Stories

Shared by Wereld van Filantropie

Dutch charitable foundations with ANBI status can make impact investments in private companies. In practice, however, this option is rarely utilized. This leaves significant potential untapped, particularly regarding mission-driven, steward-owned companies. This is the argument put forward by Roy van den Heuvel and Robin Z. Tharakan.

During this internship, you’ll learn from two organizations working in the field of impact investing: Stichting PYM and the Donor Impact Invest Fund (DIIF). Both are working to channel more private capital to entrepreneurs who are building solutions to the greatest challenges of our time. You’ll help raise the profile of these initiatives and expand their reach.

During Frank's Friday, Herman Wijffels spoke about the great shifts of our time. Not driven by the news of the day, but from a deeper level. The level beneath the headlines. Beneath the political turmoil. Beneath the societal polarization.

Naomi is the sole grandchild and third generation in her family business, which focuses on mobile cranes and logistics real estate. Some years ago, she discovered impact investing and started sector-agnostically. She now has a dedicated impact team, with a focus on the built environment.

During a gathering hosted by PYM, Borski Fund and Cross-Border Impact Ventures, investors and entrepreneurs explored why women's health remains significantly underfunded. A conversation about market opportunities, impact, innovation and the role of capital in one of today's most overlooked investment categories.

What does good due diligence actually look like in impact investing? How do you ask the right question to move beyond spreadsheets to truly understand a venture's potential - both in terms of return and impact?

Shared by Asterion Ventures

What role can family capital play in shaping Europe's future? Asterion Ventures brought together family offices from across Europe to explore how long-term, patient capital can accelerate innovation and industrial transformation.

What would it take for Europe to build a more resilient, energy-independent future? Olivia Lazard explores the vision of the “Electro Union” in this two-part essay series published by Norrsken.

In a world that is rapidly digitalizing and polarizing, there is a growing realization that our greatest challenges are not merely technical or financial. The core solution often lies in something far more fundamental: social cohesion.

A reflection on Build Tomorrow Today: insights from the community, concrete next steps and Trix Klerks’ personal takeaways.

Sister and brother Stephanie and Adriaan ran the family business together for many years, originally founded by their grandfather in 1937. After selling the company, they each chose separately to invest part of their wealth in impact.

PYM welcomes Anke de Boer as Partnerships Manager, where she will support the further growth of PYM’s network of conscious investors, families, and ecosystem partners in Europe.

Shared by Rubio Impact Ventures

Our portfolio partners are out there solving some of the world’s toughest challenges. This is where we share their steps, breakthroughs, and adventures along the way, with a little Rubio news sprinkled in.

Shared by Pymwymic

How do you reward impact, not just financial performance? Pymwymic shares how the “Impact Carrot” helps embed impact into company governance.

Annegien is Founder & Lead Angel of the Catalyst Impact Investment Club, which focuses on Regenerative Tech companies: start-ups with the potential to heal and repair our planet and society. 

Shared by Rubio Impact Ventures

2025 highlights. We believe the most valuable companies of our time are the ones solving society's biggest problems.

With PYM’s Picks, we select the most inspiring articles, podcasts, and reports from the world of impact investing every month. We believe that good ideas and critical analyses help us move forward together – as investors, entrepreneurs, and changemakers.

PYM Belgium Impact Day 2025 brought together impact investors, entrepreneurs, and changemakers to explore how we can rethink the way we love, build, eat, and invest.

Michiel is an impact investor with a focus on climate. Since selling his company in 2022, he has been investing his capital, time, strategy, and involvement in the energy transition, particularly in sustainable innovation and scalable initiatives. He invests in funds and directly, preferably with entrepreneurs who combine vision with a sense of reality.

With PYM’s Picks, we select the most inspiring articles, podcasts, and reports from the world of impact investing every month. We believe that good ideas and critical analyses help us move forward together – as investors, entrepreneurs, and changemakers.

Shared by Pymwymic

What makes agrifoodtech investing different? Pymwymic shares five lessons learned from years of investing in food and agriculture innovation.

Tim Noortman is an experienced impact investor with a passion for creating ‘emotional safe spaces’. Tim is a founding father of PYM and Wire Group and lives in a residential community with 130 adults and 50 children on 7 hectares of urban farmland.

