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Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Reimagining Capitalism Ford Foundation’s Roy Swan makes the case for ‘positive-sum’ capitalism (podcast). Roy Swan …
Ford Foundation’s Roy Swan makes the case for 'positive-sum' capitalism (podcast). Roy Swan begins his new book with a compelling anecdote. Carrying the ball as a high school tailback, he leaped into the end zone for a touchdown, only to catch his foot and land smack on the crown of his head. Doctors told his family his smashed vertebrae meant he might be paralyzed for life. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Swan says on the latest Agents of Impact podcast. Experimental techniques and an innovative surgeon allowed him to make a full recovery, and even to run track six months later. And the injury steered him away from football and ultimately to a career in finance, including as co-head of global sustainable finance at Morgan Stanley and now as head of mission investing at Ford Foundation, where he oversees a $1.3 billion carveout from Ford’s endowment. The incident “changed my whole life, put me on a different path, opened up a whole new world,” he says. Swan uses it to make a broader point that conventional wisdom is often wrong. “We are operating under collective illusions,” he says.
Citi Impact Fund commits $25 million to tackle the housing affordability gap. A shortage of new homes and surging prices have put homeownership out of reach for many Americans. Citi Impact Fund is betting on tech innovation to address the challenge. The $500 million fund has committed $25 million to invest in “catalytic, innovative” tech solutions to expand housing access and affordability. “We see an opportunity in this technological revolution we’re in to drive improved affordability and access for communities across the country,” Citi Impact Fund’s Meredith Shields told ImpactAlpha.
PRI at 20. The Principles for Responsible Investment was launched 20 years ago by then-UN secretary general Kofi Annan. It has gone from a dozen or so supporters of responsible investment principals to more than 5,000 signatories managing $139 trillion in assets, according to the group. Now PRI is trying to walk a line between staying true to its mission and dodging the political attacks on environmental, social and governance that have many asset managers taking cover. Last year, asset management giant Vanguard withdrew its US-based business from the pact but left its European and Australian businesses on board. British Columbia Investment Management, the $265 billion pension fund manager, left the group earlier this year. In December, PRI named Cambria Allen Ratzlaff of the Human Capital Management Coalition as interim CEO, replacing David Atkin, who stepped down after four years. PRI is looking to global markets for growth. “While responsible investment is embedded across global capital markets, its future will increasingly be determined in emerging markets,” PRI says on its website.
Reinvestment Fund appoints Frank Fernandez, former president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, as president and CEO, effective in September. He succeeds Donald Hinkle-Brown, who is launching a new consulting firm called Emergent Impacts… Kari Groth Swan steps down as executive director of the Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority… Aligned Climate Capital welcomes Meg Sprotte, previously with Greenbacker, as an associate… Boston Impact Initiative taps Leah Brickman as an impact investing intern.
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The Principles for Responsible Investment’s 2026 Transparency Reporting window closes July 29. As signatories ourselves and consultants to private fund managers across the …
When I first started working in venture capital in India, what stood out to me was how differently the market functioned once I …
In May 2025, in Mokwa, Niger State, a devastating flood swept through homes in the early hours of the morning. Over 500 people …
I have spent more than two decades financing renewable energy projects and providing blended finance to agri-SMEs in Africa. I have watched as …
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Brazil is the world’s largest poultry exporter and one of its biggest dairy producers, yet the small and mid-sized farmers who supply those …
Ask a debt fund manager about gender-lens investing in their portfolio, and you’ll likely hear the same refrain: “We care, but our hands …
The deals, people and strategies optimizing AI for the public interest. In partnership with Siegel Family Endowment.
In much of impact investing, AI is being treated as no longer optional. New tools promising faster diligence, cleaner reporting, and more efficient …
Artificial intelligence has been called the technology shift of a lifetime. For Generation Investment Management, it could also be the sustainability shift of, …
When SpaceX completed its IPO last month, many investors celebrated one of the most successful technology investments in modern history. The company raised …
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Rey Ramsey has spent his career refusing the options he’s been handed. Instead, he’s expanded the range of available choices, in housing, technology, …
Host Joy Anderson welcomes her brother, the philosopher Joel Anderson, to discuss how AI is changing the way we work. While AI can …
A growing chorus of stakeholders is calling for “broad-based ownership” of AI. But what does that mean in practice? And what would move …
Recently, Alphabet announced the ubiquitous Google search bar will be completely powered by artificial intelligence. This comes as the parent company of Google …
Detroit, Mich. – Detroit is shedding its underdog stance for a more inclusive pitch: the Motor City as an AI-era launchpad where tech innovation …
Strategies for investing in the ownership economy, wealth-creation and shared prosperity, in partnership with Sorenson Impact Foundation.
The growing number of ‘alternative ownership enterprises’ shows how varied the approaches to growing employee ownership have become. Since 2024, Transform Finance has …
The Gihekdagye Friendship Centre, an Indigenous social services organization, provides cultural and educational programming, health and wellness services, housing assistance and homelessness outreach …
As we celebrate the nation’s 250th, there’s been a lot of talk lately about the American dream, and I’ve gotten to be in …
Ownership has long been at the center of the American dream. Home ownership is a hallmark of the middle class and small business …
A recent McKinsey report puts the stakes of the Great Ownership Transition in stark terms. By 2035, roughly 6 million small and medium-size …
A growing chorus of stakeholders is calling for “broad-based ownership” of AI. But what does that mean in practice? And what would move …
It was Patrick Terry’s childhood dream to own a burger stand. He and his wife Kathy opened one on a corner in Austin, …
Calvert Impact has long backed, or created, strategies that expand economic opportunity in underinvested communities. But ownership, the Bethesda, Maryland-based nonprofit impact investing …
Tobias Harris is trying to keep his Detroit Pistons alive in the NBA playoffs, where they trail his former team, the Orlando Magic, …
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