NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER | We’re Grateful To Do This Work
Hi friends,
As days become shorter and darker, there are still many points of light to feel grateful for (in this and every month).
At Modernist, we completed the B Corp recertification process (no small feat!), doubling down on our commitment to be a force of good within our industry…and our team exceeded our goals in the process! 💫 We also received a philanthropy award for aligning our Generosity Plan with Seeding Justice’s rad innovations (watch Georgia’s speech below).
We’re reveling in these recent wins and strategizing what’s ahead for the firm in 2024.
In gratitude and care,
Georgia + Team Modernist
investment insights
On the blog, we take a look at Q3 and dig into what to expect in Q4 and the beyond.
With a new year around the corner, we’re also asking ourselves: when it comes to inflation and a national debt downgrade, what should we be thinking about as investors and planners?
STRUCTURE YOUR WEALTH AROUND YOUR VALUES
We’re thrilled that Modernist was recertified as a B Corp… at 131.1, our highest score yet! We improved in Customer and Community — since our last assessment we’ve:
🐝 Implemented a purchasing program to support local suppliers with diverse ownership
🐝 Created a process to track workforce diversity
🐝 Conducted a pay equity analysis that has become policy
🐝 Updated our Investment Methodology to include practices to evaluate social and environmental criteria—helping us increase the % of ESG screened assets under management from 1-25% to 25-49%!
Huge high fives to Josh and Alejandra on our team for leading the recertification effort! 👏
modernist TAKES it outside
Modernist won an Innovation in Philanthropy award at PBJ’s recent Corporate Philanthropy Awards!
We were recognized as the first business to create a Donor-in-Movement Fund with Seeding Justice. Aligning with their radical approach to philanthropy is now a core structure of our Generosity Plan!
🎙 As Georgia shared from the stage:
“We know that most people with the means to be philanthropic are operating inside inequitable systems that are long overdue for reparations. What could we each do to rework our generosity? To start healing the inequitable structures inherent to American philanthropy?”
FUND YOUR HEROES
We love Portland’s Willamette Week Give!Guide, an annual drive to generosity using fun incentives to discover and then donate to local nonprofits, with a focus on cultivating a new generation of donors.
Donate now through 12/31/23 to win fun prizes!
There are so many struggles and injustices that need support right now. We recommend finding an issue that resonates with YOU and then taking action.
Here are some resources to help guide you:
💛 Charity Rating has information on top humanitarian aid orgs in Israel/Palestine
💛 Independent Journalism Fund from the rad folks at the Tides Foundation
💛 Our 2022 blog post on resources to support Ukraine (thank you Katia!)
A Song That is Really About CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM
The Flaming Lips' classic concept album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots tells the story of Yoshimi the kung-fu master who battles the Pink Robots to save all of humanity. Sounds like a B Corp fighting the battle of conscious capitalism to us!
Oh, Yoshimi, they don't believe me / But you won’t let those robots eat me
Yoshimi, they don't believe me / But you won't let those robots defeat me
Those evil-natured robots (I'll get you, Yoshimi) / They're programmed to destroy us
She's gotta be strong to fight them / So she's takin‘ lots of vitamins
Also from this album: one of the sweetest love songs out there, Do You Realize? Enjoy!