By Rosa Lee Harden with Kevin Jones
When we launched SOCAP in 2008, we called it the conference for the market at the intersection of money and meaning. Each year we’ve developed more content that looked explicitly through the meaning lens. This year we take it to the next level. We will host a full track exploring why and how people get involved in impact investing and social enterprise, and offer sessions aimed at supporting people who take this holistic path.
We are going to be looking at connections between activism and investing, how justice linked with spirituality drives this movement: incorporating investing as a means to build the world we need now. Using the lens of placemaking we’re going to look at how social enterprise makes a difference where we’re living, how it leads entrepreneurs to become connected to all parts of our communities and to become a positive presence.
Industry veterans say that the number one factor that determines whether someone will become an impact investor is if they associate with a community of faith. So, we’re also inviting a 50-person cohort of faith leaders of all stripes to participate in an exceptionally curated experience that is aimed at helping them become leaders in this movement toward accelerating the good economy. We will introduce them to impact investing and social entrepreneurship, and we will work with them to develop tools that help lead communities of faith into action.
Over the past couple years at SOCAP, clergy have been attending in growing numbers and – with the help of Criterion Institute – we’ve been providing a curated experience for them. This year, we are expanding that offering and are designing sessions for people of faith who are beginners in the investing world. We are in the beginning stages of putting that offering together, while we also put our sights on having someone like Walter Brueggeman or Cornel West as a keynote to link these worlds.
We will only take 50 people into this cohort. If you have attended SOCAP and know a faith leader you would like to propose for this experience, we’d love for you to nominate them through this nomination form.
Because we want to bring in high-level speakers, we are also looking for help funding this effort to grow the movement. If you want to help, have connections to funding, or want to volunteer to help with this effort, email RosaLee@socialcapitalmarkets.net.
