Welcome to ISB annual report 2014/15!

Annual Report
2014/15
Photo: Britta Schüssling
Welcome / Content
Welcome
Welcome to ISB annual report 2014/15!
Please feel free to give us your feedback,
your questions and comments if you like.
We are happy to present you our annual report 2014/2015
and hope this report gives you a good impression of what
we have done during this time and what participants say
about our courses.
Enjoy the read.
Your ISB team:
Patricia Ciecierski Antje Drenk Julian Kühn Sven Remer
Content
Welcome........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Activities 2014/15....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3-6
The Summer School in 2014.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Certificate in Socially Responsible Finance.............................................................................................................................................................................. 8-11
Seminars................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 12-13
Research.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14-17
Chris Seeley.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Contacts, Impressum................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
2
Activities
The Institute for Social Banking in 2014/15
Activities
The team: Patricia Ciecierski, Antje Drenk, Malcolm Hayday, Julian Kühn, Claudia Langen, Willy Sindayigaya, Sven Remer
2014
May
+++ At the GLS Money Summit Claudia co-hosted a workshop on economic education (“Diversity in economic education”) and presented the ISB’s approach with
an exercise and its special qualities as distinct to the so-called mainstream offers in this field. +++ ISB co-hosted the INAISE Annual Meeting at the GLS Bank in
Bochum, in a partnership with GLS and Oikocredit. Malcolm presented the global network and the ISB’s work at a press conference. Also, Malcolm and Claudia
hosted different discussion tables at the World Café. Antje and Sven welcomed 40 INAISE participants on their field trip to Alanus University and introduced
them to different educational offers on social banking. +++ Claudia organized an Expert Exchange Lab on “More than Just Credit. What is Special About Making
Loans in a Social Bank?“ in Stockholm, hosted by Ekobanken. Kristoffer Lüthi (Ekobanken) and Cornelia Roeckl (GLS) contributed with professional input and,
in a group of participants from six different social banks, entered into a lively, inspiring exchange of practice and experience. +++ Malcolm went to Slovenia to
work with music virtuoso, Miha Pogacnik on a Social Banking platform in Maribor and with the Gandin Foundation on the projects of terra parzifal. +++ Claudia
and Sven developed and hosted a workshop ”Organisational development and processes“ for oikocredit +++ Sven, together with Gregor Krämer from Alanus
University, publishes the „Yearbook on social Finance“ at Springer Publications +++
June
+++ Antje developed and ran a two-day seminar at Alanus University on “Kreditvergabe im Spannungsfeld ökonomischer, ökologischer und sozialer Ziele.“
which will be evaluated within the Studica project. +++
3
July
+++ Annual members meeting in Lyon +++ Sven was elected as additonal managing director +++The 7th Summer School on “The Place of The Citizen in Banking”
took place in Lyon, France. (read more on page 7) +++ Sven published an article on „The social banking landscape in Europe“ in the Journal Global Social Policy
+++ Introductory seminar with 18 new co-workers at GLS Bank hold by Antje +++
August
Activities
+++ ISB on tour UK, Scotland, Baltikum.... +++
September
+++ The first module of the 2014/15 CSRF programme on “Money and Society” took place in Alfter near Bonn with eleven participants. Read more about the
course on page 8 +++ Julian and Sven started with the preparation of the Summer School 2015, together with a new moderator, Hildegard Kurt +++ At Alanus
University, Sven, in his function as Junior Professor, continued running the Social Finance Module, and, in his function as Studica project team leader, working
on the first phase of the Studica whilst parallel helping to prepare the proposal for the second phase of this project +++
October
+++ At Alanus University, Sven ended his engagement as Junior Professor (since the funding for this position ran out), but continued as project team leader for
