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Local news publishers seek impact financing for ‘civic infrastructure.’ If the darkest hour is just before dawn, publishers of local online news sites are looking forward to sunrise. This month, the Minnesota Star Tribune, seen as one of the few survivors amid the decimation of local newspapers, announced it would cut about 15% of its staff. The for-profit Strib, as it’s known, is exploring an ownership transition to a non-profit foundation to attract philanthropic funding. “The business model and organizational footprint that has sustained local news for generations is undergoing its biggest disruption ever,” publisher Steve Grove said in a memo to employees. Publishers in some states are pressing for public funding as well. But many nonprofit newsrooms are eager to move beyond grant funding and get ready for loans, revenue-based financing and even equity-type investments to grow their readership and their revenues. Such catalytic capital has helped expand financing options for affordable housing, community development finance, financial inclusion, clean energy, and arts and culture organizations. “Local news shares many of the same characteristics of those sectors before their financing markets matured,” Public Media Co.’s Caroline Ross writes in “Catalytic capital for local news,” a new report from the philanthropic collaborative Press Forward. “The public need is clear, the social value is high, business models are evolving, markets are fragmented, and growth often requires patient capital, technical assistance and risk tolerance.”
Climate First raises $67 million to combine impact retail banking and solar lending. One look at the big ugly bar charts illustrating banks' addiction to financing fossil fuels would make anyone rethink who they bank with. Climate First Bancorp launched its green banking products in 2021 to give US bank account holders an alternative. "Ultimately it's our individual deposits that are financing a lot of the problems in the world, whether it's climate-related and oil and gas infrastructure, whether it's weapons manufacturing, whether it's private prisons," said Climate First's Chris Castro. The company's mission is to be an institution "where individuals and businesses can have their deposits in a place where they're leveraged for good." The Florida-based company operates Climate First Bank, a FDIC-insured bank, and OneEthos, a regulated fintech company supporting solar lending for both lending institutions and installers. Wellington Management and Alliance Bernstein are backing the company with $67 million to grow its base of green banking customers and its support for solar installations, which stands at more than 9,000 projects.
Archipelago Ventures brings a collective approach to investing in circular materials (podcast). Plastics are so 1950s. “Everyone's coming to the idea that we need to rethink the traditional polymer and plastic economy, which developed in the 1950s and has remained fairly static up until now,” says Archipelago Ventures’ Lucy Mortimer. “The number of patents being filed for this sector – let's call it broadly circular economy – is seeing exponential growth.” Mortimer, who has an environmental finance background, and Justin Guest, a chemist, launched Archipelago Ventures in 2020 to invest in materials innovation, from new chemistries that can replace fossil fuel inputs, to enzymes that deconstruct composite textiles, to AI-powered sorting systems that can distinguis between various cheap forms of nylon. “What we look for are technologies that can take a waste stream that is undervalued and give it more value,” Mortimer tells ImpactAlpha on the latest Agents of Impact podcast.
Ángel Cabrera of the Georgia Institute of Technology will join the Aspen Institute as president and CEO this November, succeeding Dan Porterfield… Allyson Tucker of the Washington State Investment Board, and Scott Chan of CalSTRS join the Ownership Works board of directors… IDB Invest's Aldo Malpartida will become head of infrastructure and energy for the Caribbean Region at the development lender.
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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 …
African startups are joining the AI race, on their own terms. From Nairobi to Lagos to Johannesburg, local entrepreneurs are building on open …
No rule or regulator required Anthropic to pause the release of its new Mythos model. The San Francisco-based AI company voluntarily limited its …
Refiant AI’s plan for curbing AI data centers’ surging energy demands isn’t more energy production, it’s shrinking AI models’ energy needs. The US …
“AI is more suited to ‘move slow to move fast’ than ‘move fast and break things’.“ A New York-based partner at a billion-dollar-plus …
On the streets of Austin, Tesla’s Optimus robot served drinks to SXSW revelers. Nearby, a pint-sized android flipped the bird at passersby. The …
In January, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published “The Adolescence of Technology,” arguing that AI is powerful enough to reshape society but not yet …
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Anthropic’s standoff with the Pentagon puts impact investors’ …
Inside the big business of impact investing.
Plastics are so 1950s. “Everyone’s coming to the idea that we need to rethink the traditional polymer and plastic economy, which developed in …
With their supply chains, their manufacturing and their operations, family business leaders in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and other economic hubs in Asia …
Venture capital firms are placing increasingly large bets on pre-revenue startups. Infrastructure and private equity buyout funds are looking to take control of …
A decade ago, the board of Toronto-based Inspirit Foundation committed 100% of its portfolio, in public and private holdings, to impact. In 10 …
An invitation to meaningful and necessary change is not an invitation to ease, elegance or glamor. Organizers of last week’s Katapult Future Fest …
The places that need climate capital the most have long gotten the least. The outcome of global efforts to mitigate the worst effects …
Private equity giants have long sought access to Americans’ retirement accounts. The White House is no longer standing in their way. In August …
Liechtenstein-based Adolf H. Lundin Charitable Foundation has deployed a range of financial tools to invest more than $110 million in African companies and …
A large private equity firm in Asia isn’t satisfied with merely being “advanced” in its practice of gender lens investing. For its next …
Provocative opinions and insightful analysis from the community
In early 2026, Anthropic stepped back from a significant engagement with the Pentagon. The decision turned on something harder than a financial calculation: …
Residents of East Carroll Parish, Louisiana did everything they could. For six years, a coalition of faith leaders and local organizers ran door-to-door …
Go to almost any film festival and you’re likely to hear filmmakers bemoan the dire straits of film financing. It’s never been harder …
The “Resilient Capital Stacks” series has highlighted how local leaders blend public, private and philanthropic dollars to build climate infrastructure rooted in specific …
For years, corporate America has talked a big game about expanding economic opportunity in underserved communities. The rhetoric has been plentiful. The measurable …
Every piece of infrastructure I have ever worked on carries an invisible assumption. Somewhere in the design calculations, buried in a drainage coefficient, …
Roughly a third of impact funds appear credible on first read: They have clear theses, polished SDG mappings and well-designed reports. Yet those …
Sustainability investing in Asia is entering a more operational phase, but many global investors are still analysing the region primarily through ESG disclosures, …
Investing in health does not automatically optimize health impact. While investee success can often correlate with better patient outcomes, the picture remains incomplete …
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