Faith-Based Investing Redefined: Beyond Screens to Intentional Impact
Steven Libman argues that traditional faith-based investing relies on lazy screening, advocating instead for intentional capital deployment that aligns with values and generates community impact, as demonstrated by his multifamily real estate platform Investing With Purpose.
For decades, faith-based investing has been defined primarily by what it excludes: tobacco, adult entertainment, alcohol. But Steven Libman, founder of Investing With Purpose™, calls this approach a "lazy" failure of the industry. After 15 years in finance, Libman has built a multifamily real estate investment platform explicitly structured around faith-driven principles, arguing that screening is merely the floor while intentional building is the ceiling.
The distinction is critical in an era where capital allocation increasingly reflects values. Libman warns that investors who cannot differentiate between surface-level compliance and genuine alignment are outsourcing their conscience to institutions that may not share their priorities. "Every dollar is a vote," he says, emphasizing that capital goes somewhere and signals something. He challenges investors to consider: if your grandchildren inherited your portfolio, what would it reveal about your beliefs? At a recent event, Libman asked, "If you turned your portfolio over to your pastor, is there anything in there you might feel embarrassed about?"
The cautionary tale, according to Libman, is the ESG sector. Environmental, social, and governance funds marketed themselves on impact but delivered weak returns. "ESG put a dagger in the heart of values-aligned investing," he says. "They were saying you are going to get lower returns, but we will make an impact. In fact, they were not making an impact, and they were not making a return either." A recent study tracking ESG fund performance put total average returns well behind conventional benchmarks, reinforcing Libman's view that impact as a marketing hook fails without an operational framework.
Libman's Investing With Purpose generates community outcomes through an on-site asset ministry program embedded in its multifamily properties. Free apartments are provided to on-site ministry staff who run tenant engagement programming—movie nights, farmers markets, food truck events, and hospital visits for residents in need. The business logic is clear: tenants with strong social connections are 45 percent less likely to move out, reducing vacancy and unit-refresh costs. "Ministry is the moat around the investment," Libman explains. "When people say impact is going to decrease returns, we think the opposite is true. Caring is a durable business advantage." The faith dimension is expressed through service, not imposition; residents are not required to participate in religious programming.
Transparency is a key differentiator. Libman's firm sends investors not only standard financial KPIs but also a ministry impact report tracking resident connections, pastoral support, and on-site acts of care. Investors are invited on-site quarterly for serve days. "Unlike your Wall Street investments, you can drive by it, touch it, feel it, actually see the impact," Libman says. This stands in contrast to ESG opacity, where methodologies and impact claims are often difficult to verify.
The broader investment thesis is straightforward: real estate is a familiar asset class, and housing is a fundamental need. The question becomes what kind of operator reflects your principles. "We want to define it as, what are we building?" Libman says. "Every dollar that you invest is a vote for something." In an era of increasing scrutiny on where money goes, this framing is less niche than it once seemed.