the Studica Project – and took on the management of the ISB Summer School 2015. Read more on the Studica project on page 14 +++ Antje gave a seminar for
nine new apprentices of GLS bank and an introductory seminar with 30 new GLS co-workers +++ At Alanus University, Sven run the one week Master Module
„Economy and Social Responsibility“
November
+++ Julian gave a lecture at the Alanus University on innovative instruments in the field of social banking. +++ Julian led two seminars in Estland on social
banking. Read more about it on page 12+++
December
+++ Sven developed and held an online course on Social Banking and Microfinance as external lecturer for Leuphana University +++
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2015
January
Activities
+++ We approached several former Summer School participants to be international ambassadors of this event. They are coming from Austia, Switzerland, Czech
Republic, Finland, Italy and Scotland. +++ Antje held another introductory seminar for new co-workers (19 participants) at the GLS Bank +++ FEBEA, ISB and ALTIS
presented the study ”Review of impact assessment methodologies for ethical finance“. Read more about the study on page ...+++ A paper on „Social Banking
Networks“ by Sven and his colleague, Daniel Tischer from Manchester Business School was accepted for publication in a book by Ottmar Lehner +++ Claudia
gave up this position to take on a new full-time job in Hamburg +++
February
+++ Sven moderated and contributed to the final conference on the outcomes of the first phase of the Studica project, which was attended by 50 interested
practitioners and academics at Alanus Werkhaus in Alfter. More on the Studica project on page 14+++ Participants of the Summer School 2014 in Lyon came
together in Vienna to work on the UNEP project “Inquiry to Financial System Design”. Read more about the inquiry on page 15 +++ Sven held a one day
workshop on Social Banking in Europe as the opening event of the newly founded Academy of the Bank for the Common Good (BfG) in Vienna Austria +++
March
+++ The second module of the 2014/15 CSRF programme on “Management of Socially Responsible Finance” took place in Alfter near Bonn with eight participants.
Read more about this course on page 8 +++ Sven participated at the annual GABV meeting in Paris.+++ At Alanus University, the first phase of the Studica project
came to an end, and with this also Sven’s official engagement at Alanus University +++ Sven, together with a group of 12 European partners, hand in an proposal
for a major European research grant on digital tools and structures for ”Collective awareness at scale for a social, sustainable and democratic finance”
(CASCADE) (to be decided in Summer 2015) +++
April
+++ Antje gave a seminar for new co-workers of GLS bank with about nine participants. +++
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Activities
May
+++ Julian organized and Antje facilitated the second edition of the Expert Exchange Lab on “More than Just Credit – What is Special About Making Loans in
a Social Bank?“ this time in Berlin, hosted by GLS Bank. Again Kristoffer Lüthi (Ekobanken) and Cornelia Roeckl (GLS) contributed with professional input and,
in a group of participants from six different member banks, entered into a lively, inspiring exchange of practice and experience. +++ Malcolm participated and
represented the ISB at the INAISE Annual Meeting in Lima, Peru. +++
6
The Summer School on Social Banking 2014
The Summer School on Social Banking 2014
The place of the Citizen in Banking
Green banking – Social banking – Community banking – Ethical banking
The International Summer School co-hosted by the Institute for Social Banking
and La Société financière de la Nef.
The road more travelled
regulatory environment, social banking is more than ‘technical’ banking but
whose worth, whose impact, is still too often hidden away like the trabolules
of Lyon.
And then, too quickly, it was time to head back to our homes, to our places of
work. Too rarely do we have time and space to stand back from the day job.
If we do it is often only for a day. The Summer School affords us that luxury of
time and space across a week. We hope the 2014 Alumni will move forward
refreshed, ready for the challenges and opportunities ahead, better equipped
to contribute to and manage the growth that social banks are enjoying, knowing
they are travelling along a road with fellow citizens who share their values.
