Alterfin was born because a group of organisations and citizens believed that investing could be an act of solidarity, not charity; an act of responsibility, not extraction. They chose a cooperative structure because they wanted ownership, decision-making, and purpose to remain aligned over time — even when markets, crises, or trends would push in other directions.

That choice has shaped everything that followed.

When investors become co-owners

As a cooperative, Alterfin does not work for shareholders. It works with co-op members. This difference may seem subtle, but it changes the logic of investment entirely.

When you become a cooperative member, you do not simply expect a return. You accept shared responsibility. You join a community that agrees to look beyond short-term performance and ask harder questions:

Who does this investment serve? What does it make possible? What risks are worth taking – and for whom?

Because ownership is shared, responsibility is shared too. This has allowed Alterfin to remain patient when returns were uncertain, to stand by partners in times of crisis, and to invest where impact is real but not always easy to measure or monetise.

Choosing long-term impact over short-term comfort

Unlike many investment structures, a cooperative has no external shareholders demanding constant growth or quick exits. This freedom has been essential.

It has allowed Alterfin to:

• Support organisations that are smaller or earlier-stage,
• Take informed risks where social value is highest,
• Maintain long-term commitments in fragile contexts, and
• Reinvest more value into impact rather than extraction.

These choices are not always the most comfortable. But they are consistent with what members have asked for over three decades: finance that remains faithful to people’s realities.

Listening before measuring

Over time, Alterfin realised that staying true to this mission required more than good intentions. It required listening – deeply and systematically – to the people whose lives are touched by the investments made in their name.

That is why impact has never been a side activity at Alterfin. It has become a way of learning.

By engaging directly with farmers and entrepreneurs reached through partner organisations, Alterfin has sought to understand not only what changes, but also how and why it changes. These insights have helped challenge assumptions, reveal blind spots, and improve decisions.

Impact, in this sense, is not about proving success. It is about becoming better.

From impact to human yield

As Alterfin approaches the end of its 30th anniversary, this journey has found a name: human yield.

Human yield expresses something members have intuitively supported from the beginning. It recognises that financial return matters – but it is not the full story. What also matters is income stability, resilience, dignity, confidence, and the ability to plan for the future.

Human yield is not an abstract concept. It is a way of reconnecting investment decisions with lived realities, especially at a time when impact finance risks becoming increasingly standardised and distant from the people it claims to serve.

A cooperative idea of interdependence

At its core, human yield reflects a cooperative truth: your wellbeing is connected to mine.

Stronger farmers, entrepreneurs and communities elsewhere contribute to more stable societies everywhere. By pooling capital and responsibility, cooperative members have helped turn this belief into practice – again and again, over thirty years.

This is what makes Alterfin’s way of doing impact investing different. Not because it is perfect, but because it is accountable – to its members, to its partners, and to the people whose lives are shaped by the investments made together.

Investing together, learning together

Thirty years on, Alterfin remains a collective endeavour. Human yield is not a destination but a compass – helping guide capital toward where it can do the most good and helping the cooperative learn how to do better.

To all our cooperative members, past and present: this story is yours.

Every investment made, every risk accepted, every decision guided by solidarity has contributed to a form of finance that continues to believe – and prove – that investing in people works. And that its return, measured in human yield, is worth building together.