Alliance Interview: Hedge Funds and Impact

The reaction to the paper actually reminds me of some of the conversations I got into 20 years ago when I was founding director of what became REDF [Roberts Enterprise Development Foundation] and we first started exploring how to use investment strategies to create community impact. I remember at the time many traditional foundation folks objected to the idea that you could use modified venture capital approaches within philanthropy to create some kind of positive good. When I was circulating the draft of this current paper regarding the concept and emerging practice of sustainable hedge fund investing, some readers were saying ‘You really should not do this. Everybody knows that hedge funds are evil and pretty much the pinnacle of mercenary capitalism.’ The original paper (Beyond Good Versus Evil) presents my ideas and this interview frames the topic.