In the first week of July 2014 some 65 people from around the globe gathered
in an unusually damp Lyon for the 7th International Social Banking Summer
School. The wet weather and the football did not divert us from our path
of the place of the Citizen in Banking. From its monastic roots we saw how
banking moved away from its social purpose and the needs of citizens, only to The 8th Summer School will be held at Schloss Montabaur near Frankfurt from
be reclaimed by concerned citizens over the past 50 years.
5-10 July 2015. You are invited.
Through case studies, conversations with social banking pioneers, academic
and work based research, and the evidence of the land around us, we saw
how citizens and social banks make natural partners in human development.
We worked in plenaries, in home groups, in Open Space and round tables,
and being in the gastronomic capital of France we lingered over the lunch and
dinner tables lost in debate. From the first encounter with Jean-Pierre Bideau,
co-founder of our host partner, La Nef, to our rencontres with a few of La Nef’s
borrowers in Lyon, we followed the path that citizens and social bankers have
trodden.
We learned what it means to be a social banker and how our values should
inform everything we do. We saw that while many aspects of classical banking
and social banking have much in common, scarcely surprising given a common
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Certificate Course in Socially Responsible Finance 14/15
Certificate Course in Socially Responsible Finance 14/15
Whilst the participants of the Certificate in Socially Responsible Finance course
2014/15 are working on their last element of the course -running, reflecting
and writing about a change-project in their home institution it is a good time
to look back on the course and its particular/specific learning opportunities.
for the social banking sector while regional, transparent and creative actions
of small niche banks were recognised as opportunities for the actors in this
field. It was encouraging to see how the attitude and the depth of thinking of
participants towards these issues have developed during the course when we
We started the learning journey with participants from Scotland, Germany, identified global trends in banking and finance and worked out what could/
Denmark, Panama, and Switzerland in September 2014 with the first module should be then the next steps on a societal, institutional and individual level at
“Money and Society”. Based on some definitions of “Social Banking” we worked the very end of the course in March 2015.
out some group views of challenges and opportunities in banking and finance In between participants listened, worked together with and got into an
today. E.g. fast growth, complexity of information (financially / economically), exchange with speakers from academia and the social banking practise.
lack of control, green washing, low interest rates were named as challenges Based on the microfinance crisis in India participants heard and discussed with
Ulrike Chini from oikocredit what learning from crises and failures to oikocredit
on the very concrete and local level in India (investments) and Germany
(investors). Together with Prof. Paul Dembinski from University Geneva they
discovered in whole or in part unknown aspects of the nature of money, its
functions and its relation to trust, ethics and the resulting dilemmas in banking
and finance. In addition to these more philosophically and sociologically
oriented views we digged deeper into money related aspects and terms by
working out anthroposophical perspectives on money as well as the Islamic,
Buddhist and Christian view towards it. Based on related articles, a presentation
from and discussion with Jutta Hinrichs from Steyler Bank and an intensive
group process, participants put their gained insights into a roleplay simulating
a consultation in an Islamic, Christian and Buddhist bank. It already turned out
then that the artistic interventions that were provided by Paul Jonas Petry and
Marlies Rainer -artists and advisors from the Alanus Werkhaus- supported and
encouraged participants perfectly to activate their creative resources to search
Photo: Britta Schüssling
8
Certificate Course in Socially Responsible Finance
for and find alternative answers - a competence that is very much needed in
the financial sector. Asking ourselves how money shapes society it was quiet
natural to ask at the same time why, how do and what values (should) play a
crucial role in socially responsible banking and finance. Following the action
research based learning concept of the course Dr. Claudia Langen from the ISB
offered a value analysis on an individual and organisational level and pointed
out their influence and relevance for the corporate culture and identity. Get
to know and practise collegial consultation within this framework provided a
practical tool for putting values
into professional processes.
that the consideration of people, planet and profit related aspects does create
a multidimensional core business we learnt and discussed together with
lectures from practice. Based on a real credit proposal Adrian Sachse from GLS
Bank introduced characteristics of sectors and projects and gave an insight into
the relevance of lending criteria and the way how multidimensional targets
could influence decision making processes in a loan department. Based on
the case study participants were challenged in different dimensions. Firstly in
consultation settings - emphasising different levels of relational aspects and
bringing in individual advisory suggestions. Secondly an extended stakeholder
dialogue brought up exceptional and unusual thoughts of “extended
stakeholders”.Participants discussed these insights emotionally and rationally while the campus cat came in and stayed (sleeping!!) for the whole afternoon
session.
