I spent the past few days at the Net Impact Conference in Portland. There were more than 2500 business professionals, Graduate Students and Undergraduates there to network and learn how to make business work for the greater good. Net Impact is a network of business people using their skills to work for good. I spent most of my time at the conference going to sessions about Finance. Impact Investing was the buzzword of the day. Impact Investing, as the Economist defined it in their article Happy Returns, are those investments "designed to yield both a financial return and a broader benefit to society." JP Morgan estimates there could be a trillion dollars invested this way in less than ten years. Interesting stuff!
I was also able to see the Occupy Portland people march by the convention center because Bank of America was holding an event there (while Net Impact was going on!). One of the protesters stopped to interview me on my opinions about the Occupy movement. He was particularly interested in what I thought people who weren't comfortable with heading into the streets for the Occupy movement could do from their own homes.
I told him about Move Your Money project and how I thought the movement to get money out of the big banks and in to Credit Unions was the first thing people could do. We talked about how every dollar each of us spends, whether on food or clothing or at other businesses, was a vote for something helpful or something damaging. Shopping at local businesses helps keep money in the local economy. Buying clothes made in the USA helps keep jobs on our shores. Everything we do with our money makes a statement and even when we don't have much, we can use it to buy local produce or eat at local restaurants and not huge chains.
 |
I was also able to see the Occupy Portland people march by the convention center because Bank of America was holding an event there (while Net Impact was going on!). One of the protesters stopped to interview me on my opinions about the Occupy movement. He was particularly interested in what I thought people who weren't comfortable with heading into the streets for the Occupy movement could do from their own homes.
I told him about Move Your Money project and how I thought the movement to get money out of the big banks and in to Credit Unions was the first thing people could do. We talked about how every dollar each of us spends, whether on food or clothing or at other businesses, was a vote for something helpful or something damaging. Shopping at local businesses helps keep money in the local economy. Buying clothes made in the USA helps keep jobs on our shores. Everything we do with our money makes a statement and even when we don't have much, we can use it to buy local produce or eat at local restaurants and not huge chains.
No comments:
Post a Comment