Impact

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  Impact_Cover_Photo

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  Impact_Logo

What it does:

Our goal was to develop an app/website to provide environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information to prospective impact investors. We did this by using Python to scrape companies' yearly filings from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) website via sentiment analysis for positive/negative polarity and disclosure of ESG factors.

How we built it:

We used Python to scrape company information from the SEC Edgar database using an SEC API. We used natural language processing to parse and compare positive/negative diction within the company filings. For positive and negative diction, we used word lists from Henry as well as Loughran and McDonald. We then calculated a polarity score that gives a positive or negative lean. Unfortunately, there are no existing word libraries related specifically to ESG; therefore, we created libraries for all three categories based on industry disclosure metrics. This gives us scores for positive and negative sentiment, environmental, social, and governance disclosures.

How can anyone use it:

Using Figma, we developed an app interface that allows new investors to focus on investing in companies that focus on ESG in their SEC disclosures.

Challenges we ran into:

The main challenge that we ran into is that the SEC API limits the use that one IP address can have. After running it several times, yielding encouraging results, we were not able to continue with our primary research for free. Additionally, our lack of experience with Figma was challenging.

Accomplishments that we're proud of:

Although Figma provided a challenge and the initial search for an ESG word library was unsuccessful, the experience of working through these challenges and creating our own word library provided us with an appreciation for our new skills. Additionally, the user interface, which at first was an afterthought, became the face of our project, with a slogan, logo, and mascot.

What we learned:

We learned that the SEC API limited the number of daily uses, and we also learned how to create our own data library using ESG-related diction. Additionally, we learned how to implement Figma to create an interface.

Impact moving forward:

If we additional time to develop Impact, we would create a self-sufficient data library, with ESG scores of companies being able to be searched and viewed by inputting the company ticker. Additionally, we could pull yearly filings from previous years, seeing how sentiment has changed over time, and compare them to other companies within similar industries. Overall, we are proud of the PowerPoint, app, and code that we designed and could see it becoming a way for change within the financial industry.

Built With

• figma
• procreate
• python