As it is also an important target
of the course to encourage
participants to work with and do
their own research in the field of
socially responsible finance they
are asked to write a literature
based and a change project
related assignment (before or
after each module), in which
they improve their theoretical
knowledge and writing skills as
well as their project management
experiences.
In the second module in
March 2015 our focus was
very much on processes,
topics and competencies of coworkers needed to do “Socially
Responsible Management in
Banking and Finance”. Assuming
Rosl Veltmeijer-Smits holder of the first MA in Social Banking and Social Finance
and her colleague Iris Lether both from Triodos Bank spent a fantasic day with
the group introducing and deepening the concept of Socially Responsible
Investment (SRI) and Impact Investing. After an informative presentation
participants were asked to put it into practice. Rosl and Iris helped them to
develop their own SRI Fund and establishing the investment strategy for the
new SRI Fund. We look forward to seeing ideas implemented! As a conclusion
of the social investment day Pauline Hinchion from Scottish Community
Re:Investment Trust who participated in the course contributed to the Social
Finance lecture series of Alanus University and provided very interesting
insights and arguments on “Social Finance - Social Entrepreneurship - a leading
or misleading track?” Definitely a leading track was the excursion to GLS Bank
and the kindly provided opportunities to meet social bankers at work and to
visit the bank. So participants worked together with Dr. Antje Tönnis from GLS
Treuhand and Julian Kühn from the Institute for Social Banking on “Giving
and Donation representing an integral part of Socially Responsible Banking
and Finance”. After getting new impulses from the presentation participants
Photo: Britta Schüssling
9
Certificate Course in Socially Responsible Finance
immersed into the challenging aspects of giving by being asked to make a
common giving decision out of three alternatives. In addition to the passionate
pleas of the participants it was also a question to choose consens or majority
for the final decision…Finally we managed - but it was a real eye opener!
von Carlowitz had explored in his MA thesis and implemented in GLS Bank. He
furthermore provided a guiding tour through GLS Bank where we were able to
discover outstanding solutions around sustainability issues in (re)construction
of the new GLS Bank building.
Without doubt digitisation is one of the big trends not only in socially responsible
finance and so we started the “Future of Socially Responsible Finance” part
with this topic and a contribution from Hans-Florian Hoyer who gave us a more
holistic and rather unagitated view on this development and encouraged us to
analyse and (maybe) implement new developments like e.g. Personal Financial
Management with great awareness and after profound reflection. Based on this
discussion participants started their own future search conference by looking
back and looking forward on their relation with social banking and finance on
a macro (socially responsible finance), meso (institution of origin) and micro
(individual participant) level and finally discharging into the specific actions
and definitions of next steps at each level. We concluded this inspiring and
exceptional learning journey with a joint reading of a kazakh story that reminds
us to many aspects we worked on during the course and that encourages us
to stay on developing socially responsible banking and finance solutions for
people.
Antje Drenk, co-ordinator of the Certificate in Socially Responsible Finance
Certificate in Socially Responsible Finance…. A Participants view
It was a pleasure and an honour to meet Andreas Neukirch member of the GLS
Bank board who joined us for a vivid discussion on some questions participants
brought in. It was an enriching experience to dig deeper into a more strategic
view of management and leadership in GLS Bank and to participate in further
considerations like digitisation and its impact on banking and finance. Measuring
impact of socially responsible finance was and is still a relatively open issue. So
it was a great chance to get some insights on the GLS approaches that Christoph
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Delivered in partnership by Alanus University, Alanus vocational Training Center
and the Institute of Social Banking.
