The Brief

The Brief: Shareholder advisors retreat on diversity as proxy season begins

ImpactAlpha · February 26, 2025

Greetings Agents of Impact! This month’s edition of ImpactAlpha Latin America drops later today. Opt-in to receive the specialized newsletter at no additional cost. ¡Disfruta! – Dennis Price

In today’s Brief:

  • Diversity in the boardroom 
  • AI-powered youth mental health
  • Responsible mining 
  • Latin America’s impact LPs and GPs flip the pitch

Proxy advisors follow big brands in ditching diversity guidelines. First, it was the corporations. Now, the proxy advisors. As this year’s corporate annual meeting season kicked into gear, the influential proxy-vote advisor Institutional Shareholder Services, or ISS, announced it would stop considering the gender, racial and ethnic diversity of US companies’ boards when recommending election or reelection of directors. Its main rival, Glass Lewis, is mulling a similar move. “While we firmly believe that diversity contributes to improved company performance and long-term shareholder value, given the uncompromising, hardline position of the current US administration, we may in fact determine that it is in our clients’ best interest for Glass Lewis to change its approach,” Glass Lewis’ John Wieck wrote in a note to clients last week. The decision by ISS, says As You Sow’s Andrew Behar, “is a clear abdication to political pressure at the expense of clients and sets a path for intentional financial underperformance – a possible breach of fiduciary duty.” Asset managers BlackRock and Vanguard have also weakened their board diversity guidelines, emphasizing board “composition” and skills instead.

  • Tom, Dick and Sally. Some 80% of board directors are white men. As the provocatively named campaign, So Many Dicks, points out, “There are 2x more men named Richard, Rich, and Rick than Hispanic women. Black and Asian women barely outnumber men named Dick.” A recommendation for a board director by ISS can increase the probability of a candidate being elected by more than 15%, writes Behar in his latest Fiduciary Future column on ImpactAlpha. Studies from McKinsey and As You Sow have shown statistically significant financial outperformance by firms with higher gender and racial diversity in management. “As You Sow believes a board requires the most qualified professionals with a broad range of lived experience,” says Behar. The nonprofit’s As You Vote policy recommends that the ideal board includes 50% women and 40% diverse, non-white male, directors. Read Behar’s full post.
  • Don’t say DEI. In a politically charged environment, even investors and institutions that embrace diversity equity and inclusion, or DEI, to drive business performance may avoid using the term. In a separate guest post on ImpactAlpha, ESG advisor Mikaela Murekian says it may be time to reframe the conversation. “The real challenge isn’t about meeting quotas; it’s about uncovering potential structural barriers that prevent organizations from reflecting the diverse client base they serve.” Companies that fail to mirror their markets risk losing both relevance and revenue, she says. Murekian shares five measurable indicators that are critical for long-term competitiveness and advancing the goals of diversity, equity and inclusion – without the “buzzwords, labels or fluff.” Among the suggestions: Analyze staff turnover. “High turnover is costly, disruptive, and often a symptom of deeper organizational issues,” she says. Also: Track promotion patterns across teams and demographics to reveal gaps in professional development. Keep reading.

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Dealflow: Healthy Youth

Sonar snags $2.4 million for AI-powered mental health support for students. Since 2022, Stanford, Calif.-based Sonar Mental Health has partnered with nine school districts, from California to Arkansas, to provide preventative mental healthcare for more than 4,500 adolescents. Students get access to Sonny, Sonar’s AI-powered “well-being companion,” which provides mental health support to students via text messages. The chatbot learns and adapts to each student’s unique needs to help manage stress during college applications, conflicts with friends, or dealing with grief. Critics say mental health chatbots can sometimes do more harm than good. Sonny’s algorithm is built and managed with oversight from a board of psychiatrists, counselors, researchers and AI experts. “Nearly every school in the US is under-resourced, with the mental health support system across school districts remaining completely disjointed,” said Marta-Gaia Zanchi of VC Nina Capital, which led Sonar’s pre-seed funding round. “Sonar is bringing something entirely new to the market, supporting students all over the country with desperately needed mental health resources.”

  • Chronic absenteeism. Nearly half of adolescents in the US have had a mental health disorder, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorders. This has worsened chronic absenteeism, when a student misses at least 18 school days. Sonar says Sonny is a cost-effective way to reduce chronic absenteeism in schools by as much as 25%. Through a student survey, Sonny claims at least three of four students improved their mental wellbeing  by using the app. Other investors in the pre-seed round include GSR Ventures and J4 Ventures. Sonar’s founders Drew Barvir and Gabe Moynihan received funding and advising support from the Stanford Impact Founder fellowship program. 

Minexx secures $20 million in Islamic financing for responsible mining technology. Demand for critical minerals has set off a global scramble. Elements such as tin, cobalt, lithium and tungsten are key inputs for everything from EVs and solar power to iPhones and munitions. Minexx, based in London, uses blockchain and AI to track mineral sourcing from “earth to tech” in compliance with legal and ethical standards. The company works with small and medium-scale mines that are registered and have more than a five-year operating history, Minexx’s Mansoor Hamayun told ImpactAlpha. “They need a partner for access to markets and access to capital.” In Rwanda, Minexx has worked with artisanal miners to track minerals to end customers, as well as payments to miners, taxes and corrective actions within the supply chain. In Burkina Faso, it has enabled small miners to export gold, which was previously hampered by a lack of traceability. 

