Invest with Purpose. Create Lasting Impact.
Many Christian families strive to express their heartfelt values, including their faith, in every aspect of life. Many individuals already live out these convictions through charitable giving, aligning their financial blessings with their heart for generosity.
Traditionally, this alignment has also meant screening out investments in companies whose practices conflict with their values, including industries like alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography, or abortion.
In recent years, some investors have felt called to take this a step further, asking: Is there a way to not only avoid harm but also actively promote good through my investments? This is where impact investing comes in.
What is Impact Investing?
Impact investing is an approach that seeks to generate both financial returns and positive, measurable social or environmental outcomes. While similar to Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) investing, impact investing is more proactive:
- BRI focuses on filtering out investments that conflict with biblical values.
- ESG evaluates how well companies manage environmental, social, and governance factors.
- Impact Investing goes further, intentionally directing capital to companies or projects that drive human flourishing, such as clean water initiatives, affordable housing, or medical innovations.
To better understand the difference, consider two hypothetical investments:
- BRI Example: An investor avoids companies engaged in alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or other practices that conflict with their values. They might invest in a company like Microsoft—a leader in productivity software and cloud services that generally meets high ethical, governance, and business conduct standards. This reflects the screenout strategy central to BRI.
- Impact Investing Example: Through an impact-oriented vehicle recommended by the Impact Foundation, an investor might invest in a firm like LeapFrog Investments, which supports high-growth healthcare, financialservices, and climatesolution companies in Africa and Asia. These investments are designed to reach underserved populations—such as providing insurance and healthcare access to hundreds of millions of people—while also seeking meaningful returns.
This comparison highlights the difference: BRI ensures your capital does not support activities inconsistent with biblical values, while impact investing proactively selects opportunities that generate measurable good.
Aligning Your Capital with Your Calling
We serve a God of abundance who is not against profit. In fact, the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) encourages faithful stewardship of resources entrusted to us.
Impact investing provides a beautiful opportunity to grow your wealth while also supporting businesses and projects that promote human thriving. When we can earn a return and make a difference for God’s kingdom at the same time, it is a meaningful way to lean into biblical stewardship.
Is Impact Investing Right for You?
For those new to values-based investing, a natural first step is to implement a BRI strategy to screen out companies that do not align with your values.
From there, some families choose to explore impact investing as an additional layer of alignment. These opportunities can be pursued with retirement accounts, personal funds, or within a Donor Advised Fund (DAF). One resource we recommend exploring is the Impact Foundation, which specializes in helping generous families invest in projects that create lasting kingdom impact.
Impact investing provides an opportunity to let your financial life reflect the values you live out each day. By thinking prayerfully about how your capital can make a difference, you can participate in God’s work of restoration and abundance in the world.
If you’re approaching retirement and unsure how to coordinate Social Security and your income plan, a financial advisor can help you navigate and the road ahead and build the plan that works best for you. You can look for an advisor who aligns with your Christian values at www.kingdomadvisors.com.