As someone interested in knowing more about social banking and social
finance, but with little knowledge of it, I was delighted to discover the Institute
of Social Banking, who specialise in training courses for people seeking to make
the link between money and its role in a more socially and environmental just
society.
Embarking on the 1 year certificate course was daunting, not least because it
Certificate Course in Socially Responsible Finance
was many years since I had done any serious study. That first morning was a
bit like my first day at school. I didn’t know anyone, everyone was speaking
different languages, most people were already working in social finance and
I had that horrible feeling that I was going to look stupid; out of place and
ignorant.
Needless to say, my fears were totally misguided and I ended up learning so
much about the world of socially responsible investment and meeting a great
bunch of people. I was much surprised to discover the long and rich history
of social banking and finance, going right back to the 16th Century (naively
I had thought it was a relatively recent development!!). Practitioners from
the major European social finance institutions spent days with us outlining
how they measure social investment; I learned the importance that financial
Photo: Britta Schüssling
11
donations play in cementing the social contract between people and what the
future holds for social finance institutions against a backdrop of ‘social media
banking’ such as peer to peer finance or mobile payments.
All of this was augmented by study visits, meetings, studying and assessments
and spending time with and learning from my fellow students, who were from
across the world. And of course we had some really great nights out…because
it is all about people.
As a result of the Certificate course, I now have some great memories, a
foundation in social finance and an established network of contacts across the
social finance world, all of which will serve me well in my career.
Pauline Hinchion, Director of Operations, Scottish Community Re:Investment
Trust
Seminars
Seminars
Seminar in Estland:
‘The Why, How and What of Ethical Banking’
The group kept meeting for several times, then we were in need of new
inspiration.
A new initiative within ethical banking: Savings- and loan
association Hea Koostöö (Good Cooperation) in Estonia.
On November 22 and 23 we were visited by Mr. Julian Kühn. During two days and
at two different places (Estonia’s capital Tallinn in the north and the University
town Tartu/Dorpat in the south), Mr Kühn presented seminars – focusing on
the questions about how to deal with money in an ethical, responsible way.
Since Mr Willhelm Ernst Barkhoff (GLS Community Bank) visited Estonia in
the beginning of the 1990s, some enthusiastic people of the Anthroposophic
Society have been working with Rudolf Steiner’s texts concerning use of money.
Mr Tiit Urva has been the head of this initiative. Already in summer 1991 he
was able to tour Central Europe and Scandinavia and at the occasion he met
the person writing this report. We shook hands in Oslo.
I left Oslo for Tallinn later in 1991 in order to assist the beginning Waldorfmovement.
At that time, several Waldorfschools had been founded. The financial situation
was quite difficult and in 2012 we started a first attempt introducing ethical
banking by asking Mr Lars Pehrson from the Danish MERKUR to do a workshop
in Tallinn. Mr Pehrson had been invited to the yearly Conference of Finance at
Pärnu – and agreed to prolong his stay in Estonia for another day. We met in a
children’s film club and there were twelve people at the meeting.
12
Twenty-one interested people met in Tallinn and the same number in Tartu for
seminars with our guest from Germany, Mr Julian Kühn. In Tallinn we gathered
at the Institute for Ecology at Tallinn University, the Waldorfschool (having just
purchased a new school building) welcomed our guest in Tartu.
By addressing „The Why, How and What of Ethical Banking” , Mr Julian Kühn
Seminars
(Institute for Social Banking), Mr Toomas Trapido (Tallinn) and Mr Tiit Urva
(Tartu) presented the basic ideas of ethical banking, talking about the qualities
of money, financing of good projects, foundation and practice of a social bank
and innovative banking products.
The lectures were followed by questions and discussions. We did not want
to use power-point-presentations, but gathered in a circle to follow the most
interesting sequences of the presentation.
