2 (Maintaining All Dimensions) “After all, in order to answer the question, ‘How can we maximize our Kingdom impact through the allocation of resources?’ We need to know what Kingdom impact is and be able to measure it.” C13, 1 (Measuring Separately) |
Surrendering | “Searching Scripture to discern the sound of God’s voice has shown me a few basic ideas: 1. God is the Owner of everything. 2. The Owner gives us the ability to generate financial capital and has entrusted each of us to be stewards of ‘His stuff.’ 3. The Owner will assess our performance on stewarding His stuff.” B3 (God as Owner) “I have found there to be deep satisfaction in being obedient to the call to pursue the glory of God in every aspect of the way we design and implement our investment portfolio.” C6 (Personal Calling) “At the ultimate level, surrender is sacrificial investing, selflessness, servant leadership, putting others above yourself.” I8 (Awareness of Enough) |
Insider–Outsider Approach
Data Analysis
Findings
Prioritizing One of their Salient Identities
Comparing Role Identity Trade-Offs
Managing Identity Multiplicity Inter-Relationships
Shadowing
Distinguishing
Even in the face of measurement challenges, investors found metrics to evaluate the religious aspects potential investments. For example, one investor conducted “religious due diligence” and required “a character letter from the pastor” of the founder (I9). Other investors developed entire evaluation systems that weighted financial, social, and religious considerations. For example, one investor assessed potential deals on a scale of 1 to 5 for each area. The investor explained that financial impact was necessary but also shared, “I have to have social impact and I have to have spiritual impact…and all elements need to be at least a 4 or I'm not making the investment” (C16, 3). For investors, this non-compensatory nature of including all three impacts with minimum threshold levels reduced some of the identity tensions of weighing trade-offs of impacts. However, it did not resolve all of the identity tensions. An investor commented, “There are deals that I have to pass on despite their wonderful spiritual impacts and I hate it” (I23).Financial, we get that. That’s the way investments have always been done. Social impacts are increasingly more measurable with things like SDGs and GIIN. But when you’re talking about spiritual impact, you’re talking about someone’s heart and their mind or what’s going on spiritually inside of them. You want to measure inputs and outputs. You can’t always measure the impact. (C16, 4).