1. Format Dynamics :: CleanPrint :: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15472249 Page 1 of 3
business planet and profit, and used his contacts in music to
pitch his idea to Lilith Tour co- founder Sarah
McLachlan, who revived the tour this year and will
I4c Campaign perform with others, including Sheryl Crow. About $1
from each ticket sale is invested in three companies
and one nonprofit organization chosen by Verbeck
invests in e and others. The ventures also are promoting
themselves at the concerts. (Karl Gehring, The Denver
Post)
nvironmental, Casey Verbeck's passions include music,
social change business and environmental and social causes.
His new venture, the Boulder- based i4c
Campaign, ties them together in an unlikely but
promising way.
By Greg Griffin
The Denver Post The i4c Campaign is raising capital and
awareness for ventures focused on
Posted: 07/09/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT environmental and social change during the Lilith
Updated: 07/10/2010 01:14:38 AM MDT concert tour, which passes through Denver on
Tuesday.
Roughly $1 from each ticket sale is invested in
three companies and one nonprofit organization
chosen by Verbeck and organizers of the
female-oriented concert tour. The ventures also
are promoting themselves at the concerts.
Verbeck would not disclose the size of the
investment.
"The people who are truly tackling today's
biggest challenges are doing it through
entrepreneurship and collaboration," Verbeck
said. "People are realizing they can be
Casey Verbeck, above, had an idea for furthering his philanthropic and profitable."
fervor for music, business and environmental and
social causes. His Boulder- based i4c Campaign ties
them together in an unlikely but promising way. He Verbeck, who managed the Yonder Mountain
was looking to support young companies with String Band until he quit to help raise his children
sustainable models or "triple bottom lines" of people, a few years ago, said he is an entrepreneur at
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2. Format Dynamics :: CleanPrint :: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15472249 Page 2 of 3
heart. He was looking for a way to support young run multiple campaigns in association with music
companies with sustainable models or "triple festivals and large corporations and nonprofit
bottom lines" of people, planet and profit. organizations. He used his contacts in music to
pitch his idea to Lilith co-founder Sarah
A growing field of venture- capital and private- McLachlan, who revived the tour this year and
equity firms serves these businesses. Impact will perform with others, including Sheryl Crow.
investing, as it is called, is similar to socially
responsible investing but seeks out companies McLachlan quickly saw i4c's potential, he said.
targeting social and environmental problems
rather than screening out those deemed harmful. "Lilith gives these companies a very extended
platform to get their message to the masses
The Monitor Institute estimated last year that while also getting capital resources," Verbeck
impact investing could grow to $500 billion, or said.
roughly 1 percent of global managed assets,
within 10 years. The sector includes clean Greg Griffin: 303-954-1241 or
technology, microfinance and community ggriffin@denverpost.com
lending.
Four ventures
"Investors are seeking to proactively have a
positive return on their investment beyond just The i4c Campaign is providing capital and
their financial return," said Amit Bouri, director exposure to four environmentally and socially
of strategy and development for the New York- focused ventures selected from 128 applicants.
based Global Impact Investing Network. "Impact They are:
investing is a powerful complement to everything
that philanthropists and governments can do." To-Go Ware, a Berkeley, Calif.-based maker of
reusable utensils and storage containers to
Impact investing is primarily being driven by replace single-use plastics.
institutional and wealthy investors. The TIAA-
CREF pension fund, for example, has a $750 Alter Eco, a Paris company with U.S. operations
million impact-investment portfolio focusing on in San Francisco that imports 100 percent fair-
community banks, microfinance lenders and trade, organic and carbon-neutral food products.
green real- estate projects, Bouri said. But a few
organizations such as the Calvert Foundation ( Better World Books, a Mishawaka, Ind.-based
calvertfoundation.org) take investments from seller of used books online that has diverted
individuals. nearly 33 million pounds of books from landfills.
Verbeck's campaign is a new twist. He plans to Grameen America, a peer- lending microfinance
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3. Format Dynamics :: CleanPrint :: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15472249 Page 3 of 3
nonprofit organization based in Jackson Heights,
N.Y., that provides loans and other financial
services to poor Americans.
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