The group of seminar participants – both friends and interested people invited
through social media – have since then played an essential role in building up
the core group for the planned founding process.
Already in November 2014 Mr Kühn had suggested to invite one of the leading
persons of Ekobanken in Järna. A meeting with Mr Lüthi took place in Tallinn in
mid-april 2015.
A smaller group of founding members listened to Mr Lüthi’s very concrete
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suggestions for the steps to be done in the process of starting up an ethical
savings- and loan association.
This recent meeting helped us a lot to reach to the decision for founding HLÜ
Hea Koostöö now, at the end of May 2015. At present, we are quite busy,
hoping to get ready in time.
With many thanks to Mr Pehrson, Mr Kühn, Mr Lüthi and the Institute for Social
Banking for all the support and good advice.
Esther Maria Grünberg, Tiit Urva, Toomas Trapido (www.heapank.ee) .
We are happy to announce that Hea Koostöö has been successfully founded in
June. Congratulations!
Research
Research
• Donations and foundations as integral building blocks of a socially
responsible finance
From October 2011 to March 2015, • Designing organizational development processes as joint research efforts
the ISB partnered with Alanus In the third project stage, those courses were attended by around 40
University and GAB (Gesellschaft participants and evaluated by external researchers, also to assess how they
für Ausbildungsforschung und actually met the expectations and needs in practice and to identify areas of
Berufsentwicklung) in the Studica possible improvement. Overall, the outcome of this evaluation has been very
(studies a la carte) project. Sponsored by the German Ministry for Education positive, with the vast majority of participants stating that the courses had
and Research and the European Social Fund – this project aimed at opening the been very insightful and useful for their development.
(Alanus) University and developing innovative academic learning opportunties
for practitioners, who should be enabled to choose from the menue of the Before its official commencement in March 2015, the Studica project hosted
University’s total offerings those they considered useful from a personal and/ a closing conference with about 50 experts from practice and academia.
or professional development perspective, without the need to complete „of Moderated by Sven Remer, this conference saw a number of inspiring
contributions, lively discussions and supportive feedback, all very helpful for
the shelf“ programs.
the further establishment and expansion of the Studica ideas in the daily
In this context, in a first stage, the ISB engaged in an indepth empirical analysis routines of the University.
of training/development needs in Social Banking to then identify both suitable
existing offers from the University’s course menue and respective gaps.
The latter then led, in a second stage, to the development and offering of some
new courses related to Social Banking at alanus University, namely:
• Financial Crises
• Sustainable Banking
• Sustainable Investments
• Providing loans based on economic, environmental and social criteria
• Microfinance and Social Banking - understanding and utilizing their
differences
14
Research
Inquiry to Financial System Design
The Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System was initiated
in 2014 by the United Nations Environment Programme to advance design
options that would deliver a step change in the financial system‘s effectiveness
in mobilizing capital towards a green and inclusive economy. The 2014 Summer
School in Lyon had as its theme the role of the citizen so it was natural that the
UNEP Inquiry was a topic for discussion. What was not so usual but nevertheless
welcome was that the Summer School alumni founded a working group drawn
from people from 7 countries, spread amongst social banking, civil society,
business and academia, the Vienna Group. Our common bond was that we
were all practitioners who can see that a sustainable and responsible financial
system is possible if certain core values of sustainability, transparency, diversity
and inclusion are at its heart. Review of impact assessment methodologies for
ethical finance
FEBEA (the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks), ISB (the
Institute for Social Banking) and ALTIS (the „Graduate School Business and
Society“ of the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, Italy) are pleased
to present the „Review of impact assessment methodologies for ethical
finance“.
This study, launched in January 2014, through an open call for research, was
commissioned and financed by FEBEA, with the technical and scientific expertise
and support of The ISB. From amongst 13 proposals, ALTIS was invited to carry
out the research.
