LEE OUTLOOKS AND THRIVABLE WORLD PRESENT
Life-Aligned Investment:
Conversations in Action
Discover together what is required to shift the practice of investing to be in service of a thriving future. Go beyond the tagline of ‘people, profit and planet’, and explore what this vision could mean for you—both in your current role and in shaping the future.
About the programme
You are personally invited to participate in a handpicked community of practice, comprised of investors, fund managers, and experts from related disciplines. Together you will form a cohort of peers who understand that the field of investment must undergo a profound transformation, as part of a wider response to the global polycrisis.
The Life-Aligned Investment CoP is one of two programmes for the investment community that is currently being co-created by Dark Matter Labs. The second programme, the R* Capital Allocators Accelerator, is designed to accelerate a cohort of 10 nextgen allocator teams to design and raise new funds based on radically different practices that revolve around Recognition, Response, Repair, Reconstitution, Recode, and Regenerative Transition. The two programmes are deeply aligned in terms of content and we are designing for deliberate touchpoints between cohorts to explore synergies. Stay tuned for separate communication and information about the R* Accelerator soon.
This programme, the Life-Aligned Investment CoP is designed for current allocators who want to uncover new insights together and integrate those back into their current investment practices. It emerged from the intersection of two bodies of work: A set of economic shifts being proposed and actively tested by Dark Matter Labs (LEE ↗), and a set of core practice areas articulated by Thrivable World.
This Community of Practice offers important guidance for envisioning and enacting life-aligned transformation. It will:
- Frame the shift that is needed;
- Pose important questions to unlock potential;
- Gather vital resources, including pioneering examples of change.
To activate these possibilities the CoP will be a thoughtfully curated “action research” collective. Through a facilitated process of shared learning, this collective will integrate (1) cutting edge concepts, (2) pioneering industry examples, and (3) the insights all participants generate together. With a bias towards practical application, the programme will support seasoned professionals from the investment community with opportunities to pilot new approaches. By openly sharing our discoveries with the world, we will develop more viable pathways for you individually and for the field of investment more broadly.
You will benefit from clear personal and professional benefits, as well as working together in service of the greater good. For example, you will:
- Learn life-aligned economic principles: gain insights from regenerative economists and living systems experts on macro and micro implications of the necessary transition;
- Discover innovative business cases, instruments and approaches: be inspired by the latest examples in innovative investment;
- Help generate new insights: participate in generative exploration of the shifts in thinking and practice that are needed;
- Identify opportunities to innovate in your context: receive support in creating and testing new approaches tailored to your context;
- Join a community: connect with a supportive cohort of forward-looking peers for mutual learning and the emergence of potential synergies;
- Create a legacy: tangibly contribute to pioneering approaches in investing in ways that matter deeply.
Why this programme?
Our economic systems are failing to serve the interests of our living planet and the great majority of those who inhabit it. Our belief is that, as a driving force of our economies, investing must be reconceived if it is to fully support life’s ability to thrive – in other words, if it is to have a regenerative effect on people, place and planet. But humanity doesn’t have time for all of us to find our way separately. This is a time when shared stewardship is needed.
We will contribute to innovation across the field of investment by exploring key questions such as:
- Valuation Methodologies: how can we incorporate social and ecological values into our investment decisions?
- Operating Principles: what processes and principles underpin systemic investment?
- Structures and Asset Types: how must funds evolve to support long-term investment?
- Exits and Distribution Methods: what values and calculations align with a thriving future?
- Legal Contracts: what changes are needed in how we relate to others?
The volume of education has increased and continues to increase, yet so do pollution, exhaustion of resources, and the dangers of ecological catastrophe. If still more education is to save us, it would have to be education of a different kind: an education that takes us into the depth of things.
E F Schumacher, Small is Beautiful
How it works
Introducing Our Year-Long Programme: Life-Aligned Investment
Programme Start: January 2025
Pre-Programme Webinar: October and November 2024
Join us for a hands-on workshop to design and customize the program content tailored to your needs.
