Invest Like You Give a Damn (PDF) (2024)

"Invest Like You Give a Damn turns the dull topic of personal finance into a fun, thought-provoking page turner. One of the most insightful personal finance books of the past decade, it shows how to vote with your wallet for what you care about. It reveals how to channel your savings, investments and pension, whether a mountain or a molehill, into fuel for the burgeoning new sustainable economy. Investing for good is not a sacrifice; you can have your ethical cake and eat its returns, too. A must-read for everyone who wants to align their money with their values and make a difference with every dollar."
Bob Willard, author and speaker, Sustainability Advantage

"Marc de Sousa-Shields has written a masterful argument for why and how investors can and should use their voices in addressing issues of social and environmental well-being. From his position as a 30-year practitioner of using investments to achieve positive and impactful results, he introduces us to a broad range of successful approaches and urges us to join in the effort. His is a global approach, one that can be adapted for local regulatory or practical concerns yet through it all his focus is clear: investors must have a voice if the planet is to achieve anything approaching universal human dignity and ecological sustainability."
Amy Domini, founder, Domini Impact Investments and co-author, Ethical Investing

"From college graduate to retired Boomer, this is the investment guide for everyone with a pension or portfolio, no matter how modest, wanting to change the world for the better. Get it, use it and give a damn about what your money does."
Joel Solomon, author The Clean Money Revolution and Chairman, Renewal Funds

"Marc de Sousa-Shields is urging greater action from us all in an area in which we can all participate — socially responsible investing (SRI). Unfortunately, with SRI, the reality can be far from the theory. Since all firms are mixes of good and bad (rather than all good or all bad), identifying those that are the most "socially responsible" is not for the faint of heart. Marc tackles this challenge head-on, surveying this essential area of SRI with insight, flair, and humor. The result is recommended reading for all those who care about shaping business practice, while striving for a decent (both morally and financially) retirement."
David Chandler, author, Corporate Social Responsibility: A Strategic Perspective and Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation, and contributor, United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education book collection

"Finally, a primer on SRI, financial planning and the true meaning of life all in one entertaining, insightful, thought-provoking and factual book. This is a must-read for anyone trying to understand sustainable investing and how to get their financial life in order. I plan to share copies of this book with all the graduates in my life so they can learn in a few hours what took me years. Marc de Sousa-Shields' Invest Like You Give a Damn unpacks the potential of SRI and should be read by every young person starting their career and the parents who love them."
Coro Strandberg, President, Strandberg Consulting and award winning corporate sustainability pioneer, consultant

"This new book by Marc de Sousa-Shields gives the lie to Rhett Butler's most famous line. True, the history of conscious, green, responsible and sustainable investment suggests that helping investors see the wider consequences of their choices and portfolios be a Sisyphean challenge — but it's one that Marc de Sousa-Shields gives a real run for its money."
John Elkington, Chairman & Chief Pollinator, Volans and co-author, The Breakthrough Challenge: 10 Ways to Connect Today's Profits with Tomorrow's Bottom Line

"A quarter of a century ago, Steve Lydenberg (KLD's "Master Researcher," as reverently and accurately depicted by Marc in Invest Like You Give a Damn ) shared with me that his greatest fear was that "One day I'll wake up and we'll be mainstream and nothing will have changed". While we still have some distance to travel until SRI can be considered mainstream, it's clear that institutional investors have embraced the concept more enthusiastically than individuals. In his book, Marc takes direct aim at the retail sector with the understanding and force that only someone of his experience and passion can — for he knows that as long as individuals sit on the sideline we will be unable to leverage capital to extent required to ensure the transition to a more just and sustainable global economy. As Rush, the Canadian rock band extraordinaire, told us in the 1980 classic Freewill — If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. Thanks to Invest Like You Give a Damn, individuals now have the motivation and practical tools to proactively decide — and to make a difference."
Michael Jantzi, founder and CEO, Sustainalytics

"A call to arms in the investing revolution, Invest Like You Give A Damn is a user-friendly guide to socially responsible investing for investors of limited means and unlimited conscience. Marc de Sousa-Shields' book provides a history of the revolution and a guide to its tools, aspirations, and purposes. There's no reason any reasonable person couldn't read this book and then reorganize their portfolio to make the world a better place."
Bryan Welch, author, Beautiful & Abundant: Building the World We Want, and former publisher, Mother Earth News, Utne Reader and Mother Earth Living