Insights - Natural Investments

Investing with Intent – Winter 2026

This quarter’s issue of Investing with Intent examines how values-aligned investing is responding to today’s political, economic, and regulatory shifts—exploring cooperative economic models in Italy and Spain, the growing role of judicial action as shareholder advocacy and the evolving case for socially responsible investing, and what market signals, AI disruption, and tariffs mean for Main Street and Wall Street alike. Download a full PDF copy here: Investing with Intent Winter 2026.

Natural Investments January 5, 2026

Market Report – Winter 2026

Despite every market indicator pointing toward the need for a major market correction, the U.S. stock market continued to rise in the fourth quarter of 2025, up 2.4 percent at the close and 17 percent for the year. For the quarter, large cap stocks rose 2.7 percent, small cap stocks rose 2.2 percent, foreign stocks grew 4.9 percent, and U.S. bonds rose 1.4 percent. As of December, the rate of inflation was about 2.7 percent.

Kulu Maphalala January 5, 2026

What Can We Learn from Cooperative Economies in Italy & Spain?

I recently returned from a delegation to Emilia-Romagna in Italy and the Basque Country in Spain, organized by the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI). CCI’s initiative, called Reimagining Scale, brought together a group of U.S.-based solidarity economy practitioners ranging from academics to organizers to investors. Emilia-Romagna is a region in Italy with a decades-old robust

Tiffany Brown January 2, 2026

Rewriting the Rules: Aligning Profit and Purpose with SRI

For anyone following the financial news cycle, it’s hard to miss the increasingly heated debate around sustainable, responsible, and impact (SRI) investing. Detractors—often speaking from an ideological position on the right—argue that SRI promotes progressive values in corporate boardrooms. Supporters counter that these strategies have generally performed in line with traditional portfolios while helping to

Dan Carreno January 2, 2026

Shareholder Advocacy: A Shift to Judicial Activism

With Congress unable to check the overreach and illegal actions of the current administration due to Republican Congressional acquiescence, the judicial system is now the primary venue for seeking limits on excessive executive branch authority. At our annual company retreat this September in Santa Fe, N.M., those gathered had several conversations about “meeting the moment”

Michael Kramer January 2, 2026

In The News – Winter 2026

This quarter’s In the News recaps reporting on how investors, institutions, and communities are responding to today’s political and regulatory climate—from the resilience of sustainable investing and renewed momentum in climate tech to the growing role of community-owned real estate and rising concerns about transparency and accountability in financial markets.

Sylvia Panek January 2, 2026

Planting Parsley, Building Power: Reflections on the Black Farmer Fund’s Abundance in Autumn Festival

The last weekend in September, I drove from Washington, D.C. to upstate New York for the Black Farm Fund’s (BFF) annual Abundance in Autumn Festival, a special event for BFF’s community of farmers, funders, and investors. The event, held at the queer- and BIPOC-owned Rise & Root Farm, was a day of planting, listening, eating,

Nyia Hawkins January 2, 2026

Investing with Intent – Fall 2025

This quarter’s issue of the Investing with Intent newsletter explores values-driven divestment in a turbulent political climate, the meaning of conviction in impact investing, the challenges of AI and copyright, and rising opportunities in renewable energy and shareholder advocacy.

Natural Investments October 3, 2025

Market Report – Fall 2025

Despite continued threats of tariffs, the U.S. soared in the third quarter of 2025, reaching record highs and rising about eight percent for the period and up 35 percent since its low in April. These record returns have, once again, been achieved in large part by artificial intelligence companies and tech in general. Despite headwinds

Kulu Maphalala October 3, 2025

Encouraging Trends: The Highest Levels of Renewable Energy Adoption

Despite attempts by the current administration to accelerate recent fossil fuel production, the International Energy Association found in its annual Electricity 2025 report that coal’s share of total generation is set to drop below 33 percent for the first time in the last 100 years. The IEA also found that solar PV and wind energy

Michael Kramer October 3, 2025

The Meaning of Conviction

On Wall Street, the word “conviction” refers to one’s confidence that a given investment will be profitable. For example, a “high conviction” investment is one that an investor believes will ultimately be highly profitable and is worth holding—even at the cost of enduring losses along the way. Likewise, an investor could easily get shaken out

James Frazier October 3, 2025