  • Profit-sharing. Minexx received a $20 million in Islamic finance-compliant investment from asset manager Jefferson Capital Ltd. and family offices (for background, see, “What can Islamic finance teach impact investors?”). “The profit-sharing and transparency which underpins this type of finance is crucial for a just transition,” said Hamayun. The funding will enable Minexx to expand its operations in Africa and Latin America, and share value among miners, investors and buyers. Tech platforms such as Minexx’s are also helping mining outfits reduce their carbon footprints and optimize their operations. “The mining industry is on the brink of a transformative era driven by digital technologies,” Alex McQueen with ABI Research wrote in a recent report.
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Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

  • Baltimore-based Cambium scored $18.5 million, backed by VoLo Earth Ventures, MaC Venture Capital, Rise of the Rest, Alumni Ventures, to repurpose fallen trees into building materials. (Cambium)
  • TransGrid Energy raked in $1.4 billion in debt and tax-equity financing for the construction of two utility-scale, standalone battery storage facilities in Arizona. (SolarQuarter)
  • Kholo Capital secured 1.4 billion South African rand ($76 million) to make long-term mezzanine debt investments in small businesses working in social housing, healthcare, education and renewable energy. (Kholo Capital)

Signals: Impact in Latin America

Latin America’s LPs and GPs ‘flip the pitch’ to mobilize impactful capital. Owners and managers of impact capital gathered at a hacienda on the edge of Mérida, Mexico, on Tuesday to flip the pitch, or more precisely “FLIIp the Pitch,” at the Latin American Impact Investing Forum (ImpactAlpha is a FLII media partner). In a reverse-pitch format, LPs presented their strategies and priorities to an audience of GPs seeking capital to scale their impact investment strategies. The impact investing opportunity in Latin America is “extremely attractive,” Michiko Kogure of Japan’s International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, told ImpactAlpha. Japan’s development bank last week committed $1 billion to the JICA Trust Fund at IDB Invest to invest in sustainable growth across Latin America and the Caribbean. In November, JICA invested $15 million in the third fund of Monterrey, Mexico-based Dalus Capital. “I see the great potential for fund managers in Latin America,” said Kogure, who joined LPs in pitching the region’s GPs at FLII. “That is underlined by the possibility of scaling up and expanding in the region due to similarities in language and culture, the breadth and depth of networks, as well as strong commitment to sustainable growth.”

  • LPs in the room. Among those pitching: Fernando Alcalá of food giant Bimbo’s pension fund; Carlos Alberto Ochoa from the corporate venture fund of Bancolombia; Bahaa Eddine, who invests from the endowment of Philips Foundation; Ana Laura Fernandez of the Latam Impact Fund fund of funds; and investment officers from development finance institutions like IDB Lab, CAF and Germany’s DEG. Separately, Medellín Venture Capital, a program co-led by Medellín’s municipality and its innovation center Ruta N, committed to deploy $1.2 million in micro-VCs investing in mobility, health, air quality, energy, circular economy and deeptech in the city.
  • Impactful fund managers. GPs at FLIIp the pitch included serial fund managers, such as Dalus Capital (Mexico), New Ventures Capital (Mexico), Inversor (Colombia), Deetken Impact (Canada), and Vox Capital (Brazil). Also in the room were first-time fund managers Amplifica Capital (Mexico), Impacta.VC (Uruguay), Exagon Impact Capital (Colombia), Impaqto Capital (Ecuador), and Regenera Ventures Capital (Mexico).
  • Actively raising. Eight Latin America-focused funds on ImpactAlpha’s refreshed Liist are collectively raising roughly $800 million. The largest funds on the Liist are being offered by veteran fund managers like Dalus, which provides early- and growth-stage equity to startups in Latin America addressing livelihoods and financial inclusion, access to education and healthcare, and increasingly, climate change. Dalus is targeting $100 million with its third fund. Colombia and Costa Rica-based EcoEnterprises Fund, which invests in Latin America’s ecological protection and restoration, is raising $150 million for its fourth fund. New fund manager Amazonia Impact Ventures, which is filling a debt gap for women and Indigenous communities in the Amazon, is raising a $25 million first fund.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Virgilio Barco is stepping down as Acumen’s Latin America director to become ALIVE Ventures’ full-time managing partner… Accion Venture Lab brings on Akhil Gupta, previously with Knowl, as an India-based investment officer… Impact Seed appoints Chuck Berger, previously CEO of the Kimberley Development Commission, as executive director to lead its enterprise development and impact investment activities… the National Cooperative Bank welcomes Ramon Royster as a commercial loan portfolio manager, and Jay Sah as an IT business analyst.

NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business is on the hunt for a director to replace Tensie Whelan, who is stepping down from the post at the end of this year… Stanford University is hiring a long-term investing fellow in California… South Pole is looking for a principal consultant of sustainability finance… Invest-NL seeks an investment analyst in Amsterdam… Habitat for Humanity has an opening for a CDFI finance manager in Oakland, Calif… Allstate is recruiting a senior associate of climate investing in Chicago… The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet seeks an investment associate in Washington, DC.

Shareholder Commons will preview this year’s proxy season including its “Portfolios on the Ballot” and “Guardrail” shareholder proposals, Wednesday, March 18… Catholic Impact Investing Collaborative will host its next community pitch forum, focused on CDFI investing for impact, featuring the Religious Communities Impact Fund, Rochdale Capital and the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, Wednesday, March 18… Municipal Market Analytics and Intercontinental Exchange have developed an online certificate course, “Climate risk and municipal finance.”  

👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.

Thank you for your impact!

– Feb. 26, 2026