Experience a curated process that will convene a cohort of forward-thinking, knowledgeable peers who can contribute to this shared intention and exploration.
Tangibly, this curated community of learning, discovery and practice will feature:
Monthly Online Workshops: engage in dynamic, interactive sessions that deepen your understanding and enhance your skills. 10 three-hour online workshops over the course of a year, with a pause over the months of July and August. Additionally, we will create sub-groups at the beginning of the year so you can work with peers who have similar issues and themes to explore.
Each workshop will consist of:
- Expert Content and Teaching: engage with practitioners from Dark Matter Labs, and gain insights from Thrivable World’s principles, frameworks and practices for stewarding living systems (including organisations and complex stakeholder ecosystems).
- Facilitation: A co-creative process hosted by Thrivable World to ensure maximum relevance to your context and to the broader field of investing, generating new insights through conversation.
- Insights and inspirations: Gain new perspectives from pioneering case studies and from each other.
- Practical Application: An orientation towards action and experimentation, developing new processes, structures and tools. Apply new frameworks and insights to your own work and share the results as part of the collective learning and discovery process.
Ongoing Support: Benefit from a dedicated team that will compile essential resources and facilitate meaningful conversations, as well as compiling research insights and developing promising new tools to share with the global investing community. Expect a value of 50 hours of work per month from the diverse team hosting this enquiry.
Contributions: we will be co-funding the programme with an investment of our time and network connections. We invite participants to contribute your expertise and unique perspectives to make this happen. The nominal financial contribution we ask you to make, to confirm your commitment to the programme, is based on a minimum fixed fee, in addition to a percentage of assets under management if you are managing or deploying capital. Monthly fees are as follows:
- Min. monthly fee for individuals: $195 USD
- Min. monthly fee for investors: $335 USD
We also offer sponsorship opportunities. Please contact us at leeinvestment@darkmatterlabs.org for more information.
What shift for investment practices ?
The diagram illustrates a diagnostic process that can be continuously adjusted as the landscape changes:
A. Orientation question: what shift or change to investment do we want to see?
B. Looking for leverage points in the current system;
C. Identifying things that we can already contribute e.g. tools, relationships, frameworks, research;
D. Mapping out possible mid-term pathways that we can start to work towards
E. Developing a vision for longer-term pathways for a new investment paradigm;
F. Highlighting practical points of intervention over different time horizons to focus our efforts.
Who is this for?
The programme is for you if:
- You have been looking for ways to change how investment is made and managed but are looking for concrete examples to push boundaries and answer specific questions.
- You want your life, money, and efforts to leave a positive legacy in the world.
- You are concerned about the polycrisis humanity faces and understand the need to shift money, power, and priorities.
- You worry about the future of your children and sometimes question if you are doing enough.
- You believe that sustainability, ESG, triple bottom line, and impact investing, while well-intentioned, are not sufficient.
- You recognize that despite significant investments in climate and biodiversity, we are still emitting more carbon and destroying more habitats.
- You feel that traditional impact measurements might not be effective because, despite your responsibility for delivering impact, you often lack direct control over it and face challenges in measuring and reporting it accurately, therefore you sense a need for something different.
- You’re curious about “regeneration” but are unsure what it entails or how it works.
- You have complex questions without simple answers.
- You value personal and professional growth through conversations with like-minded peers.
- You’re open to questioning core assumptions about your work, yourself, and the world.
- You’re genuinely committed to integrating the learnings that are generated through this CoP back into your professional practices.
FAQ
Q1: What is the duration of the programme? A: The programme runs for a full year, starting in January 2025 and ending in December 2025. There will be a two-month break period in the summer.
Q2: When does the programme begin? A: The programme officially begins in January 2025. However, there will be preliminary workshops in October and November 2024 to design and customize the programme content. We urge you to come and share your perspectives and your needs.
