Democracy and Power
Photo credit: European Journalism Observatory.
Dealflow | November 30, 2021
Media Development Investment Fund backs Pluralis to invest in independent media in Europe
ImpactAlpha, November 30 — The decline of independent global news outlets has accelerated with rising news censorship and danger for journalists. MDFI’s Emerging …
Impact Investing | November 23, 2021
A climate investor looks ahead to COP27 in Egypt (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 23 – Only two weeks after the COP26 global climate summit, Stephan Nicoleau of climate investment firm Full Cycle is looking …
Photo by Guilherme Cunha on Unsplash
Capitalism Reimagined | October 26, 2021
Expanding employee ownership to empower workers and strengthen small businesses
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has made the already unpredictable futures of working and middle class Americans even more fragile. Impact investors are turning …
Dealflow | October 19, 2021
Sudan’s first foreign venture capital investment in 30 years: $5 million for Alsoug.com
ImpactAlpha, October 19 — Macroeconomic, political and currency risks can make investors wary of infrastructure and private equity in Africa (for context, see …
Photo credit: Workable's Resources.
Capitalism Reimagined | October 12, 2021
Omidyar Network commits $10 million in grants for reimagining capitalism
ImpactAlpha, October 12 — Markets can be, and are being, reshaped by movements, policies and investments. Omidyar Network, which has spun off a …
News and Information | September 28, 2021
Media boomlet in climate and impact investing follows the money
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 28 – Media outlets cite the flow of capital to ESG and climate funds as evidence of the arrival of impact investing. …
Photo credit: Change.org
Dealflow | September 23, 2021
Big-name investors donate their stakes as Change.org converts to nonprofit ownership
ImpactAlpha, September 23 — With its dot-org website and social-activist mission, Change.org was often mistaken for a nonprofit organization. Now it is owned …
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Capitalism Reimagined | September 14, 2021
Disinformation poses systemic risks – so universal owners are pressing media companies to renounce it
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 14 – Talk about negative externalities. False information intended to mislead viewers on climate, COVID-19, racial justice and other issues may drive …
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Capitalism Reimagined | June 24, 2021
Turning pledges into policies to invest in Black Americans and multi-racial prosperity
ImpactAlpha, June 24 – Investors and executives can lead in many ways as they seek to fulfill their often heartfelt pledges to do …
Capitalism Reimagined | June 22, 2021
Turning the renewed power of workers into a lasting pillar of stakeholder capitalism
These days, American workers could well be saying, as Richard Fariña wrote and Nancy Sinatra sang, “Been down so long it looks like …
The Reconstruction | April 20, 2021
Reviving a Black cultural corridor in West Oakland – as a community-led cooperative
In another era, Esther’s Orbit Room helped make West Oakland the “Harlem of the West,” hosting the likes of B.B. King, James Brown …
Impact Voices | March 29, 2021
Georgia is throttling voters. The South’s financial system is doing the same to its entrepreneurs.
The ban on offering snacks and water to people waiting in line to vote that was just passed into law in Georgia really …
NovotMoto raised $418,000 on Wefunder to bring affordable solar power to the Congo.
Impact Voices | March 15, 2021
Rule changes could spur $1 billion in crowdfunded investment
Regulation Crowdfunding allows startup founders to raise capital from unaccredited investors as well as accredited investors, and publicly promote their offerings. Part of the …
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News and Information | March 10, 2021
Reliable digital media is fertile ground for Media Development Investment Fund
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 10 – The push: Government-backed media outlets and oligarch-vested interests are pushing down trust in journalism around the world. The pull: The …
Photo credit: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Dealflow | February 1, 2021
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative spins off criminal justice reform activities
ImpactAlpha, February 1 – Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the mission-focused company launched by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, is allocating $350 …
Scenes from the Party to the Polls in Brunswick, GA | Michael Scott Milner
Return on Inclusion | January 5, 2021
How Georgia’s civic mobilization is rallying local efforts to close the racial wealth gap
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 5 – The impact of the massive voter education effort in Georgia may last well beyond today’s runoff election for two seats …
Policy Corner | December 15, 2020
Impact investors are wonking out on policy
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 15 – The spate of recommendations greeting the incoming Biden administration is the fruit of years of work in the fields …
Civic Tech | November 25, 2020
Why impact investors should double down on democracy funding
The post-mortem on this election is far from over, but as the news of the past few weeks has unfolded, we are seeing …
Democracy and Power | November 25, 2020
How to stop ‘astroturf’ campaigns and the spread of misinformation
That the network of trade associations and advocacy groups blocking meaningful action on climate change was bankrolled by fossil fuel interests comes not …
Photo credit: Good Work Network
Democracy and Power | November 23, 2020
Grassroots groups are mobilizing communities to take racial justice from protest to progress
With $30 million in grants to 60 local and national racial justice organizations, Kresge Foundation is seeking to harness the power of this …
Dealflow | September 29, 2020
Insurer QBE backs Save the Children’s impact fund
ImpactAlpha, September 29 – Save the Children, best known for its humanitarian aid work, has reached a $6 million first close for an …
Dealflow | September 24, 2020
MacArthur Foundation commits $25 million to COVID recovery and election integrity
