On June 20, investors swapped spreadsheets for shovels and prayer walks as they joined Steven Libman, co-founder of Integrity Holdings Group and founder of Investing With Purpose, for a Serve Day at Rise Avalon, a multifamily community in Charlotte, NC. The quarterly event brought together investors, operating partners, and leadership for a full day of resident engagement, including prayer walks, a community barbecue, bounce houses, and family programming. Rise 48 Equity, a co-investor on the property, also participated.
The Serve Day model, developed across IHG's portfolio by Libman, is now being carried forward into Investing With Purpose as the firm builds its own residential communities. Each event is designed to give back to the residents at the heart of the investment. Families enjoyed a Family Fun Day with bounce houses, obstacle courses, pool games, BBQ, raffles, photo booths, and live entertainment. Local small businesses, food trucks, fire departments, and community vendors contributed to the event, offering everything from a free meal and entertainment for children to heartfelt conversations and moments of prayer.
For Libman, the event embodies the firm's philosophy of 'capital meets calling.' 'We always talk about temporal returns and eternal returns,' he said. 'Every resident who pays rent here is contributing to investor returns. But can we also show them the eternal return – the people, the names, the faces on site. That is what today is about.' Nick Stromwall of Rise 48 Equity echoed the sentiment. 'The community managers who manage these properties know the people,' said Stromwall. 'When you genuinely care about people and serve them, the returns come back and help the investors as well.'
For investors attending their first Serve Day, meeting residents in person shifted their understanding of the investment. Matt Emerson, an investor who attended the Charlotte event, noted, 'To put faces to all of it, to come and pray with the community – that is the biggest thing. It does actually make a difference where you live and how you get cared for.'
The Purposed Care Initiative model that Libman has built is central to the investment thesis he is advancing through Investing With Purpose – that profit and purpose are causally connected. The firm invests in multifamily assets nationally, combining institutional-calibre investment management with an intentional values framework. More information is available at investingwithpurpose.org.
