Max Mintz

Watch the Official Selections of the 2020 ESG Film Festival!

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These are the films from the 2020 ESG Film Festival, presented on Dec 3rd. From 508 entries, these 12 films were selected to showcase the power of ESG and Impact, and inspire audiences around the world to act. Every action we take has power.

As a member of the advisory board for this event, I helped to judge the film festival we presented at the event. We’re proud to present the films we selected below. Films denoted with Honorable Mention were not screened live due to time constraints, but were deemed on merit worthy of inclusion here.

Flowers in the River This film won both the Judges Best Film & Audience Choice awards!
Directed by: Tiffany Steeves & Andrea Chung – United States. Ankit Agarwal, founder of Phool, shares the story of the flower recycling business he created and the impact it is having on the Ganges River in India

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Making of ‘Flowers in the River’
The filmmakers behind the documentary that won both of the awards at the 2020 ESG Film Festival share where the story idea came from, how they made the film, and a valuable life lesson learned along the way.

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Seeding the Sea
Directed by Sarah Redmond & Caroline Almy – United States.
Off the coast of Belize, seaweed farming is a more sustainable alternative than fishing. Lowell Godfrey grew up there, and now owns his own seaweed farm that he hopes will inspire other fishermen

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The Voice Of The Voiceless
Directed by Dalton Tokarcyzk – United States.
Indie rapper Marcel “FloStorm” Jones reflects on his experiences as a protestor who was arrested during the George Floyd-inspired protests during the late spring of 2020


Gando
Directed by Teymour Ghaderi – Islamic Republic of Iran.
In the Sistan and Baluchestan provinces of Iran water is scarce. However, where there is a Gando, an Iranian crocodile, there is water. The girls who fetch it risk life and limb.

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Dry Tears of the Aral
Directed by Danila Volkov – Russian Federation.
The shrinking of the Aral sea over the last 60 years is the ‘most staggering disaster of the twentieth century,’ (UNDP) and has turned the lake into a toxic salt plain. Mr. Kamalov fights for the lake.

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Waste Warriors of Bangalore
Directed by Goutham Varrier – India.
The people who work tirelessly to keep Indian cities clean often lead a very difficult life, with poor income, and no social security. Indha Mahoor and the NGO Hasiru Dala want to change that

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Embers
Directed by Lexie Chu – United States.
A look back on the devastating 2018 Southern California fires through the eyes of animal rescuers.

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Be Bold and Win the Dream
Directed by Novera Hasan Nikkon – Bangladesh.
A group of young girls in one of the most remote villages of the northern region of Bangladesh organized under the banner of a football team to stand against the gender discrimination present in their society

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Iceberg Licking Society
Directed by Nathan Ceddia – Iceland. *Honorable Mention
A never before seen look into the mysterious world of the Iceberg Licking Society as the association faces iceberg-licking’s greatest threat: global warming

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90 Minutes Without Meat
Directed by Dan Botterill – United Kingdom. *Honorable Mention
Football club Forest Green Rovers are known for being the world’s first carbon-neutral football club, as well as only serving plant-based fare during matches.

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What About My People?
Directed by Tiffany Steeves – United States. *Honorable Mention.
Lerang Selolwane, co-CEO of Lucient Engineering in Botswana, shares his personal journey and vision for his country.

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Te’la
Directed by Peter Okojie – Nigeria. *Honorable Mention

The short story of a young man that came from the northern part of Nigeria and migrated to Lagos state, one of the fastest growing cities in Africa, for a better future.

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InvestmentNews also has these videos on their website as well, with more information about the event.

Max Mintz

What is World Tree?

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If you had the opportunity to fight climate change, inequality and poverty all at once, would you take it?

What if that opportunity also included the potential for profit?

If you think that sounds too good to be true, it’s time for you to meet World Tree and their Eco-Tree program.

World Tree

World Tree was founded by Wendy Burton in 2015 as a way to promote the benefits of the Paulownia tree, also known as the Empress Splendor tree. This particular tree boasts some very impressive stats: it’s the world’s fastest growing hardwood tree, matures in only 10 years, and can regenerate up to 7 times after harvest. The Empress tree is also non-invasive and produces some of the lightest hardwood lumber.

