Jess Brooks talks about celebrating our accomplishments – and embracing new opportunities

We spend a lot of time talking about creating the change we want to see in the world. We don’t always talk about how we as people and organizations need to change in order to create it. This month, my Sunwealth colleagues and I have been working together to embrace a change I am excited to share here:

This week, I’m stepping out of my full-time role on Sunwealth’s leadership team and into a role on our advisory board. It’s a change I’m ready to make, and I’m grateful to have partners and colleagues willing to support me in it and work closely with me to ensure Sunwealth and our partners emerge stronger as a result. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to reflect here on the growth and change at Sunwealth that help me feel confident making this transition.

WHERE WE’VE BEEN

When Jon and Omar welcomed me to Sunwealth in early 2018, there were five of us. We had close to $7 million under management from less than 100 investors, which we’d put to work in just over three dozen projects. We had a compelling vision – to change who has access to clean energy by changing the way we invest in it – and a business model that harnessed capital from impact-driven investors to bring solar energy, jobs, and savings to underserved markets.

Jess (far right) celebrates our 11 kW solar installation at Mustard Seed Catholic Worker House, completed with Resonant Energy and Endless Energy, back in winter of 2018.

I remember visiting one of our early projects, an 11 kW installation on the roof of Mustard Seed Catholic Worker House, a volunteer-run soup kitchen and food pantry in Worcester, MA. Completed in partnership with Resonant Energy and Endless Energy, the project was one of our smallest. It would provide the organization with $16,000 in lifetime energy savings, about $500 a year. Michael Boover, who helped found Mustard Seed in the 1970s and has led it ever since, took me on a tour of the facility. It included a stop in their clothing pantry, where homeless men could come for winter jackets, clean clothes, and new socks. He explained how important dry socks are when you’re homeless. “If you get wet feet, you get sick. If you get sick, you can die,” he told me. I asked him why going solar mattered for Mustard Seed. He described it as a way to embody the Catholic value of stewardship of creation – how climate change disproportionately affects the poor and how reducing Mustard Seed’s footprint was one way to care for the Earth and its people. As an organization of volunteers on a shoestring budget, he talked about how every dollar mattered. “$500 a year can buy a lot of socks,” he told me.

I shared the story with our team. Without formal discussion, we made it our collective goal to find and finance as many Mustard Seed-like projects as we could – and to lift up the stories of the partners and people who make those projects possible.

WHERE WE ARE

Five years later, we’ve grown in every way. We are a diverse, dynamic team 40 employees strong, committed to democratizing clean energy and figuring out ways to bring its benefits to the people and places that need them most. Together with our partners, we have put over $135 million to work in over 575 community-based solar projects nationwide. For every $1 we invest, our projects will deliver over 50 cents of lifetime savings to our customers, while creating jobs and revenues for the local solar developers and installers who are the lifeblood of strong, regional green economies. Since inception, our projects have continued to provide stable, fixed-income returns to our investors, with no defaults.

We continue to share the stories of partners and projects that embody our vision of a better energy future: like our work with Coalfield Development and Solar Holler in West Virginia, or our low-income community solar projects with the New York City Housing Authority, completed with Bright Power, Sol Purpose, and Solar One, which will bring discounted power to over 500 income-eligible New Yorkers.

Our work to bring affordable clean energy to underserved communities has been recognized by the Department of Energy and the Clean Energy States Alliance; in 2022, CohnReznick named us ESG Gamechanger of the Year and Environmental Finance named us Environmental Fund of the Year.

In these last five years, the challenges we face around climate change and inequality have only grown. But so has our community of partners and allies committed to building a better and more equitable energy future. From policymakers and business leaders to investors and organizers to families and individuals, we’ve seen people step up in unprecedented ways to address these twin challenges for our own sake and for the wellbeing of future generations.

It's a good thing, because the health of our economy and the planet depend on it.

WHERE WE’RE HEADED

When I first joined Sunwealth, Jon asked me to work with the team to create our corporate vision and values. We envisioned a future that puts climate change and inequality on the ropes in this generation. Where impact investing – delivering financial social and environmental returns to all stakeholders in a transaction – becomes mainstream. For all of today’s challenges, that future is now within our reach.

Sunwealth has built a community of partners – including investors, development and installations partners, solar customers and community organizations, and our advisors and board – who share our vision and make our work possible. Together with these partners, we’ve pushed for policies that make clean energy accessible and affordable; at the local and national level, these efforts are gaining real traction.

We have built a pipeline of more than $500 million community-based projects that we’re excited to bring to life – projects that deliver on the promise of a better energy future by providing clean power, green jobs, and savings to all of our communities.

We’ve continued to invest in our systems, putting in place the people, processes, and technologies it will take to grow our business and maintain the level of quality, impact, and performance our partners deserve.

Finally, we continue to grow and strengthen our team: a small but mighty group of individuals who routinely step up to embody Sunwealth’s values, solve hard problems, and put shoulder to the wheel to get projects done. Their willingness to step up – to meet today’s challenges and envision tomorrow’s promise – gives me confidence to step back. I know they will rise to the occasion, continue to deliver, and evolve to meet our market’s changing needs.

Omar, who has always been my behind-the-scenes co-conspirator on Sunwealth capitalization, will continue to lead our investor development efforts, supported by our able and indomitable team including Darreck Mitchell, Tori Trojano, and Martha Buckley. Our investor management team, led by Kathy Castle, will ensure that investors continue to get paid and tax documents get sent. Christian Morris will continue to tell the stories of our partners and projects to all who listen.

While I’m leaving my day-to-day Sunwealth role, as a member of the advisory board (not to mention a Sunwealth shareholder and Solar Impact Fund investor!), I will continue to be a proud ambassador of our mission and work. I will continue to support our team as they work to grow this business and deliver on our vision of a more equitable energy economy. I remain as committed to that vision as ever and will work hard to make it a reality.

I’m grateful to Jon and Omar for welcoming me to the Sunwealth team five years ago – and to our whole team for supporting me as I embark on my next endeavor. I look forward to watching (and helping!) Sunwealth continue to grow, succeed, and set the standard for inclusive clean energy investment in the months and years to come.

Creating Change Takes Change

Jess Brooks talks about celebrating our accomplishments – and embracing new opportunities