Topic: Cities

River in Maine

How to Get an Impact Investor's Attention

Jeffrey Conti
Conservation managers and entrepreneurs who are looking to make their projects stand out as investment opportunities should be sure to supply the information that investors want. Impact investing experts interviewed by Conservation Finance Network expressed a surprising lack of interest in most impact metrics and measurements aside from carbon sequestration. They instead indicated that they prioritize honest assessments of risk. They also value an understanding of how an investment opportunity can fit into a larger portfolio.

Impact Investors Discuss How They View Conservation Investments

Jeffrey Conti
There is a growing gap between available impact capital and conservation investments. This has become a major focal point for investment professionals in the field. One reason for this trend may be that conservation investments are not meeting investor expectations due to a lack of quality opportunities.
Plover

New Jersey Shields Its Fragile Shoreline Ecosystems

Kat Friedrich
Among the piping plovers and marsh grasses of New Jersey’s scenic coast, environmentalists and communities are busy creating green infrastructure to shield the shorelines from storm damage while supporting local economies. The Coastal Resilience Collaborative, the New Jersey Resilient Coastlines Initiative, and the NJ Climate Adaptation Alliance are bringing financial and tactical resources to bear on restoring reefs, wetlands, marshes and dunes.
USDA-funded water project in Oklahoma

Conservation Partnerships with Water Utilities

Eve Boyce
This article by Eve Boyce and Marcy Lyman is part of the Conservation Finance Network Toolkit, a resource designed for professionals who want to learn or communicate about the industry. In an increasing number of communities across the country, utilities are working with conservation groups to ensure the ecosystem services provided by healthy watersheds are protected and maintained. This strategy doesn’t simply provide cost savings to water companies. It can also create a new source of funding and constituencies for land conservation.
Girl working on stormwater project in Oklahoma

New Horizons for Market-Based Stormwater Management

Abby Martin
The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that communities must invest $150 billion nationally in the next 20 years in infrastructure to effectively manage stormwater. A 2017 report from the Willamette Partnership outlines economic instruments that can drive investment or create action to meet federal and state environmental goals. Incentives, subsidies, trading and mitigation hold particular promise.

Redefining Business with Environmental Restoration - An Op-Ed by Andrew Wu

Simply put, business in its current form is a disaster for the environment. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Imagine businesses that make money by improving the land and communities around them. Imagine an economy that rewards those who nourish and restore the environment, instead of those who plunder and degrade it. What would those businesses look like?

Investors and Philanthropists Can Partner to Finance Conservation

Nathalie Woolworth
LegacyWorks Group was founded to help donors and investors who are interested in achieving community and conservation goals to mobilize their capital in highly collaborative, impactful ways. In this interview, LegacyWorks Group’s founder, Carl Palmer, discusses the mindsets that allow philanthropic giving and impact investing to expand their horizons, accelerate their results, and reach broader goals.