In the wake of the US elections this week, there are three invitations I’d like to make to impact investors:
1. Understand this election result impacts people differently, and treat them with grace
In her concession speech, Kamala Harris said “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves.” While some of us are in a position to roll up our sleeves and say “what’s next?” or use action as a coping mechanism (I resemble this remark), many people are very much sitting with hurt, frustration, anger and fear. Not just about what a Trump presidency may bring, but what it means about the American public, and what they in turn view as the value of women, and in particular women of color.
Some of the people we most need to listen to, may not be the first to speak in the days after the election. That means keeping our minds and hearts open to the many painful and personal impacts this election has had, and will have on many.
We also know that impact investors are not a monolith, and some in our community may be celebrating this week even if they do not feel at liberty to do so publicly. There are always times in social change work when we start with different perspectives in how we view the world, and then come together to achieve discreet objectives. This is a difficult moment to speak to building bridges, which has to start with a basic commitment to safety for all, that many do not feel.
This is not our work today. But it will be our work moving forward.
2. Economic change precedes political change
Impact investors have a unique responsibility to build the foundation of political movements, which is economic autonomy.
I’ve always seen social change as the confluence of culture, politics and economics. I even chose impact investing as a social change path because it seemed easier than politics. I now see my attempt to separate the world so cleanly and cutely was misguided. Today I’m reflecting on both the opportunity and responsibility we have as impact investors to keep political change front and center in the ways we engage in economic change over the next four years, and beyond.
Today I’m returning to Jeff Chang’s work, hip hop historian and journalist, naming cultural change as preceding all political change. As he wrote in the wake of the 2010 election, “Cultural change is often the dress rehearsal for political change. Or put in another way, political change is the final manifestation of cultural shifts that have already occurred.”
The same applies to economic change. Economic change precedes all political change. We know how much most Americans are hurting in an economy never designed to serve them. And that means we have the ability to see more deeply the political impact we can have by helping to build and broaden economic power. It’s not enough to just make capital more accountable to communities – it’s actually redistributing control over capital, and making sure people have the resources they need to engage critically in political life.
Our work at Candide Group is often designed to help build economic power by directing capital into communities that too often have been excluded and both politically and economically unheard, from Appalachia to Indian Country. Economic autonomy is at the root of both cultural and political autonomy, and we see how we can help build it through work that funds worker ownership, community land stewardship, climate justice and beyond. Adding a lens of building political power to our economic justice work is something we all can critically engage with in the years ahead.
3. While campaign donations are over, the need for political organizing donations is still critical.
Impact investment companies, as for-profit social enterprises, have the privilege of engaging politically in ways our non-profit peers cannot, and that includes with our dollars. We are grateful for organizations like Movement Voter Project that make sure donations didn’t just land in the coffers of TV stations happy to have ad revenue, but also fund critical long-term power building work with c3, c4 and PAC options.
This work is why the Affordable Care Act still stands despite former President Trump’s pledge to dismantle it. This is why there’s still no wall on our southern border, and an opportunity to still fight for immigrant rights.
So if you think you made your last political donation on November 5th–think again. And whether its Movement Voter Project or Freedom Economy or Way to Win, consider funding the work that will be needed to help us navigate our next steps as a nation.
Morgan Simon is a founding partner at Candide Group.