Q3: What happens at the pre-programme workshops in October and November 2024? A: The workshops hands-on sessions where participants will help design and tailor the programme content to meet their specific needs and interests. Feel free to attend one or both. A: The workshops hands-on sessions where participants will help design and tailor the programme content to meet their specific needs and interests. Feel free to attend one or both.
Q4: What type of content and teaching will be provided? A: Participants will receive expert content and teaching from Dark Matter Labs on systemic thinking and economic theory, as well as insights from Thrivable World on living systems principles, frameworks and practices within enterprise contexts.
Q5: How often will workshops be held? A: Monthly online workshops will be held throughout the year. Each workshop is 3 hours long, from 12 PM to 3 PM Eastern Time.
Q7: Is there any content provided and time commitment expected between sessions? A: Yes, there will be additional material shared between sessions. Additionally, we will create sub-groups at the beginning of the year so you can work with peers who have similar issues and themes to explore.
Q8: How can I apply for the programme? A: You can apply by writing to leeinvestment@darkmatterlabs.org.
Q9: What is the cost of the programme? A: Financial contribution is based on a min fixed fee, in addition to a percentage of assets under management if you are managing or deploying capital.
Min. monthly fee for investors: $335 USD + % AUM
Min. monthly fee for individuals: $195 USD
The programme fees will be covered through monthly payments.
Q10: How can I stay updated on the programme details? A: Subscribe to our newsletter by writing at leeinvestment@darkmatterlabs.org. and follow us on social media for the latest updates, application details, and programme announcements.
Nathalia Del Moral Fleury
Nathalia has 19 years of experience in business strategy and transformation. She holds two master’s degrees: the first in Business Management from the Sauder School of Business (UBC), and the second in Regenerative Economics from Schumacher College, UK. Her latest experience involved co-creating and deploying an impact investing fund across Canada, France, and Mexico. Prior to this, she served as the general manager of Yves Rocher for North America, managing 450 employees and overseeing end-to-end operations.
Nathalia is an advocate for life-enabling economic principles. Examples of her involvement include her role as one of three seats on Group Rocher’s Sustainability Committee, as well as the launch of the BCorp certification process for the American subsidiary.
Emily Harris
Emily is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the ICAEW. She also holds an MA in Regenerative Economics (Distinction) from Schumacher College and a BSc in Medical Sciences from Imperial College. She originally trained with Deloitte in London and was a manager in their Big Ticket Restructuring Team during the 2008 global financial crisis. After leaving Deloitte Emily spent 11 years running her own consultancy business which took her all over the world and included a number of international CFO positions.
Emily currently leads the Next Economics Lab and stewards the overall finance and economic innovation work for Dark Matter Labs.
Michelle Holliday
Michelle is a consultant, facilitator, author and researcher. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Marketing and a Bachelor’s Degree in Russian Studies, and has worked and lived in 19 cities. Her work centres around “thrivability” — a set of perspectives and practices based on a view of organizations and communities as dynamic, self-organizing living systems. Michelle brings people together and helps them to discover ways they can feel more alive, connect more meaningfully with each other, and serve life more powerfully and effectively through their collective action. Through her practice she invites people into the informed intention and practice of stewarding life, because in her view nothing could be more important.
Michelle’s research, perspectives and practical experience are brought together in the highly acclaimed book, The Age of Thrivability: Vital Perspectives and Practices for a Better World, as well as in a popular TEDx talk and an online slideshow with close to 65,000 views.
Indy Johar
Indy is an architect by training and a maker by practice, he is a Senior Innovation Associate with the Young Foundation. He, amongst other organisations – co-founded Impact Hub Birmingham and Open Systems Lab, was a member of the RSA’s Inclusive Growth Commission and a good growth advisor to the Mayor of London. He is a explorative practitioner in the means of system change & the dark matter design of civic infrastructure finance, outcomes, and governance. Indy is a Director of 00 and Dark Matter Laboratories.