Why Don't Investors' Values Show Up in Their Portfolios? Jenn Kenning on the Advisor-Client Dynamic
Capital does not move because of products, according to Jenn Kenning, co-founder and former chief executive of Align Impact. It moves when a client becomes the architect of their own game. That takes three things working together: the investor's psychology, an advisor able to ask deeper questions, and a concrete roadmap. Take away any one of them and intent never becomes deployment.
Key takeaways
- Jenn Kenning, co-founder and former chief executive of Align Impact, argues that the gap between stated values and actual portfolios comes from psychology, advisor capability and a roadmap failing to come together, not from a lack of products.
- Global philanthropic giving is estimated at $2.3 trillion a year, $1.5 trillion of it from individuals. Kenning says redirecting just 5 to 10% of that pool toward impact or blended finance would reshape the field.
- U.S. charitable giving totaled $592.5 billion in 2024, with $392 billion coming from individuals and families, according to Giving USA 2025.
- A $124 trillion wealth transfer is under way, and more than 95% of inheritors are expected to change advisors, according to industry estimates cited in the episode.
- Goals-based planning can reset a client's required return from a 7% market-rate default to the roughly 3% their goals actually need. The room above that required return becomes available for impact-first capital.
- Starting with 5% of a portfolio gives clients an entry point that can grow to 10%, 20% or more.
- Real change needs a 15 to 20 year horizon, not a three-year scoreboard.
"Every investor has their own definition of impact and their own why that they're seeking to create in society. They need the psychology, the advisor, and the roadmap to come together. If any one of those is missing, the client cannot actually move."
Jenn Kenning, Co-Founder and Former Chief Executive Officer, Align Impact, RootsToFoods Capital Series, Episode 3
The three legs that unlock movement
Kenning describes three conditions. The first is resolved psychology: the client has worked through scarcity versus abundance, knows whether they have enough, and can state their own definition of impact. Without that, no portfolio change holds. The second is the right advisor in the room, someone able to ask "what will you regret?" and "what will you be most proud of?" and willing to sit with the silence that follows. Kenning puts emotional intelligence ahead of technical skill here, and listening ahead of telling. The third is a concrete roadmap, built asset class by asset class: cash into a community development financial institution, bonds screened by use of proceeds, real estate into affordable workforce housing. It is not a single all-or-nothing pivot.
What stalls deployment
Three patterns keep capital where it is. Clients play society's game by default, chasing market-rate returns and planning to "give it away later" without asking whether that game serves the life they want. The portfolio runs on autopilot and the values stay on the shelf. Philanthropy and investment are treated as separate buckets that cannot speak to each other, even though different forms of capital serve different roles (emergency, sustaining and scaling) and clients need permission to use all of them. And at major institutions, impact products often cannot get onto the wirehouse platform, so the advisor cannot act even when the client is ready.
What is working
The "one thing" question
Asking a client "if you could move the needle on one thing, what would it be?" forces a finite answer. It confronts finite capital and finite time, and it gives the client a single driver that everything else can hang from.
The co-pilot, or quarterback, model
A dedicated impact advisor works alongside the traditional wealth manager instead of replacing them. Each plays to their strengths. Kenning's comparison: the client gets the brain surgeon and the anesthesiologist, not one person pretending to be both.
Goals-based planning before product
Recalibrating the required rate of return from a 7% market-rate default to what the client's goals actually require, often 3%, frees the room above that number for impact-first capital.
Starting at 5%
A 5% allocation mirrors foundation payout norms and the 5 to 10% range of typical annual giving. It is small enough not to threaten the client's livelihood and large enough to build a roadmap that can grow to 10%, 20% or more.
What is not working
Advisors telling rather than empowering
Clients end up following someone else's philosophy and cannot explain their own why. Without it, no roadmap holds, and momentum dies at the first market drawdown.
The transactional advice business
Advisors check the boxes on tax, allocation and rebalancing and leave the personal questions unasked. The value is in the deeper conversation, and most advisors lack the time, capacity or comfort to have it.
Scarcity mindset presented as prudence
"I need 7% before taxes, inflation and fees" goes unexamined. The return number becomes the measure of success, cut off from any goal it was meant to serve.
Short time horizons
Clients lose momentum when a deal returns 33 cents on the dollar in year three, because they have no framework for treating it as a lesson. Real change needs 15 to 20 years.
Frequently asked questions
Data points
| Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|
| $2.3T / $1.5T | Estimated global philanthropic giving each year; the portion that comes from individuals. | Jenn Kenning referencing global philanthropy estimates, RootsToFoods Capital Series, Episode 3 |
| $592.5B / $392B | Total U.S. charitable giving in 2024; the portion from individuals and families. | Giving USA 2025, cited Episode 3 |
| $124T / 95%+ | Size of the wealth transfer under way; share of inheritors expected to change advisors. | Industry estimates, referenced Episode 3 |
| 7% vs. 3% | A typical market-rate return default compared with the return many clients' goals actually require. | Jenn Kenning, Episode 3 |
| 5% | Suggested entry point for impact allocation, mirroring foundation payout norms and 5 to 10% of typical annual giving, with room to grow to 10%, 20% or more. | Jenn Kenning, Episode 3 |
| 15 to 20 years | Time horizon Kenning says real change requires. | Jenn Kenning, Episode 3 |
Rapid insights: Jenn Kenning's verbatim closing answers
The biggest myth about impact investing that will not die is…
"You have to sacrifice returns and/or take more risk to get those returns."
Donors move from intent to action when…
"They are inspired by their own why and have a clear roadmap of how to get there."
Traditional wealth advisors are getting in the way because likely they…
"Don't have the time or capacity to ask deeper questions, or they're ultimately not comfortable asking those questions."
The client question that changes everything is…
"Them finding their own aha and being inspired by it, rather than being told."
Philanthropic and investment capital should be integrated when you have…
"More than enough: a philanthropic bucket, and you care deeply about people and planet, preserving what others have worked so hard to build, and you want to leave a lasting impact."
The next generation of capital holders will surprise all of us by…
"Standing up for all 8 billion people and Mother Earth, over making another dollar."
Practical implications for capital allocators
Before recommending another product, work through this exercise with your client: "If I could move the needle on one thing in the world, it would be ____." Then map their current portfolio (cash, bonds, real estate, public equities) against that one thing. The gap you find is the roadmap. If the client cannot give a finite answer to the one-thing question, the work is not investment selection. It is the deeper conversation that has not happened yet.
About the practitioner and the host
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