Citizen Mint

HOW IT WORKS

Investments that
make a difference

Learn how Citizen Mint investments seek to maximize returns and positive change.

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Investing at Citizen Mint

Whether it’s renewable power, affordable housing, development loans to underserved communities, or tackling global challenges around sustainability — we know it’s the power of investors coming together that will create the positive impact we need to have on our world. Plain and simple, private capital is the solution to our global challenges, and by giving more investors access to private markets, we can start tackling those challenges today. 

Easy to start investing

Create your account

Take just a few minutes to sign up and access our growing catalog of impact investments.

Select investments​

Review investment opportunities and select the ones that align with you.

Watch your returns grow​

Keep an eye on the impact and growth of your investment through comprehensive reporting data.

To be an Accredited Investor you must meet one of the following requirements:

  • Net worth, excluding primary residence, higher than $1 million.
  • Earned income above $200,000 a year ($300,000 if married) in each of the past two years.
  • Broker’s license in good standing (Series 7, 65 or 82).
  • If investing for a trust, total assets in the trust must total at least $5 million.

DISCLOSURE: Currently investments are only for accredited investors. Click the icon to learn more about accreditation requirements.

How does Citizen Mint select Investment opportunities?

We review hundreds of investments a year and pride ourselves sourcing and selecting only those that provide highly competitive risk-adjusted returns and positive social or environmental impact.

The strength of our platform is grounded
in these three pillars

Due Diligence

We utilize a rigorous five-step process to evaluate all opportunities.

Expertise

We have decades of experience evaluating impact opportunities in the private markets.

Objectivity

We are never compensated for the investments on the platform.

Our due diligence process

Drawing from our extensive network of industry contacts and resources, we create a list of viable private market investments, eliminating all managers with operational or regulatory issues.

We conduct in-depth reviews of the thesis or business plan of each investment opportunity, including an analysis of market trends, financial returns, and the proposed positive impact of the opportunity.

We evaluate all teams on key factors related to performance, including experience and reputation in the industry, operational history, investment skills, resource adequacy, personal motivation, and team structure and dynamics.

a. Review sponsor or managers track record on prior investments and funds, respectively

b. Review market trends, competitive environment, and industry analysis

c. If applicable, perform scenario analysis on investment opportunities.

d. If applicable, review the capital structure of a deal or fund

Other Resources: Regularly utilize industry specialists including market research firms, consultants, and competitors to assess issues that could have a material effect on investment performance. 

Background checks, reference calls, assessing the team’s financial and accounting capabilities, and talking with key vendors (valuation, fund administration, banking, accountants, etc.) to gain conviction that this management team can perform as expected over a long period of time.

Citizen Mint’s investment committee reviews re-review the risks involved, risk mitigation, and downside protection for investors. If we feel the impact and risk versus return are sufficient, the investment is added to the platform.

Our impact investing principles

Material

The impact of the investment creates material change.

Measurable

The impact of the investment can be measured.

Intentional

The investment is made with the intention of generating positive social or environmental impact.

How do we measure impact?

Impact measurement is key to our review of investment opportunities. In due diligence we determine the projected impact of the project and look to partner with the sponsor or fund manager to set key performance indicators (KPIs) on the expected impact. We then track these KPIs through the life of the project and report these on each investor’s performance dashboard. 

We anticipate expanding the impact metrics reported over time as we receive better data from our partners. As an example, for affordable & workforce housing we will track the following metrics: housing units financed or built, individuals housed, average area median income (AMI) of individuals housed, and jobs created for construction. We will further look to expand our metrics in this category to include the impact of the building to the community and individuals’ livelihoods (i.e. decrease in time commuting, increased satisfaction with living arrangement, etc.).

FAQs

Citizen Mint provides direct access to well-vetted impact investments in the private markets.

Our Value-Add: Private market impact investments require a high level of vetting and due diligence, which the Citizen Mint team is especially well-equipped to provide.

Our investment team has decades of experience managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios at wealth management firms and large institutional asset managers. This includes working to develop ESG, sustainability and impact investing programs in the public and private markets.

Simply put, private investments are not traded on a public exchange. They are increasingly an area of focus for many impact investors as a way to diversify out of the public markets, while potentially helping to fund a higher level of impact and capturing a competitive market return.

Total assets invested in the private markets globally have grown dramatically over the last two decades, to $10 trillion as of the end of 2021. We do not see this growth slowing as many individuals and institutional investors continue to diversify into the private markets. Further, new opportunities are constantly arising in the private markets.

Citizen Mint is a way to participate in these new opportunities. Our platform presents private market investments that are accessible (have relatively low minimums) and which our research indicates are likely to provide material, measurable, and intentional positive impact on society or the environment as well as a solid financial return.

Many people get confused around the terminology of investments, especially between Impact Investing, SRI, and ESG.  They get used interchangeably but they’re actually very different.

Socially Responsible Investing, or SRI: Simply put, you avoid investments you think will cause damage to society or the environment.  Avoiding investments in cigarette and alcohol producers, nuclear power operators, weapons manufacturing, and fossil-fuel producers are common examples.

Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG Investing: The goal is to invest in companies striving to do what’s best for all their stakeholders — employees, customers, local communities and shareholders, while also limiting negative impact on society and the environment. ESG is more about how companies behave than the output of beneficial goods or services.

Impact Investing: The focus is on specific investment opportunities, often in the private markets.  These investments aim to solve an environmental or social challenge, while also providing a profit.  Impact investments are material, measurable and intentional, and tend to be more targeted in order to address very specific needs or challenges. That said, we recognize that many of these needs and challenges are interrelated.

  • Impact investing is not philanthropy. You do not need to sacrifice getting a return on your money to have a positive impact. We work daily to make that happen, focusing our due diligence on three metrics:
    • Return: What is the expected return on the project or opportunity?
    • Risk: What risk are you taking on and is the expected return high enough to compensate for that risk?
    • Impact: Does the investment provide material, measurable, and additional impact that could not have been accomplished by other means?
  • Ultimately, the return and risk metrics are very similar to non-impact investments, while also proving the necessary positive societal or environmental outcomes.

At the current point in time we accept investments from accredited investors, qualified purchasers and financial advisors acting on behalf of clients. We are fervently working on additional opportunities for non-accredited investors so stay tuned!

  • To be an Accredited Investor you must meet one of the following requirements:
    • Net worth excluding primary residence) higher than $1 million
    • Earned income above $200,000 a year ($300,000 if married) in each of the past two years
    • Broker’s license in good standing (Series 7, 65 or 82)
    • Assets in trusts totaling at least $5 million
  • To be an Qualified Purchaser (QP) you must meet one of the following requirements:
    • $5 million or more in investments, either independently or with a spouse
    • Family with $5 million or more invested through a company, estate, trust or nonprofit set-up for their benefit
    • Discretionary control of at least $25 million

Citizen Mint charges an assets under management fee which can range from 0.5% to 2% based on the complexity of the underlying opportunity. We try to keep fees low and look to negotiate with our sponsors and managers to reduce the ultimate fee charged to the Citizen Mint community.

 

Get access now

Sign up now to access private market investments on Citizen Mint’s platform.