From plastic-bag bans to fair-trade coffee, consumers’ tastes are changing as their sense of connection to the world and its people grows. These days, that connection has even begun to alter where and how investors use their money.

Gino Dante Borges (PhD LA’03), partner and director of impact at OpenPath Investments in Truckee, California, says plus and minus signs based on the performance of a day’s trades no longer drive all those in the financial world. “I find work more inspiring when you connect multiple dots in the ecosystem,” Borges explains. “I’m most enlivened when the disciplinary walls start coming down.”

In the case of OpenPath, connections are made between investors and communities through the Urban Village program, a property-management portfolio spread across eight states that focuses not just on environmentally friendly builds but also on community living with shared services.

Residents often swap babysitting hours for music lessons, grow vegetable gardens together, teach and participate in health and wellness programs, and share job opportunities at village gatherings. “In the way communities are designed now, nobody meets each other, and that type of social capital just stays there, trapped,” says Borges. “We work with accredited investors, high–net worth individuals, family offices, investment funds, and foundations to convert ordinary apartment complexes into thriving communities.” 

Investors receive impact reports that lay out the social, economic, and environmental returns of the Urban Village to which they contribute. Sara Mossman, Urban Village program director, says part of the beauty of the approach is the way it changes based on each community’s needs and input. “As we hear ideas and feedback, we can better suit our decisions to meet needs,” Mossman says. “For instance, an underused dog park that was too small and too sunny in the summer became a successful and fully utilized community garden based directly off resident opinions
and observations.”

“There’s a whole group of people who see the importance of doing good with their money in a way that may not be only a charitable donation.” 

—Gino Dante Borges

Peter Slaugh, founder and managing director at OpenPath, says the triple-bottom-line approach of financial, social, and environmental impact resonates with the company’s customers. “The world is growing up in some ways in terms of investor capital,” he says. “There’s a whole group of people who see the importance of doing good with their money in a way that may not be only a charitable donation.” 

Borges, who came from the more traditional financial world and now contributes to the big picture at OpenPath, is looking for investors who share his mindset. “I found the existing way of working with money to be uninspiring,” he says. “How you spend your money can make an impact on your local economy. Ours is a way to bring awareness to investing so you can see how it affects the social and natural world.”