“If you are feeling that you are not powerful, you are wrong. You are very powerful just in and of yourself. And in community, it’s just multiplied.” – Missy Sue Mastel

Most people think impact investing is only for the ultra-wealthy. Missy Sue Mastel, a financial strategist with three decades in nonprofit capacity building, disagrees.

Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, welcome Missy to explore how everyday investors and retirees can drive meaningful change without writing a massive check. The conversation centers on what Missy calls “hypergrowth capitalism”: a system so focused on Q3-over-Q2 returns that no one stops to ask how much is enough, or what the money is actually for.

Her alternative framework begins with better questions. Missy cites the popular claim that women speak roughly 21,000 words a day compared to men’s 7,000 (a figure worth noting has been disputed by research). The point is that the conversations we choose to have carry real power, and directing some of them toward nonprofits, fund managers, and community organizations can matter more than most people realize.

The bridge she’s building is what she calls Sustain Exchange: connecting corporations that need sustainability credibility with nonprofits that need operational capacity and funding.

Retirees are a key piece of that puzzle. A retired doctor advising an under-resourced community health clinic, a former CFO helping a local nonprofit understand its balance sheet. That’s capacity building money alone can’t buy!

Even for those not ready to volunteer, choosing mutual funds aligned with your values amplifies the advocacy those funds carry into shareholder meetings. Your few thousand dollars may not move a corporation alone, but it adds weight to the voice of a fund that will.

As the saying goes, never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. (Margaret Mead)

Resources:

• ImpactNonProfits.co
• Missy Sue Mastel on LinkedIn