Our Capital Actions

Practical Acts is about learning through action. This page documents the journey of its founders, Stephanie and Stuart Mills, as they explore emerging, sustainable financial tools as consumers, investors, and donors. Their journey is one of intentional action, channeling their values and expertise to wield investment as a decisive lever for sustainable, communal, and global change.

They have researched and engaged with numerous companies and funds that demonstrate a commitment to corporate responsibility, robust environmental targets, and social value. This involves a "traffic light" system to evaluate their own portfolio and actively seeking investments that contribute to a net-positive impact. Good with Money is a great resource to start your research.

As part of this work, they are collaborating with a group of experts to produce a personal guide to purposeful investing based on their journey.

Full List

A list of the purposeful investments, grants, and decisions Stephanie and Stuart have made with their capital.

Moving Pensions

Inspired by the Make My Money Matter campaign, we have been reviewing, reshaping, and moving our investments and pensions towards more ethical and sustainable funds that align with our values and commitment to positive impact.

Working with Financial Advisors

Partnering with our financial advisors, we continuously refine our investments through an ESG-inspired traffic light system, incrementally enhancing our portfolio by adding high-impact stocks and phasing out those with negative effects—driving progress through constant learning and improvement.

Donations with Matching

We made donations to organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Right to Play through Salesforce’s employee matching program, doubling the impact of our contributions and extending our reach to support critical global initiatives.

Grants to Support Community

We made a multi-year grant to support Groundwork London’s Our Space Award, a small-grants programme that helps communities transform underused spaces into thriving green hubs. It’s been amazing to be involved in realizing the impact communities gain from their efforts to foster biodiversity, build climate resilience, and enhance social connection.

Collective Giving

We joined Impact 100 London and pooled our donation with others to fund transformative, multi-year grants that empower women and girls in London, ensuring our collective giving creates meaningful and lasting change in our community.

Investment in Impact Bond

We made an investment in the Triodos Sterling Bond Impact Fund with the aim of supporting positive environmental and social change, using a financial vehicle where growth has been steady, risk is managed, and funds remain accessible—allowing us to stay agile and invest in emerging opportunities as they arise.

Investment with Community

Finding and understanding companies like Energy Garden was no easy feat for us. Luckily, there are platforms that provide rigorous due diligence processes in order to help investors and entrepreneurs create good investments opportunities. We found Ethex not only provided support for our investment purchases but encouraged us to learn about the ‘whys’ behind the investments and get to know other investors as well.

Micro Loans

We’ve made loans as little as $25 per loan through Kiva. Our monthly loans and the repayments keep ticking over and slowly have added up to thousands so far. Our microloans supported people all over the world to start businesses, invest in education, expand farms, and create economic opportunities in their communities.

Angel Investments

We joined the membership and made an investment in the Green Angel Ventures Climate EIS Fund, aiming to align our capital with meaningful climate impact while targeting strong financial returns.

Support Legislative Advocacy

We made a gift to support Peers for Planet’s work on accelerating climate action and biodiversity protection through legislative advocacy, cross-sector collaboration, and parliamentary education, in support of the system-wide change we need to see.

Learning With Others

We participated in learning communities Acumen Next and EFN's Environmental Impact Investment Group to explore innovative approaches to impact investing, learn from global social change leaders, and collaborate with funders dedicated to tackling poverty, climate resilience, and nature recovery.

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Our Capital Actions

Full List

PRACTICAL ACTS