We're pleased to announce the publication of our Annual Report for 2022. You can find the full report here.
The report provides both a look back and a look forward. As CEO and co-founder Martin Palmer writes in the Foreword of the report, 'In the life of a fairly new start-up organisation, every year is – or seems to be – especially important. And 2022 was a pivotal year for FaithInvest.
'If 2021 was, as we reported, "a year of learning, connecting and planning, amidst the ongoing global struggles with Covid", 2022 was the year we used those insights to hone our strategy, meet members of our network face-to-face for the first time, and hold a major conference on faith-consistent investing (FCI).
'As a result, we were able to move from our first three years of life into developing a Strategic Plan for the next three years – 2023 to 2025. This was approved by our Board at the end of 2022'.
The Strategic Plan outlines four core aims over the next three years:
Play a central role in building a broad-based, well-coordinated Faith-Consistent Investing Movement
Serve faith asset owners and service providers through targeted support to achieve their defined FCI goals
Sustain and strengthen partnerships in the Faith-Consistent Investing Movement
Strengthen our governance, staffing and internal capacity to prepare for growth.
The creation of the Strategic Plan, driven by the Leadership Team, involved all members of FaithInvest.
A chance to reflect
The drafting of the Annual Report provided an opportunity for FaithInvest leadership and staff to reflect. Both Martin and current Director of Movement and incoming CEO Lorna Gold cited FaithInvest's Bold Plans and Faith-Consistent Investing event in London in October (shown below) as a highlight.
'Meeting our key partners; seeing that we had helped create a real community of interested parties from a wide range of religious and secular organisations and beginning to hear properly what the movement needs to grow was very special', said Martin. Lorna added, 'After spending so long meeting people virtually during the pandemic, we could hardly contain our joy at meeting in person! It was a fantastic event and so stimulating. So much came out of those few days of meeting in the flesh'.
Catherine Devitt, Beliefs, Teaching and Values Lead at FaithInvest, reported that for her, 'The highlight was seeing how faith-based asset owners are motivated and moved when we help reveal and explore their unique faith beliefs and values through FaithInvest's one-on-one engagement. It's inspiring to witness how dedicated faith-based asset owners are, working with FaithInvest, to apply their beliefs and values to use their investments for a better world'.
Thinking outside the conventional investing box
Lorna concludes with a look ahead: 'I think the biggest opportunities for impact that truly benefits people and planet are to be found in thinking outside the conventional investing box. By that I mean looking to private deals and markets that directly address issues of concern, whether social housing or green entrepreneurship, truly seeking to model the values of the faith.
'Often this also involves joining forces with other faith-based investors with a similar outlook to form collaborative efforts. That trend is super exciting. I also see a similar trend emerging in terms of mobilising tangible assets – especially buildings and land – to make direct investments in ecological action. This can involve many different kinds of impact investment in forestry or putting in measures to enhance clean energy or energy efficiency'.