ImpactAlpha, September 24 – MacArthur Foundation has made grants totaling $10 million to organizations supporting Black, Native and other under-represented groups disproportionately affected …
Dealflow | September 14, 2020
Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium secures $10 million
ImpactAlpha, September 14 – The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium is tackling a glaring lack of investor and philanthropic attention. The Appalachian …
Billionaires | September 2, 2020
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg commit $300 million to safe, fair elections
ImpactAlpha, September 2 – Two impact investors sounded off in ImpactAlpha this week about the importance of securing the fairness of the November …
Democracy and Peace | September 1, 2020
Impact investors have a role to play in preventing worst-case election scenarios
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 1 – November is coming and hopefully the beginning of the end of the authoritarianism, oligarchy, and violence that have become …
Democracy and Peace | September 1, 2020
How impact investors can help ensure racial justice includes electoral justice
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 1 – With voter registration deadlines rapidly approaching, our firm is seeing a desire amongst impact investors to elevate voting rights …
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Creative Economy | July 16, 2020
Investing in news and media by and for people of color
ImpactAlpha, July 16 – Blavity’s $1.5 million raise from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (and another $9.5 million from earlier investors) helped demonstrate the …
Call Recording | July 1, 2020
Call No. 20: Investors share experiences in getting their assets off the sidelines
“It’s a great time for new entrants, but for those of us who’ve been doing this for a while it is equally urgent to raise our game right and to not get complacent,” said Margot Brandenburg of the Ford Foundation.
Democracy and Power | June 30, 2020
Putting people at the center of financial structures
As we design for impact, it’s important to put people at the center of financial structures. In 10 ways to redesign venture finance …
Clean Energy | June 29, 2020
How 10x tech can drive 10x impact in 10 years
ImpactAlpha, June 29 – The start of a global recession in the middle of a pandemic that has laid bare structural inequality and …
Human Rights | June 23, 2020
Investors push stakeholder protections with shareholder resolutions
ImpactAlpha, June 23 – This season, shareholder resolutions involving human rights and worker rights made up the largest category for the first time, …
Democracy and Power | June 16, 2020
Democratizing business financing and ownership to build community wealth
How can investors and entrepreneurs address systemic inequality? Among the many excellent options: a greater focus on how communities accumulate wealth. That means …
Photo by Myleen Hollero
Democracy and Power | June 10, 2020
Black and brown employee ownership for the post-COVID economy
Black and brown ownership matters in rebuilding a more just, equitable and resilient economy. The murder of George Floyd and the heroic actions …
Democracy and Power | June 2, 2020
Get up, stand up: Impact investors speak out for racial justice
ImpactAlpha, June 2 – Meet the protests in the streets, not with force, but with racial equity, capital for Black communities and entrepreneurs, …
Catalytic Capital | June 2, 2020
Mobilizing with urgency: A call to the impact investing movement
The crises we see today — COVID-19, racial injustice and violence, and more — are far too familiar for far too many people, …
Beats | June 1, 2020
Agents of Justice: The social mobilization is on
ImpactAlpha, June 1 – Agents of justice are agents of impact. The anger in the streets this weekend is an expression of the …
Beats | May 14, 2020
Overheard at Mission Investors Exchange: Systemic change
ImpactAlpha, May 13 – Today’s impact investors have it easy: they have capital to invest for change. “I’m an impact investor from the civil …
Big and small business businessman big group people. Color vector illustration. EPS10
Democracy and Peace | December 16, 2019
Small vs. big – not blue vs. red – is the great battle of the next American century
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 – While I was running Village Capital a few years ago, I noticed two starkly divided realities in the U.S. Vilcap, …
Beats | December 12, 2019
Safeguarding the public good from privatization
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 12 – Education. Water. Prisons. Private capital is flowing into areas that have historically been public responsibilities subject to democratic processes. …
Beats | November 19, 2019
Putting the activist in impact investor
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 19 – It’s time for impact investors to speak more like activists. The Global Steering Group on Impact Investment’s abrupt relocation …
Catalytic Capital | November 14, 2019
These investors are mapping systems to catalyze structural change
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 14 – Say it louder for the people in the back: Impact investors can’t invest their way out of structural problems. More than …
community-development | November 13, 2019
Leveraged buyout funds help businesses convert to worker-ownership
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 13 – The widening wealth gap has sparked interest in worker ownership models that can build individual and community wealth. Across …
Democracy and Peace | November 4, 2019
One hundred demonstrations of co-op power
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 4, 2019 – The ranks of cooperatives include household names like ACE Hardware, ShopRite, Associated Press, Sunkist and Ocean Spray. Co-ops span …
Agents of Impact | November 1, 2019
The Popular Uprisers
Impact Alpha, Nov. 31 – Social protests are spreading across the globe. The protests, from Santiago to Beirut, are sparked by local grievances: …
Democracy and Peace | October 29, 2019
Impact investing’s road to relevance led through Santiago – until it didn’t
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 29 – The fall circuit of major impact investing conferences was supposed to end next month in Santiago. Then the capital …