The study undertook a comprehensive review of existing material and identified
Following on from the Summer School the working group kept in regular touch, the apparent gaps in the field of impact analysis of financial activities (from the
reached out to 500+ survey respondents and followed this up with over 20 economic, social, environmental as well as organisational view point, in the
in depth interviews with thought leaders and social bankers from around the context of the particular characteristics of ethical finance actors).
world. We met in Vienna to explore the messages we wanted to convey and Accepting that the impact analysis of the work of ethical banks is patchy at
nominated writers to distill this into a Working Paper for UNEP and a Call to best, today, the study offers a detailed review of potential indicators that could
Action. In due course you will be able to find these on the ISB website. be used wholly, or in part, to measure the impacts of ethical banks’ activities.
We believe that the current financial system has failed us and the planet but The gap analysis also opens up new paths to explore. These are linked more
that we can no longer continue to tinker. It is time for a paradigm change. specifically to the essence of what it means to be a social bank but no specific
We know that is simple to say and extremely difficult to achieve. It requires measurement indicators have been proposed at this stage, given the inherent
political will and vested interests voting to be divested but it has to happen. differences of approach amongst these banks. However, they do offer stepping
Citizens around the world are beginning to demand a financial system fit for stones to future analysis.
and working for citizens, not the other way round. We hope very much that this study will be a tool useful not only for ethical
banks but also for researchers and organisations interested in this subject. As
Malcolm Hayday, member of the Vienna Group a minimum it is a new contribution to the ongoing debate on ethical finance
practices and the role of impact assessment in the economy and finance.
15
Should you need further information or points of clarification please do not
hesitate to contact the FEBEA Secretariat: secretariat@febea.org.
Research
ISB Paper Series
and financial institutions conducive to commoning and briefly explores the
potential for money itself to be viewed as a ‘Commons.’ It then proposes a
number of answers to the question: what can social banks do to support the
re-emergence of a healthy commons?
No. 14
Ansätze zur Messung und Steuerung des „dreifachen Gewinns“ in
der GLS Bank
No. 13
Banking for the Common Good:
How Social Banks can support the re-emergence of a healthy
Commons
The report of the 2013 ISB Summer School
(Approaches to Measure and Control the „Threefold Gain” at GLS Bank)
Master Thesis by Dr. Christoph von Carlowitz
by Ruth Potts
„We only control what we measure” is one of the most basic truths in business.
Therefore, the author concludes, we ought to measure what matters most. He
believes what matters most, is how much value a business creates for all of its
stakeholders, not only profits and risks for the shareholders.
“What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the
importance of real involvement.”
GLS Bank strives for a threefold gain – social, sustainable and profitable.
Following an introduction to social banking in general and the GLS Bank
This report documents results of the Institute for Social Banking Summer in particular, impact metrics and reporting systems that might be useful for
School 2013. The summer school, comprising co-workers from member controlling in GLS Bank are being presented.
institutions, other stakeholders and interested people together with experts GLS Bank intends to play a reference role in addressing society’s greatest social
in the fields of the Commons, Social Banking and Alternative Finance asked and environmental challenges. GLS Bank may be better equipped to achieve
the question: what can social banks do to support the emergence of a healthy this employing with two critical pieces of infrastructure:
new commons?
• Credible, comprehensive, transparent, and independent metrics of social
This report has four main sections. First, it examines the role and particular
and environmental performance allowing GLS Bank to assess and manage
contribution of social banks. It then goes on to explore the emergence of a new
its overall impact; and
notion and practice of the ‘Commons’, as people have responded to a system
• Publicly available and accepted benchmarks on corporate impact allowing
that has failed them practically and philosophically by returning to forms of
GLS Bank to compare and improve its impact with other companies and
common management and the practice of sharing both physical resources
over time.
and knowledge, known as ‘commoning’. It explores the type of economy
Elinor Ostrom
16
Research
In a generation’s time the author envisions all businesses in the world will
measure and manage their impact with the same rigor they currently employ
to measure and manage profits and risks. This will redefine ‘success’ in business
so that all businesses compete not to be the best (i. e. most profitable) in the
world, but to be
the best for the world.
