The Why

JJK PLACES, PBC
is the first and only Denver based
“Social Impact Real Estate”
development and consulting company,
legally structured as a Colorado
“public benefit corporation” (PBC).

We focus 100 percent of our efforts on one goal:
To use Social Impact Real Estate (or “SIRE”)
to create property development that
“Does Well by Doing Good.”

Why JJK PLACES exists

BACKGROUND INFO

Social Impact as Business Purpose

A GLOBAL MOVEMENT

JJK Places, PBC is a new breed of company, it is known as a “social impact company.”

Social impact companies exist to use the power of business and market-driven innovation to produce economically feasible services or products that either improve living standards, health and wellness, or other quality of life elements for a specific community or population, or they seek to better some element of the environment that is currently at risk.

This trend of more and more new social impact companies being formed every year is not due to pure altruism.  Instead, market forces are driving the demand for more social impact companies as consumers become increasing conscious of significant social and environmental issues existing in the world today.  The result is that people are seeking out social impact focused companies, and are displaying their commitment to such companies through their willingness to spend increasing amounts of money with such businesses.

According to the Center for Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania, 90 percent of Millennials report that they will switch to a cause-branded product if available when choosing between two brands of equal quality and price, and 51 percent of all global consumers report that they will pay extra for products and services that are committed to positive social and environmental impact.

The Why

SOCIAL IMPACT ENTERPRISES

How is a social impact company defined? There are dozens and dozens of definitions out there, with each emphasizing various characteristics depending on the industry involved.

Research, however, reveals some commonality of definitions. From this, it appears that a legitimate “social impact company” should have seven criteria present:

  • The company overall is held to higher business, social, and environmental standards of responsibility, accountability, and transparency
  • It has one or more publicly declared social purposes as a primary reason for existing
  • This social purpose seeks to address a significant existing systemic challenge faced by a community or population group
  • The social purpose is creating a new and long-term potential solution
  • All or majority of the company’s work is directed towards this declared social purpose
  • Its social impact is regularly quantitatively measured against a third-party criteria and is at least annually publicly reported
  • Current and future company policies, conduct, and strategies are guided through a lens of how to best achieve social impact

Without the above characteristics a business can still be considered socially conscious or community-oriented, but it will not rise to the level of legitimately being a social impact company. Of all the above characteristics, creating new and authentic social impact for a community or population group is perhaps the single most important element of a true social impact business.

IMPACT INVESTING

Because of the rise in the number of social impact companies, especially over the past decade, there has been a related increase in the movement of capital towards investing in such companies.

Social impact investing, or simply just impact investing, is about investing to help create public good. It is the intentional investment of capital into companies and organizations that are creating new, long-term, measurable, and sustainable positive social or environmental change, alongside generating economic return.

Today it is judged that one out of five investment decisions is made partly based on sustainability or social impact criteria. In 2020, social impact investing became a $1 trillion segment of the investment industry. Some sources actually project that all existing socially conscious investing is already three times the aforementioned amount. By all accounts, impact investing is now considered as its own Investment Asset Class on Wall Street and amongst most institutional money managers.

Sir Ronald Cohen, regarded as the father of British venture capital, has said “Social impact investing is the new venture capital.” As one recalls, venture capital funded the wave of technology growth companies during the dot.com boom. Impact investing is now heralding in a new wave of growing social impact companies and projects that in turn are seeking to address the most pressing social and environmental challenges of our day.

Astute independent investors, portfolio advisers, high net worth money managers, and large institutional and pension fund managers are increasingly syncing their investment strategies with the evolving values of their clients and the public in general. The returns (or impacts) that these investment professionals are requiring from their investments are now being viewed on multiple levels (i.e., including the requirement of social and environmental impacts, along with traditional economic returns). Increasing for many, profitability and a singularly focus on monetary economic returns is not enough. Rather, for such impact investors, an investment must also produce measurable public good to be worthy of putting their money into it.

This is one of the reasons behind the “why” JJK Places, PBC was created and structure as it has been, as well as one of the reasons behind the “what” that JJK Places is pursuing in its real estate development business: that is, mission-driven real estate, also known as social impact real estate (or “SIRE:).