With PYM’s Picks, we select the most inspiring articles, podcasts, and reports from the world of impact investing every month. We believe that good ideas and critical analyses help us move forward together – as investors, entrepreneurs, and changemakers.

Shared by Pymwymic

What is it like to raise capital with Pymwymic? Investor Sophie Pickering shares a behind-the-scenes look at how the fund works with founders — from first conversations to investment and beyond.

Maud van Beuningen began her career in law. She worked in the legal profession and as a lawyer both in the Netherlands and abroad, in project finance and at an investment office. She is now an executive at PYM. Her strong sense of justice remains an important motivation in everything she does.

‘The only business plan for Europe is to accelerate investment in energy. And for that, in addition to governments and pension funds, private investors are also needed.’ That was the urgent message from Diederik Samsom, one of the speakers at the symposium Opportunities for Energy Independence on June 16 in Amsterdam.

In this podcast, Frank talks about capital, joy, and responsibility. For him, "joy" is central: a deep, lasting inner state that comes from living a meaningful life. He finds this joy, among other things, in using his money for a better world, something he sees as his calling. 

We've asked an artist to make a live summary of the event and collected four attendees' takeaways to give you an idea of what happened on 6 & 7 April in Amsterdam.

The life story of Frank van Beuningen reads like an adventure book. Of very wealthy descent, no talent for studying, and ended up on Wall Street at a young age. Now he is mostly concerned with getting wealthy people to put their money to work doing something good for the planet.

Ilse Bastmeijer started the Goeie Grutten foundation in 2016, using family wealth. She soon discovered impact investing. Now, she is both an impact investor and a philanthropist with a focus on food, energy, democracy, privacy, and media.

Marleen Kappert invests directly and via funds in innovative future-proof companies. She invested her first savings on the stock exchange and built her own impact portfolio. As a risk entrepreneur, she finances and invests in affordable and sustainable housing.

Shared by Pymwymic

More than 250 private investors and seven institutional partners joined Pymwymic’s second impact fund to accelerate the transition towards healthier and more regenerative food systems. Read more about the fund and its mission.

Pioneering in the field of social entrepreneurship, he has encountered resistance - not least from his affluent family members. But to his great satisfaction, Frank van Beuningen knows how to get the younger generations on board. (Interview in the Volkskrant in Dutch)

Software can create new opportunities for access, inclusion, monetisation and long-term economic benefit in many parts of the world. AI, blockchain and quantum technologies, if used responsibly, will exponentially increase this impact.

Shared by Cross-Border Impact Ventures

The Impact Report 2024 of the Women's and Children's Health Technology Fund.

After founding two tech startups, Jochem Wieringa turned his attention to alternative financial services. Now, Jochem is an impact investor with a focus on Africa, where the perceived risk is high and the additionality is significant.

Basile Aloy, along with his mother and sister, invests in impact. The Belgian family is currently setting up a foundation and a venture capital fund to systematically improve sustainability within the maritime sector. 

PYM Director Suzanne Rosman shares the 6 key takeaways from her first Impact Days.

As of the 13th of May, Suzanne Rosman has joined PYM to lead and strengthen the organisation to expand its rapidly growing community of impact investors and professionals in Europe.

Since 2019, Nanke Den Daas and her daughters Wieteke and Lonneke Zuure have been running an impact-investment Family Office together. The three women invest with a focus on regenerative agriculture and water, both in funds and directly, inspired by various wisdoms and backgrounds. In addition, Nanke is also the Chair of Pymwymic’s investment committee. Nanke and Wieteke share their story.

Idgar van Kippersluis is our newest PYM ambassador. He began his career in management consulting and then founded a hands-on investment company. But after nearly twenty years in private equity, he is now looking for more impact. 

Since 2011, the Impact Days have grown into the most prominent gathering for private wealth holders in the Benelux (and beyond) that focuses purely on impact. This year, we are once again bringing the impact investment community together.

Edmond Hilhorst worked for a Dutch bank for many years, until he became an entrepreneur himself. After selling his share in the company, he decided to support other entrepreneurs who wanted to make an impact and became an avid impact investor.

During PYM Impact Day Belgium 2023, thought leaders, impact investors and impact fund managers gathered in the heart of Brussels. What were the key takeaways?