Currently, GLS Bank uses primarily conventional financial metrics. High social
and sustainability standards are implemented, but no performance metrics for
these two gains of the triple bottom line. The author intends to show how this
can be changed, which metrics or systems could be used and which chances and
risks would be implied. He used a literature survey and some interviews with
experts to work out suggestions to improve GLS Bank to control its business
with respect to social and sustainability gains.
No. 15
Financial models for Community Development Finance
Institutions in the UK
Master Thesis by Stuart Field
This dissertation highlights the financial models used by Community
Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) in the UK. These not-for-profit social
finance organisations provide finance to under-served markets. Although a few
of the larger ones are banks, the vast majority are loan funds, often with hybrid
funding models involving a mixture of grants and loans for on-lending. The
resilience of the financial models is examined, firstly with a survey of experts on
funding and risk issues, followed by financial modelling of three risk scenarios
that were considered likely by the experts. The modelling suggests that for
a typical CDFI lending to businesses or civil society organisations, significant
increases in bad debt write-off rates would have a larger impact than cuts in
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revenue funding or delays in capital funding. The dissertation concludes that
funding should focus on the rationales for supporting CDFIs: cost-effective job
creation and addressing market failure.
You can download all the papers from our website:
http://www.social-banking.org/research/isb-paper-series/
Chris Seeley
Chris Seeley
We are deeply saddened that our wonderful colleague Chris Seeley passed
away after fighting a serious illness on the 3rd December 2014.
Thank you Chris!
She went peacefully surrounded by her loved ones.
We will miss you dearly, but you will always live on in our hearts, heads and
minds.
Chris worked with us for many years in a variety of roles, besides her many
other activities as an independent consultant, academic and artist (www.
wildmargins.com).
For years she planned and facilitated our annual Summer Schools – in Florence,
Canterbury, Doorn and Lihn. There, her warm humour, mindful moderation
and skillful graphic summaries found consistent admiration of participants and
colleagues alike.
As a lecturer on our Certificate Course she worked very closely with the
participants, sharing with them her deep knowledge of action research and
encouraging them to take work – and life – as an exciting opportunity to
experiment, learn and develop, motivated by her intrinsic love – and concern
– for people and planet.
Chris also accompanied the ISB over the years as a project manager, and
connected us with many new ideas, new people and – equally important - new
perspectives on ourselves, as a team and as individuals.
Chris was – and remains - an amazing inspiration for all of us at the ISB, not just
on a professional but also on a personal level.
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Contacts
Contacts
Questions? Feedback?
Contacts!
On the ISB in general:
Patricia Ciecierski
patricia.ciecierski@social-banking.org
+49 (0)234 60 60 01 35
Bank account
The Institute is a charitable association
under German law.
Institute for Social Banking e.V.
GLS Gemeinschaftsbank eG Bochum
IBAN: DE74 4306 0967 4018 783 400
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
On the Certificate Course:
Antje Drenk
antje.drenk@alanus.edu
+49 (0)2222 9321 - 1746
On cooperation, programme development,
becoming an ISB member or financial
supporter:
Julian Kühn
julian.kuehn@social-banking.org
+49 (0)234 60 60 01 31
Address
Institute for Social Banking e.V.
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58455 Witten
Germany
www.social-banking.org
On research and the Summer School:
Prof. Dr. Sven Remer
sven.remer@social-banking.org
Content: Antje Drenk, Esther Grünberg, Malcolm Hayday, Pauline Hinchion,
Julian Kühn, Sven Remer. Concept and design: Patricia Ciecierski, June 2015.
The copyright on illustrations and pictures lies with the Institute for Social
Banking if not otherwise indicated.
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