Engaging the Ethical Consumer and Investor

The statistics laid out in chapter 2 illustrate the annual double-digit increases in dollars spent on ethical consumption and monies directed toward impact investing. Properly messaged and directed outreach will see these figures rise even higher. To date, social market enterprises and impact investing are understood by only a fraction of consumers. It is worth repeating that the issue here is not principled consumption (e.g., avoiding a certain food additive) or ethical investing (e.g., divestment from tobacco companies), but rather the proactive, forward-looking giving-through-buying and impact investing, both of which seek to shape the future through present actions. In both cases, the consumer willingly accepts a higher price (e.g., Fair Trades price premium) or a lower rate of return (e.g., an impact instrument with an environmental goal whose price history shows meager returns) in order to advance the social good. The distinction between avoidance of objectionable products and practices on one hand, and action embracing desired goods and services through outlays on the other is critical to appreciating the importance of each to a discussion of trends in philanthropy. Ethical consumption and ethical investing may be altruistic, but they are not philanthropic.