 PYM's Alexandra Korijn is among this year's Top 50 Women in Sustainable Financ, this list gathers female leaders in the Netherlands who are dedicated to driving sustainability within the financial sector.

After their family business was sold Nicole sought advice from a traditional asset-managing firm, but she soon realized that she couldn't separate financial profit from sustainability and societal impact

Ad van der Sluijs started his impact journey in 2010: from developmental aid to entrepreneurship. With this breadth of experience, he now advises other families in their journey towards impact.

Philippe Lambrecht, the newest PYM board member, worked in traditional finance for over 30 years, until 2016 when he began his impact journey.

Q&A about the PYM Impact Days 2023: 'Imagining the New Economy', which took place in Driebergen on the 23rd and 24th of April.

After two incredibly inspiring days, Emma Schootstra came home full of ideas, motivation and urgency.  These are her six main takeaways.

André Annicq is a long-standing member of PYM. He has headed several companies and is currently leading FluiTec, a disruptor in the emerging CleanTech space.

Alexandra is the content curator for PYM’s Impact Days and Women’s Wealth Matters. An active member of the impact community, she is passionate about enabling systems change towards a regenerative, impact economy.

Willemijn is a Dutch impact investor, strongly focused on Africa. She has worked in healthcare & wellness throughout her career, aiming to improve people’s well-being.

After Jolanda brought one of the first online travel companies to great success, she decided to put all her know-how into the world of impact investing; looking for investments where she could really make a difference.

What prevents people from investing money in their ideals? Lisette & Marilou try to answer this question and ask for your support by filling out their survey.

How could systems in the world become more sustainable and equitable? Simply start by reimagining them.

Together with his wife Astrid Guus started researching philanthropy first, but it did not feel like the answer to their situation. And then impact investing was brought to their attention.

Rense Bos, author of "Zie Impact," sat down with PYM'ers Frank van Beuningen and Alexandra Korijn to discuss using your financial assets differently.

After working for 16 years as CEO of the American division of her family business, Els returned to Belgium to establish The Nest family office. Driven by a passion for people and their well-being, her goal is to increase the scale of impact on people's lives.

One of our founders, Frank van Beuningen, spoke with the Impact Investor Podcast about starting the Impact Investing movement in the Netherlands and how he sees its future.

Maurits left a long career in banking to focus on impact. In 2017 he founded Blue Parasol Investments with his wife.

We're looking back at an incredibly inspiring first Impact Investing Day in Brussels on March 17.

During PYM’s Impact Days, our perspective of ‘Mother Nature’ was challenged. We thought we’d further explore this through an interview with Earth.

After selling his company in 2015, Fernando embarked on a journey of change. Together with his father he started a family office dedicated to impact investing.

Liet started impact investing only 1 year ago, in the midst of the first lockdown, after attending PYM's Women's Wealth Matters event.

Peter started engaging in philanthropy very early on in his career. After a while, however, he became aware that his ‘helping’ was not very effective.

Eva Yazhari built an impact investment fund impacting the lives of over 20 million low-income individuals through market-based solutions.

PYM's Belgian boardmember Myleen Verstraete spoke with van Lanschot BE, BNP Paribas Fortis & Marie-Claire about impact investing. (in Dutch)

According to Edwin Backes impact investing may become mainstream within the next decade, as the next generation stands to inherit vast amounts of money. 

Siemon has been an IT entrepreneur since age 18, but when he sold his last company, he started considering the environment around him... He met Fernando and was introduced to PYM.

From food retail to changemaker hub, Piet explains how he has stimulated impact in all its forms.

Maaike explains how journalism and impact investing go hand in hand.

With the aim of accelerating the growth of impact investing in Belgium, Myleen explains how she is fully committed to making it the new norm.

According to Frank van Beuningen, you should do both: invest as well as give.

An analysis by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that 32% (over 70 trillion dollars) of the world's wealth is held by women.

Corinne Heijn facilitates the Women’s Wealth Matters program, a place especially for female investors.

There is a fundamental shift taking place in the investment world that will change the financial markets, says Edwin Backes, the chairman of PYM. "We founded PYM to help accelerate the transition to responsible and impact investing in the Benelux."