Different Forms of CapitalThere are various definitions that expand our concept of capital. The common thread is that money is only one form of capital that individuals and organizations use to advance their goals.
We focus on optimizing five different forms of capital: natural, social, intellectual, philanthropic, and financial. Our goal is to utilize these different forms in various combinations to impact systemic change. |
Natural |
Natural capital is the world's stock of natural resources which creates a long term supply of goods or services. For example, a river may provide a sustainable flow of fish or clean water, and healthy soil can provide additional nutrients to food production. Natural capital can also provide essential services like water catchment and erosion control, which ensure the long term viability of natural resources and assists during drought conditions. In our work we try to consider how to properly value and utilize the necessary natural capital to produce the food we should consume.
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Social |
Social networks connect different people to shared values, goals, and actions. Social capital is basically the investment of time in those networks to generate collective or economic benefits. This involves market relationships, power relationships and cooperation that are established between agencies, institutions and people. These relationships stem from a strong sense of belonging and a highly developed capacity of cooperation that can generate significant system change.
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Intellectual |
Successful enterprises need great people motivated to do great work. Intellectual capital is primarily knowledge that is of value to an organization, and put to use by an individual or a group of individuals. We include Human capital as part of this capital form for it represents how aligned and individual people invest skills, know-how and expertise in to a product, service, or values-based goal. Without proper utilization of Human capital an enterprise cannot generate the best use of a person's intellect in order to advance the work.
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Philanthropic |
Philanthropic capital deploys grants or concessionary investments, calculated to achieve a desired social, environmental, or policy change. The success of a philanthropic investment is measured by a below-market rate return of funds, and/or a measurable social or environmental outcome. There is no expectation of a financial return.
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Financial |
Financial capital is any monetary investment to improve the ability of an enterprise to sell it's products and services, and achieve it's stated goals. The success of financial capital is measured as a market-rate financial return. This recognized form of capital plays an important role in our economy, enabling the other types of capital to be owned and traded. However, it has no real value itself except that which society embeds within it's monetary construct.
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