Our Purpose

Conventional or Responsible
Investment?

Most people would like to help preserve our natural environment. At the same time, most people need to save money for their futures. Often it seems that these two goals stand at cross-purposes.

If your money is in a conventional bank account or mutual fund, you may not know where that money is being invested. It is likely that your savings are on loan to businesses or individuals who are involved in the exploitation of human communities or the degradation of the natural environment for their private gain. Without knowing it, most people are invested in fossil fuels, weapons, tobacco, and toxic chemicals. By allowing your money to stay in these investments, you are not just giving your consent to these activities: You are encouraging them.

Fortunately, there are alternatives. Many countries and most US states now host socially responsible banks that will accept your savings and loan them only to private citizens or businesses that demonstrate stewardship of their communities and environment. There are now over 100 socially responsible mutual funds in the United States and elsewhere that practice exclusively community and environmentally friendly investment. There are also many socially responsible businesses that offer opportunities for direct investment. Many of these investments offer yields that match or exceed those offered by their conventional counterparts.

RainFrog Investment:
The RainFrog Advantage

The choice should be clear, but it is not always easy. Socially responsible investment can be time-consuming and expensive. That is where RainFrog comes in.

Cooperative Investment

The RainFrog Advantage is cooperative investment. RainFrog's partners create a stronger and better investment portfolio by working together than any one partner could create alone. In the end, our partnership isn't just more socially responsible, it is also more profitable.

Larger Investments

Many financial vehicles require a minimum initial investment. Most mutual funds require between $1,000 and $2,000 to get started. Certificates of Deposit often require an initial investment of $500 to $1,000, and stocks can be most easily purchased in multiples of 100 shares. Even when there is no minimum investment, larger investments have many advantages. The yield on CDs goes up and the load on mutual funds goes down as the size of the investment increases. Stock purchases usually incur a flat fee, which means that the percentage of an investment consumed by commission is lower for large investments. RainFrog can take advantage of its larger portfolio size to make these benefits available to its partners.

More Diversity

A small investor may be able to choose one or two of the investment options mentioned above, but it will be difficult and expensive to create a diversified portfolio. By pooling our capital, RainFrog's partners can achieve a wider variety of investments. In this way we increase our ability to find good investments while reducing the risk associated with any one holding

Better Research

An investor working alone must spend a great deal of time researching each potential investment. By sharing our research, RainFrog's partners can explore a greater number of investments while limiting the burden on any one investor. RainFrog's management team has accumulated many years of experience in analyzing potential investments, and can help steer the partnership to the best opportunities.