Paul Hilton, CFA, chair of the US SIF Board of Directors and partner and portfolio manager at Trillium Asset Management, sees these trends developing when wealth is changing hands within families. “This has been an area of growth for our business,” said Hilton. He explained that when firms working with family offices are unable to build an SRI strategy to meet a family’s needs, they work collaboratively with firms like Trillium.
Conway reinforced the idea of collaboration, explaining that family offices, generally private in the past about approaches to investing, are developing more shared knowledge on impact investing strategies in part due to family office associations hearing from members about the need for collaboration.
For advisors who work with family offices, US SIF provides valuable research and access to members that include investment management and advisory firms, research firms, broker-dealers and RIAs, community investing organizations, pension funds and foundations.
“It’s very difficult for a small family office to learn about portfolio strategies, advocacy and policy issues in this field,” said Hilton, “and being part of our network gives them a range of tools and relationships that makes becoming a leader in this area easier.”
According to Clayman, there have been more opportunities in recent years for family offices to come together in highly confidential settings to talk about various issues, including investment strategies. This is where best practices are being developed that will help family offices become leaders in sustainable and responsible investing.
Paul Ellis founded Paul Ellis Consulting to work with financial advisors who want to integrate sustainable and impact investment strategies for their clients.