I was inspired; I was impressed; and I was informed by the High Water Women Foundation’s 5th annual Investing for Impact Symposium in New York City. There’s something thrilling about being in a room full of high powered women working in finance that gave me hope for the world.

When I returned to Minnesota, I was delighted to see Impact Alpha’s editor, David Bank's question about the leadership role women are playing in transforming finance, "What is it about women and impact investing?"

Our leadership in this burgeoning movement doesn’t surprise me at all. Women have always been hybrid thinkers because we’ve always had to juggle competing priorities. After managing child rearing, aging parents, pet care, household responsibilities and careers (usually all at the same time), we’ve become masters at achieving multiple priorities at once ...

Women leading change matters, and our impact is visible. There are more and more impact investing initiatives that invest in and empower women. From the explosion of Gender Lens Investing — which emerged from the SRI practices pioneered by Amy Domini — to Calvert Impact Capital’s Women Investing In WomenInitiative (WIN WIN) — which invests in women globally — to InFaith Community Foundation’s new WomenInvest fund, there are more opportunities now than ever to invest in women.

Read the full article about women and impact investing by Susan Hammel at Minnesota Council on Foundations.