RSF Social Finance Employee Profile: Anna Lin-Campbell
by Jenn Raley Miller
As part of our Social Impact Assessment (as mentioned in RSF’s 2014 Annual Report), RSF Social Finance employees answer a series of questions about the impact of our culture and work on them. A key assumption is that working on oneself is an important aspect of transforming the way the world works with money. The following is a glimpse into one employee’s personal journey.
Meet Anna Lin-Campbell, Corporate Secretary and Senior Administrative Assistant to the Executive Team. The primary focus of Anna’s work at RSF is to support our Board of Trustees. Anna joined RSF in January 2013 after seven years in the health insurance industry. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley.
What are some aspects of RSF’s Purpose, Values, and Operating Principles that you find most motivating or inspiring?
Equality, interdependence, trust…
What really inspires me is the potential for creating a better paradigm if everyday people learned how their financial choices impact the whole. RSF is striving to bring more trust and inclusiveness/equality into finance as an alternative to the impersonal, complex financial system of today that often leaves out, and leaves behind, those who “have not”. RSF provides opportunities for anyone to put their money to work – starting at $1,000 – in alignment with their values. I’m inspired that we help participants in financial transactions better understand each other’s needs and intentions.
How would you describe what it means for RSF to be “inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner”?
Steiner was an Austrian philosopher whose ideas about “associative economics” inspire RSF’s work to transform the way the world works with money from an economy with opaque financial transactions to an economy in which everyone considers the needs of others involved, recognizes our fundamental interdependence, and transactions are direct, transparent and personal.
In what ways has your understanding about money changed over the past year? Can you give examples?
Over the past year, something finally clicked and I’ve found myself becoming more aware of the impact money can have in bringing about positive change in society. As a new mom, I’ve started to really rethink the importance of having access to food that supports future generations of healthier people and planet. Voting with dollars is a strong force for change; it’s amazing to see how consumer demand for more nutritional or organic food, for example, has changed the business practices of so many mainstream food companies. Even Taco Bell is removing artificial ingredients from its menu!
I now have a better understanding of the real value of buying local/sustainable food and knowing where it comes from—especially after learning from Leslie Christian’s blog post about the plight of many Mexican migrant farmers forced into slave labor camps in large-scale agribusinesses to grow off-season tomatoes for the U.S. market. Recognizing how interconnected we all are, my deep concern for others and the environment compels me to be informed and spend money more mindfully. As Leslie puts it, “we have a right and a responsibility to know where our food comes from”.
In what ways has your understanding of compensation changed as a result of being part of RSF?
RSF has made a huge effort to be as transparent as possible in communication with staff regarding compensation. The trust involved with prospective pay – the idea that RSF pays at the beginning of the pay period, so employees’ needs are met so they can bring their “whole selves” to work – is so unique and innovative. I never realized that there could be different ways to handle compensation other than the standard way of paying after a transaction or service was completed.
Jenn is Senior Human Resources Manager at RSF Social Finance.
