Good Finance
Developing for 15 years innovative and purposeful financial solutions to transform the world
Good Finance
Developing for 15 years innovative and purposeful financial solutions to transform the world
When expertise meets purpose:
15 years of work for Finanças do Bem
By: Bruna Gomes
Our trajectory is marked by actions that have transformed people, places and stories. See what we have achieved in these 15 years of operation!
The results of Finanças do Bem are a source of pride for our partners and collaborators, but do you know how it all came about? Check out our history in retrospect:
The beginning of everything
The year was 2008. In the midst of a global economic crisis, natural disasters and social problems, Leonardo Letelier – CEO of Sitawi – felt a constant discomfort in his work: the lack of purpose caused him to question himself. And so the engineer left his position at a consultancy to dedicate himself to his dream of working with purpose and founding his own social business.
What was once a dream has become a reality and Sitawi has gone further than it could have imagined. The purpose that has always guided the organization has become a consolidated value among the team. Letelier’s expectations were exceeded: “For me, the team would not have more than 12 people, but we intend to close 2023 with 100 people distributed across our four areas of activity.” But what was necessary for this success?
A strong desire to make the world a better place and values aligned with positive impact. These were the ingredients needed to create Sitawi Finanças do Bem, which has been working with financial solutions to boost the third sector for 15 years and this year has established itself as the 5th most influential NGO in Brazil, according to The Dot Good.
Anyone who sees Sitawi in 2023, a reference in the ecosystem, cannot imagine that the beginning was challenging and required a lot of proactivity, innovation and purpose from the employees at the time. As confirmed by Luiza Coimbra, Communication and Marketing Manager:
“At the time, we didn’t have all the structure and capacity that we have today. The challenge was to make a difference, even with more limited human and financial resources. To achieve this, the team’s commitment to socio-environmental transformation was essential, as was creativity and innovation. If today we have an organization that is a reference in what it does, it is because of all the people who have passed through here and contributed with their efforts, their world views and their purpose to boost the reach of Finanças do Bem.”
Retrospective of 15 years of positive impact
Since then, Sitawi has undergone many changes: the team has worked in several locations – Ipanema, Leblon, Botafogo, São Paulo, Amazonas – while structuring new areas of activity, outlining strategies for implementing financial solutions and seeing the number of employees grow exponentially each year. But it was in 2020 that Sitawi underwent a significant turning point: the capital mobilized was multiplied 30 times through actions to combat the pandemic. The expertise and capacity to innovate made it possible to mitigate the effects of the health crisis in Brazil through actions with several partners and civil society.
The more than R$200 million mobilized to combat Covid-19 were the means to achieve the ultimate goal: saving millions of lives that were at risk due to the health crisis. And this was achieved by protecting frontline professionals and expanding health services in several hospitals.
Just like this case, Sitawi has 90 other Philanthropic Funds in its portfolio, which allow the contribution of capital to boost socio-environmental actions. Through a great deal of expertise and a high level of compliance, the organization manages finances and enables the impact on the frontline to be more effective and targeted.
Over the years, the planet has faced problems that threaten global biodiversity. In Brazil, a country rich in biomes and species, this has also been alarming. Recognizing that the Amazon is a priceless Brazilian heritage, Sitawi saw the importance of supporting projects in the region that protect biodiversity from the devastation caused by mining and livestock farming. It was with the support of riverside communities, indigenous people, rubber tappers and community associations that 1 million hectares of the Amazon were preserved. This is one of the results of the Médio Juruá Territory Program, which is coordinated by Sitawi and several strategic partners and local implementers.
In this case, the participation of the indigenous peoples of the region's communities was essential to outline the best conservation strategies, as Chico Mendes – a famous environmentalist – had already predicted:
“Rubber tappers, Indians and riverside dwellers have occupied the forest for over 100 years. They have never threatened. Those who threaten it are agricultural projects, large loggers and hydroelectric plants with their criminal floods.”
In these 15 years, it was not only the Philanthropic Funds that grew. Sitawi, which had already been providing socio-environmental loans since its founding, was a pioneer in the democratization of impact investing in the country. In 2019, the organization launched the Crowdfunding Platform for Impact, which enabled greater access to capital for impact businesses, connecting these social entrepreneurs with people interested in investing and generating positive socio-environmental impact. The Sitawi Platform enabled accessible and responsible investments for everyone, starting at R$ 10.
Sitawi's various fronts of action have contributed to the social innovation sector in a variety of ways: supporting NGOs, financing social businesses, generating knowledge and bringing more visibility to the entire ecosystem. Third sector actions account for 4.27% of Brazil's GDP, as concluded by the research coordinated by Sitawi, an initiative of the Movement for a Culture of Giving and conducted by Fipe. This shows that the reach of these actions is reflected throughout society, boosting the economy and generating jobs, among other benefits for the country.
Sitawi's great results caused restlessness and a desire to do more. The desire to innovate led to the creation of another area of activity. In 2022, we began to manage Equity Funds, in partnership with Endowments do Brasil, in compliance with law 13.800/2019. The first Equity Fund created within the partnership benefits the transvestite cause — in addition to being the first in the country, within the law, focused on the LGBTQIAPN+ cause.
In these 15 years, the work of everyone who contributed to this dream has made great results possible:
For the future, Good Finances
In recent years, the world has begun to pay closer attention to the impact that human action has on society and the environment. For us, positive impact always comes first.
In the year we celebrate 15 years, we celebrate this work through the success of our beneficiaries. This is what you can see in the 4 reports that tell the journeys of Matchfunding Salvando Vidas, Coopercuc, the Programa Território Médio Juruá and the NGO Casa Chama. To find out how Finanças do Bem positively impacted the reality of these institutions and their people, click on the cards below or go back to the main menu and read these stories.
The mission of building a better world will only be possible with many hands — be it from our collaborators, our partners and those who believe and want to contribute to this movement. Let's go together for a positive impact!