World Tree’s objective is to use the Empress Splendor tree to meet the growing global demand for timber in a more sustainable way. The World Tree Eco-Tree Program unites investors and farmers in making an environmental and economic impact on the world. Here’s how:

The World Tree Eco-Tree Program

World Tree grows the Empress tree with their network of farmers in North and Latin America. The farmers provide the land, labor and care of the trees, with World Tree’s guidance. The Eco-Tree Program is funded by investors, where every $3,000 invested allows World Tree to plant 1 acre of trees (about 100 trees).

After approximately 10 years, World Tree harvests these trees and sells the lumber. The profits of the sales are then split 3 ways, with 25% going to World Tree, 25% going to the investor and 50% going to the farmers.

Over 100 farmers and 1000 investors have joined the Eco-Tree Program since its inception.

Making an Impact

An investment in World Tree impacts many different corners of the world. Here are just some of the ways you can make a difference with the World Tree Eco-Tree Program.

  • Reduce your carbon footprint. The average amount of carbon emissions generated by one person in the United States is 16 tons per year. The Empress Splendor sequesters carbon at a rapid pace, helping investors to offset their carbon footprint with only one acre of trees.
  • Support farmers. World Tree provides farmers with the Empress trees, along with training and support, at no cost to the farmers. The farmers receive 50% of any profits from the harvest. After the harvest, the trees regenerate and regrow without replanting. This provides farmers with an ongoing source of income that can last for up to 70 years.
  • Support nature. The Empress provides soil with a natural fertilizer. Additionally, its flowers provide nectar to honey bees; one acre of trees will help produce 100 jars of honey per year.

Getting Involved

Schedule a time to talk using the World Tree meeting type here:



This is neither an offer to sell, nor a solicitation to buy, a security, which can be made only by the prospective investors if it is preceded or accompanied by the Offering Circular, which contains various and important risk disclosures. This material does not purport to be complete and should be read in conjunction with the Offering Circular. All potential investors must read the Offering Circular and no person may invest without acknowledging that they have received, read, and fully understand the Offering Circular. The Offering Circular can be read by clicking here. 

Robert Goellner

Max will be speaking at the United Nations on December 5!

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I’m very pleased to announce that my partner Max will be speaking at the inaugural InvestmentNews ESG & Impact Forum on Dec. 5 at the United Nations.

While we specialize in Sustainable, Responsible and Impact investing for our clients, we also believe that we have a responsibility to educate and help other advisors adopt these techniques. That’s why Max has agreed to be on the advisory board for this event and give his time to speak. The panel he’s on will be moderated by Jon Hale of Morningstar (read his blog here), and will feature Colleen Denzler of Smith Capital Investors and Marguerita Cheng, the CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth.

Here’s what they will discuss:

As the demand for impact investment opportunities continues to grow, so does the increased responsibility on advisers to develop stronger investor education programs, increase transparency and adopt more precisely-defined metrics for measuring impact. ESG and impact investors, primarily motivated by moving the needle on specific environmental, social and governance issues, while also pursuing financial returns are increasingly flexing their purchasing power with advisers. It’s important therefore for investment advisers to understand that each client has views that are unique and diverse, requiring flexibility and customization to support each client’s goals. This panel will explore best in practice communication strategies for a more meaningful and effective client engagement experience.

As you can see, this conference is focused on Financial Advisors and other financial professionals. Click Here to register. And when you use code ESGFRIEND you can get a $50 discount. Please feel free to share this using the links below if you know anyone who would be interested in attending, and use the hashtag #INimpact so InvestmentNews knows you’re coming!

Igniting Impact

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The new trailer for the film Igniting Impact debuted last week at the United Nations! If you would like to screen the full version of the film at an event, click here for the Igniting Impact Screening Info, or visit http://impactu.film/ to learn more.

