Finding Great IDEAS to Invest In

While we are individuals with agency and autonomy, we all live within systems that greatly affect us – healthcare systems, government systems, agriculture systems, education systems and many more. Broadly, a system is simply a group of rules, norms, procedures and elements that work together for a common purpose. The way they operate can favour some people over others and the nature of a system itself means the consequences beyond a system’s purpose usually get ignored as externalities.

The big problems in the world – like hunger and climate change – can’t be addressed by fixing one piece of the problem in isolation. To create lasting positive change, one must improve systems.

That’s what we work to do. With all our portfolios, our investment approach is systems focused. We seek investments that will transform conditions that hold a system in place – mindsets, policies, practices, resources, relationships, power dynamics – in order to improve systems.

We see there as being five key roles that investment products can play in propelling systems change and positive outcomes; we have developed these roles into what we call our IDEAS Framework.

We use the framework to support our analysis of the role each investment product has in driving systemic impact and supporting positive outcomes over the long term; the framework also helps us see the interconnected, multifaceted approach a portfolio is having on systems. Ultimately, driving positive and inclusive systems change requires new solutions and processes that reinforce one another to address shortcomings in current systems. We apply the framework in our approach to selecting investment products. Specifically, we look for investment products that will innovate, disrupt, equalize, adopt or scale within systems to improve them.

Rally Assets’ IDEAS Framework