How do you motivate faith groups to actively drive impact through their investments? That was the question posed to FaithInvest's Director of Faith-consistent Mathew Jensen by Siddharth Chatterjee, host of AVPN Academy's Money Meets Mission podcast.
Mathew's answer raised an issue that we have focused on a great deal at FaithInvest – the disconnect between a faith's teachings and activities, and what their money is doing.
'It's something we've termed the two-pocket problem,' Mathew said, 'where a faith organisation or faith-based organisation is doing wonderful work in their activities, in their preaching, in their giving, but often times they're not connecting that with the assets that they have to fund those activities in another pocket. Those two things are separate.
'And in fact, when we survey faith organisations on their integration of faith values into their assets or their investments, there's a large number, about 45%, who actually don't do this. They actually live by the two-pocket method, where they have good deeds and works here, and then their money just funds it. And the money doesn't reflect their values at all.'
It was a great chat. Click below to hear a short excerpt of Mathew discussing how 'your money is your energy in the world, and it's doing work in the world for you', and 'should also reflect your values, because it's actually changing the world.'
You can find the full 23-minute podcast on both Spotify and Apple Podcast. It explores the transformative power of faith-based investing, offering valuable lessons for all organisations seeking to make a positive impact with their investments.
Learn how The English Sangha Trust took the journey to seeing their values reflected in their investments, why policy documentation is key to the sustainability of investment practices, and what obstacles you're likely to face when trying to integrate values into your organisation's investment approach.
The AVPN Academy, part of the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, is the only learning platform in Asia-Pacific focused on developing leaders in impact, with learning from practitioners for practitioners.he only learning platform in Asia-Pacific from practitioners for practitioners.