Impact with Purpose

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How you invest your money makes a difference. This documentary was created to inspire investors to consider impact investing – investments that generate a measurable positive impact alongside a traditional financial return. The latest cut of this film features a variety of experts, including:

• Peter Turkson, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

• Jon Hale, global head of sustainability research at Morningstar, Inc.

• Hazel Henderson, futurist, economist and author – one of the founders of the movement to responsible investing.

• Judith Karl, executive secretary of the U.N. Capital Development Fund

• Jonas Kron, senior vice president and director of shareholder advocacy at Trillium Asset Management

• John Streur, president and CEO of Calvert Research and Management

“Impact” also follows the entrepreneurial journeys of David Katz, founder and CEO of The Plastic Bank, and George Taylor, CEO of TRU Colors Brewing Company.

David and George embody the artistry that takes place when entrepreneurism aligns with purpose.

You can learn more about this project at http://impactu.film/, join the ImpactU community at https://impactu.me/, and get more resources about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through the ImpactU Foundation at https://impactu.foundation/ 

Max Mintz

Common Interests Model Portfolio Featured in Citywire RIA Magazine

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As a part of our commitment to expanding the reach of sustainable investing, I sat down with Citywire RIA Magazine to talk about how we approach the design and implementation of our portfolios. We talked about our Investment Philosophy, the investment models we offer to clients, and how we add new investments to our portfolios.

We even shared our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) screened Moderate risk model with them so other advisors get tosee how we think about these issues.

We hope that by giving interviews like this one, we can encourage the larger community of financial advisors to take a harder look at investments that use Environmental, Social, and Governance factors. The interview also includes a discussion on the different approaches we take when clients come to us with specific requests, like Faith Based investing or Fossil Fuel Free Investing. If you’re curious, or would like to read more about our approaches, we’ve done a great blog post on the subject already!

Robert Goellner

Stewardship and Investing

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My Partner and I are proud to be Social Entrepreneurs. Therefore, every day we talk about Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing (SRI).  We also talk about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) screening and scoring.  More importantly, we talk about managing risk, rates of return, portfolio growth and retirement planning. That’s our business! Making money for our clients in a Sustainable and Responsible way.

All of these subjects come from the same source – STEWARDSHIP!  That’s ultimately the foundation of the discussion.  We can ask ourselves: “Will future generations have what they need to live a full and productive life in the future?”  The answer is evidenced by each of us, every day.  The decisions we make in our daily lives tell our story; good or bad. We will follow this truth: If it is to be it is up to me!

Stewardship means mindfully behaving in such a way that if everyone did the same, we would all be better off and our future would be bright!

How can we do this stewardship thing?  First, we must learn about the Circular Economy where there is NO Waste!  Second, we should  examine the supply chain management of corporations we buy things from. This will uncover hidden problems or harmful behaviors along the chain. The United Nations gives us a very good road map. They created the Sustainable Development Goals. They speak directly to the subject of Stewardship and show us what needs to be solved!

We can also turn to Shareholder Advocacy.  This actually FORCES Stewardship when needed!  This involves posting resolutions for corporate shareholders to vote on, in terms of continuing or stopping various corporate behaviors. This is the ‘walk softly, but carry a Big Stick’ approach to stewardship. Believe it or not, aberrant corporate behavior can be, and IS, changed every year by shareholder vote, or the threat of a shareholder vote!  We can make a difference!

There is definitely a need for an overwhelming theme of planetary stewardship.  Fortunately it is built into the SRI/ESG world by definition.  I think we should actually start taking credit for it! My first step is to start actually using the STEWARDSHIP word aloud in public.

Max Mintz

InvestmentNews Impact Forum

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We are excited to announce our collaboration with the United Nations and InvesmentNews to host the first Impact Forum on December 4-5, 2019 in New York City.

The vision for this event is huge. On Day One: A film festival will share the stories and stoke the inspiration. The next day, thought-leaders and experts will share strategies and insight for turning inspiration into impact investing action. We hope you will join us!

