Millennials and Impact Investing: A Research Report by Bank Of The West And Toniic
The Family Wealth Advisors (FWA) department of Bank of the West Wealth Management has collaborated with Toniic, a global action community for impact investors, to write a report on millennials and impact investing.
Impact investing is the practice of investing for the dual purpose of generating financial returns on investment as well as creating a positive social impact. FWA collaborated on the report and hosted a client event to highlight its capabilities in the area of impact investing, which is a key component of the group’s overall strategic philanthropy and purpose investing (SPPI) offering.
Using insights from a survey of 58 millennials on six continents, the report delves into topics such as millennials’ interest in impact investing, what kind of impact investments they make, and what challenges they face along the way. The trends shed light on various ways that families and advisors can collaborate with millennials to achieve their impact investing objectives.
“A key finding in the report is that impact investing is growing amongst millennials,” said Steve Prostano, head of Family Wealth Advisors at Bank of the West. “In fact, millennials more than any generation make investment decisions based on their social, political and environmental values.” Nearly 4 out of 5 respondents (79%) described themselves as impact investors, meaning they seek both financial and social impact returns. Impact investing themes of particular interest to millennials include energy, agriculture, and the environment.
The report also explored various challenges millennial investors face. The most common issue reported was a lack of knowledge and access to information about impact investing area. “This presents an opportunity for FWA to play an important role in improving investor education,” Steve Prostano said. “By collaborating with organizations like Toniic and hosting educational series, we can provide the resources that investors need to make informed decisions about impact investing.”
“As the millennial generation reach their prime working and spending years, their impact on philanthropy is enormous. Their approach and perspective is, mostly, unique to their experience of coming of age in a time of technological innovation, globalization and economic disruption.”
- Julie Shafer, Head of Strategic Philanthropy & Purpose Investing, Bank of the West
FWA and Toniic recently held an event at the San Francisco Wealth Management Center to share key findings of the report with clients. Over 50 people attended the event, which included a panel focused on how millennials are influencing the future of investing. Julie Shafer moderated the panel, which featured Andi Kleissner of the KL Felicitas Foundation, Jenna Nicholas of Phoenix Global Impact, and Adam Millard of 3fold Partners as speakers.