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As president and co-founder of Andrew Hill Investment Advisors, a boutique financial services firm in Naples that specializes in socially-responsible practices, Andy Hill, 55, brings a particular lens to both his firm’s strategies and his own charitable giving.
“We focus on the integration of environmental, social and governance attributes in our research and investment opportunities,” Hill says, “and we invest in entities that consider those factors in the management of their affairs. It may sound like we’re trying to make friends, but the reality is companies that subscribe to those factors tend to produce greater profits with less risk. As I joke with people, it’s more about making money than making friends, but sometimes they coincide.”
Each year, at its annual ESG cocktail party, his company makes donations to local charitable organizations that have been nominated by his clients and vetted by an independent third party. One group is chosen for each category—environmental, social and governance.
“We try to find entities where, if we write them a check, they would actually appreciate it,” Hill says. “There are organizations where a few thousand dollars won’t even raise their attention.”
When it comes to his own giving, Hill recently received an ask he couldn’t refuse.
He maintains close ties with his alma mater, Canisius College, a Jesuit college in Buffalo, N.Y. Though he calls himself “a Protestant kid,” Hill attended Canisius because he’d heard that a Jesuit education would prepare him for the business world. It also taught him the importance of helping others.
So, when one of his former professors from Canisius called to report that a student in the accounting department, a five-year program, had run out of scholarship funds for her fifth year, Hill’s response was easy. The young woman was from Nigeria, an exceptional student, and if she didn’t get funding she would be sent back to her home country. Would Hill help?
He immediately reached out to other alumni from the school’s accounting program, and together they pooled the $25,000 needed to keep the young woman at Canisius for her final year.