Investors who want to make money while sticking to personal values are growing in number. Social investors have typically used screens and shareholder advocacy in their approach. Now, many are learning about and investing in community economic development.

By expanding both scale and scope, community development financial institutions are starting to interest more investors.

New estate-planning and charitable-giving instruments can make resources available to community development groups and other nonprofits immediately. Have your donors heard?

If asset managers provided more information on community development finance vehicles to socially responsible investors, many more people would choose to earn returns while helping local communities.

Public pension funds can play a role not only in ensuring retirees’ economic security, but also in promoting local economic-development goals. That’s why increasing numbers of elected officials and trustees are investigating “economically targeted investment.”