For decades, faith-based investing has been defined by what it avoids: tobacco, alcohol, and adult entertainment. But according to Steven Libman, founder of Investing With Purpose, this approach represents a fundamental failure of the industry. 'The definition that the industry has been operating under for the last 30 years is a lazy one,' Libman says. 'Screening is the floor. Building intentionally would be the ceiling.'
Libman, who has spent 15 years in the industry and recently launched a multifamily real estate investment platform structured around faith-driven principles, believes the gap between genuine alignment and surface-level compliance is widening. Investors who cannot distinguish between the two, he argues, are outsourcing their conscience to people who may not share their priorities.
The core premise behind intentional faith-based investing is straightforward: capital goes somewhere, and where it goes signals something. Libman poses a simple but disorienting question to prospective investors: if your grandchildren inherited your portfolio tomorrow, what would they know about what you believed in? 'A question I asked at an event recently was, if you turned your portfolio over to your pastor, is there anything in there you might feel embarrassed about?' he says. 'It is not to convict anyone. It is to get people thinking in a different way.'
Libman draws a cautionary tale from the ESG sector, which marketed itself on impact investing 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.' For Libman, the lesson is that values and returns are compatible when built into the operational framework, not used as a marketing hook.
Investing With Purpose generates community outcomes through an on-site asset ministry program. Free apartments are provided to ministry staff who run tenant engagement programming, including movie nights, farmers markets, and hospital visits. The business logic is clear: tenants with strong social connections are 45 percent less likely to move out, reducing vacancy and turnover costs. 'Ministry is the moat around the investment,' Libman says. 'When people say impact is going to decrease returns, we think the opposite is true. Caring is a durable business advantage.'
Transparency is a key differentiator. The firm sends investors a ministry impact report tracking resident engagement, pastoral support, and acts of care, alongside standard financial KPIs. Investors are also 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 that we are making,' says Libman.
For investors considering faith-based options, Libman emphasizes that real estate is a natural entry point. 'Every dollar that you invest is a vote for something,' he says. 'So when you deploy your capital, it is either going to build something you are aligned with or something that might be in conflict with your own values.' This framing, he believes, is increasingly relevant as investors demand more from where their money goes.