The untapped wealth of reputation, relationships, and expertise

When I founded District Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm, I wished I’d had a guide to help frame my thinking and narrow the many possible paths toward impact. The latest investor guide from the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP), the ‘Investor's Guide to Multicapital Strategies,’ does exactly that for wealth holders seeking to make the most of their multiple forms of capital.

Too often, ultra-high-net-worth investors focus only on financial resources — underestimating the power of their social capital (networks), symbolic capital (reputation), and cultural capital (skills and knowledge). I don’t believe in withholding any of these. Beyond money, I work closely with investees: mentoring, refining their story, connecting them with suppliers who can transform their journey. Investors who come only from a financial background may miss how powerful these other forms of capital can be. CSP’s research with experienced impact investors across four continents confirms it: noneconomic resources are often decisive in driving impact — and sometimes can do so even in the absence of financial capital.

At District Capital, we’re not just funders or shareholders. We ask: Can the workplace be more equitable? Structuring our firm this way hasn’t just made us better investors — it has also strengthened our position in the market. Relationship-building and networks have been central to that success.

Effective collaboration requires trust and goodwill. Our role isn’t to regulate investees but to inspire and challenge them. Parts of our portfolio are designed to be catalytic — capital that is patient, creative, and able to spark broader interest. That gives us the freedom to experiment, to invest in areas such as public health, sustainable food, and climate action, and to engage a wider community of investors along the way.

The takeaway for investors is clear: deploying financial capital alone leaves much of your true capacity untapped. The assets you’ve built through reputation, relationships, and expertise can be just as catalytic as traditional capital — sometimes more so. When combined, these forms of capital multiply one another’s effect, unlocking new possibilities for both returns and impact.

If the last decade was about proving that impact investing is possible, the next one will be about showing what’s possible when all forms of capital are mobilized. That shift requires intention: asking not just what to invest in, but how to bring your full self into the work. Done right, multicapital investing doesn’t just change portfolios — it changes communities, markets, and the very definition of wealth.

illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

See how the companies in your sector perform on sustainability. On illuminem’s Data Hub™, access emissions data, ESG performance, and climate commitments for thousands of industrial players across the globe.