Faith-Driven Asset Manager Interview Series: An Interview with Robin John of Eventide Asset Management
March 25, 2024
We at Cornerstone Management are pleased to release the third installment of our Faith-Driven Asset Manager Interview series. In this series, we are speaking to those leading the way in making Biblically Responsible Investing strategies available to investors. Winters Richwine, Chief Operating Officer of Cornerstone Management, spoke with Robin John, CEO and Founding Member of Eventide Asset Management. We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Eventide’s 15th anniversary was last year. What was the biggest inspiration in launching the firm?
Eventide exists to honor God and serve our clients by investing in companies that create compelling value for the global common good. We saw a need in investment management where real discernment occurs around ownership and investing in companies that create value for society. Our dream isn’t just to have a successful company but to help every Christian and values-based investor invest in ways that align both with their financial goals and their core beliefs about what is good, true, and beautiful.
Eventide was an early adopter of the “avoid, embrace, engage” framework. How do you implement that in your investment decisions?
Through our Business 360® framework, we employ a 3-dimensional process: Avoid, Embrace, Engage. One aspect of our Business 360® approach is identifying and avoiding situations where companies disregard the value of humankind, in our view, by providing products or engaging in practices that harm others. Another aspect is embracing the highest-quality companies contributing to human flourishing through value creation for all stakeholders. Finally, we believe that investors, as owners, have the power to engage with portfolio companies toward even greater value creation through partnerships with management teams, active involvement in proxy voting, and facilitating dialogue on key issues.
Talk about the Eventide 1% Initiative and the impact you’re seeing from its efforts.
Since 2019, Eventide has allocated more than $170M towards socially impactful investments focused on the most vulnerable populations in the US and abroad. These help fund renewable energy, affordable housing, community development, microfinance, and environmental sustainability.
In the microfinance space alone through VisionFund, Eventide has directly impacted over 200,000 children. Approximately 65% of those impacted are in rural areas in underserved countries.
As of the last public disclosure, Eventide had $7.8M allocated to Affordable Housing, $4.6M allocated to Community Development Projects, $3.7M allocated to Environmental Sustainability, $3.8M allocated to Renewable Energy, and $6.7M/$32.8M allocated to Microfinance via Calvert Impact and VisionFund respectively.
Eventide is known for its expertise in healthcare and technology, among other sectors. Describe one of your early-stage healthcare investments that may have a big impact on human health.
Investors are not often privy to the real-life impact of their investments; it’s not something that the charts and graphs on portfolio performance reports display. That’s why we created the attached Company Highlights. We want you to see what businesses are doing outside of what’s reported on their financial statements. You may be surprised to learn that you own businesses that have a deep, positive influence on the lives of your neighbors and people across the globe.
Select links provided by Eventide:
What Is the Value Created by Automated Driving?
Eventide Investing Theme: Precision Oncology