This event started with a film: Impact, a documentary. This film is the model, where we show the impact our investment dollars can have on the world. Now we want to take this global and highlight a story for each of the Sustainable Development Goals. Everyone we’ve shown the first film to has had a personal connection to the stories, and through this project we hope to show how, no matter which goal is most important to you, your investments can make a difference.

I’m proud to serve on the advisory board for this event! We have assembled a team of specialists in Impact Investing to build a world class event, but we need your help.

To pull this off, we need a community of ambassadors who want to help the financial advice industry make good investments that also make the world a better place.

Here’s how you can help:

We are looking for filmmakers, stories, attendees, sponsors, speakers and advocates. Fill out this short form if you would like to be involved with the event. Our partners at ImpactAssets (our high-impact Donor Advised Fund) are also helping us organize film ideas. They’ve created this form to accept submissions.

Robert Goellner

2019 Flourish Prize Finalists

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Last year, we gave an interview to a group of students from Rutgers University working on the Aim2Flourish class offered at the Rutgers Business School. As a part of this class, students must select a business working to promote one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and these students chose to write about us. Their article, Investing for a Reason Beyond Money, was selected as a finalist for the 2019 Flourish Prize!

We’re in great company! The 76 Finalists for the 2019 Flourish Prizes represent stories from the more than 800 AIM2Flourish.com stories published in 2018, spanning the globe and showcasing business innovations for each of the 17 UN Global Goals. The 2019 Flourish Prizes Finalists include 76 stories from 30 universities in 16 countries under the guidance of 35 professors. The businesses profiled come from 27 countries and more than 19 industries. We’re proud to say we even know a few of them!

The prize-winning businesses, professors, universities, and students will be honored during the 2019 Flourish Prizes virtual celebration, taking place online the week of May 6–10. Follow the awards ceremony and see photos and videos from the winners by following #FlourishPrizes2019 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. We hope you’ll join us. 

AIM2Flourish is the world’s first higher-education curriculum, story platform, and prize for the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and business’ role in achieving them. The program is an initiative of the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at the Weatherhead School of Management — Case Western Reserve University. For more information about AIM2Flourish, please contact Claire Sommer, AIM2Flourish Director at Claire@AIM2Flourish.com or +1 917-834-0323.

The Center for Effective Altruism
Max Mintz

Effective Impact Investing

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I’m excited to announce a blog post written in collaboration with Gabe Rissman of Stake and the Real Impact Tracker, on the Effective Altruism forum, entitled Effective Impact Investing.

A little background, as this links to a fairly obscure corner of the internet: in the distant past, I was a Philosophy major at Rutgers University where I became involved in the philosophy club and founded the Rutgers Undergraduate Philosophy Journal. Through my studies, I became involved with a group called Giving What We Can, which examined both the impact of our charitable dollars (much of which go to administrative overhead at various charities and is otherwise not put to work as donors expect). Bob and I have since been back to Rutgers to speak with this group. 

While I was studying Philosophy, my partner, Bob Goellner (then my financial advisor) introduced me to Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing, and how we can use Environmental, Social and Governance factors in the investment process, and I was struck by how I could align my investments with my values and use the power of money to create change in the world. I became a financial advisor due to my desire to help people plan for their futures and the legacy they leave behind – because future generations depend on the decisions we make today, both in terms of their finances and the impact of our investments on the planet and society.

At the end of last year, a philosopher named Hauke Hillebrandt made an argument that Impact investing is only a good idea in specific circumstances (originally titled: “Donating effectively is usually better than Impact Investing”) which I felt compelled to respond to. I’m proud of our response, and very pleased to work with Gabe, as his training at Yale and mine at Rutgers complemented each other nicely. The work we’ve produced together is written in an academic style and references a number of other academic studies as the forum it’s posted in requires, but it represents how we think about impact in our portfolios, and especially how much we value Shareholder Advocacy, where we use the power of active ownership to engage with the companies our clients own in their portfolios to change corporate behavior.

I invite you to read our entire post, and send us comments! We want to know what you think. The post can be found here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Rkr2W8ADSGwWXfRBF/effective-impact-investing

You can learn more about Gabe and his work here.