Private Wealth Management
Investment Capital
Investment capital is another powerful tool to influence positive environmental or social outcomes while simultaneously achieving risk-adjusted returns. Leveraging your investment capital in this way is a form of sustainable investing, which is a subset of traditional, market-rate investing that encompasses an array of tools and approaches. We believe this approach to investment capital can create a virtuous cycle of growing your wealth while also financing positive climate transition and inclusive growth outcomes.
Our wealth management business has seen client assets in sustainable strategies grow approximately 80x since 2015, and nearly 50% of our top clients are invested in sustainable strategies.1
Consider the following questions to identify ways to leverage your investment capital:
- Would you like your investment managers to emphasize specific sustainable investment criteria or themes?
- Are you interested in promoting diversity among capital market participants?
- If you invest in private markets, are you interested in companies with a positive environmental or social impact?
Investment Capital - In Action
In 2016, Goldman Sachs and the Blue Haven Initiative family office team partnered to identify best-in-class investment opportunities related to climate change, improving standards of living, creating economic opportunity, and delivering products and services cleanly and efficiently to underserved communities.
Blue Haven was founded by Liesel Pritzker Simmons and Ian Simmons with the explicit goal of making impact central to its public and private market investment strategy. The family office is one of the first in the United States to allocate 100% of its portfolio to environmental, social and governance (ESG) and impact investing. To date, in addition to allocating significant funds to market-rate investments aligned with its impact objectives, Blue Haven has successfully supplemented its market-rate ESG and impact investing work with philanthropic capital, focusing on initiatives that build the field of impact investing, unlock catalytic investments, and advance civic engagement in the United States.
Blue Haven’s experience deploying investment capital makes it an even more effective philanthropic partner as it evaluates grantmaking opportunities with the same rigor and care it would any investment opportunity.
Key Takeaway: Lessons from deploying one type of capital can be easily applied when utilizing another type of capital.
Investment Capital - In Action
Upon retiring as CEO of Microsoft in 2014, Steve Ballmer and his wife and long-time philanthropist Connie co-founded the Ballmer Group in 2015. The Ballmer Group focuses on improving economic mobility and opportunity for children and families in the United States. In 2022, Steve and Connie announced the Ballmer Group would invest $400 million across multiple organizations to focus on Black investment managers and Black businesses.
This commitment is unlike any other Steve and Connie have made through their philanthropy or personal investment portfolio. In a press release, Steve said: “This is an incredible opportunity to invest in an undercapitalized market,” noting that Black investment managers and Black entrepreneurs are underfunded relative to their white peers.
“We hope it will signal to other investors the value in giving Black investment managers access to capital. There are great people out there, and we are excited to catalyze this segment and look forward to excellent returns,” he added.
This approach aligns with Ballmer Group’s philanthropic focus of improving economic mobility in America.
“We know that systemic racial inequities impede access, opportunity and outcomes in economic mobility — especially for Black families and communities,” Connie said in the press release.
This investment thesis is built in part on the understanding that the vast majority of investment decisions are now made by white investment managers, leaving gaps in the market. Steve and Connie believe these gaps present a significant opportunity for private investors and wealth managers.
"We haven't traditionally focused on investments and private equity, but we are just incredibly excited to take this approach," Steve said.
Key Takeaway: Tackling an issue with investment capital can help align incentives and drive long-term positive impacts.
Last Revised: August 2024
[1] PWM Sustainable Solutions Group, as of March 2023. Top 100 clients of Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management determined by client account revenue.
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