Democracy and Peace
Photo by MDIF.
Democracy and Peace | September 28, 2022
Nearly a dozen independent news organizations in Nigeria get support from Media Development Investment Fund
ImpactAlpha, September 28 — Last year’s youth-led uprising against police brutality spurred Nigeria’s biggest anti-government protests in a generation. MDIF launched a three-year …
Ukrainian families flee the war across the Hungarian border. Photo: Janossy Gergely
Catalytic Capital | March 24, 2022
How Open Road helps providers of essential services carry on in conflict zones
ImpactAlpha, March 24 – In Syria, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in a decade-long civil war, an advance warning …
Democracy and Peace | March 11, 2022
How Media Development Investment Fund calculates political risk to back press freedom (Q&A)
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 9 – Western investors in Russia are running away from political risk. For more than two decades, Media Development Investment Fund …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Dealflow | July 25, 2019
Franklin Templeton’s social infrastructure fund invests in hospitals, schools and care facilities
ImpactAlpha, July 25 – Franklin Templeton believes access to social services are essential to economic growth. In Europe, the firm doesn’t believe enough is being …
Dealflow | July 23, 2019
Knight Foundation awards $50 million to study tech’s impact on democracy
ImpactAlpha, July 23 – Arts and journalism-focused Knight Foundation is committing $50 million to 11 university research projects that explore technology’s influence on democracy …
Dealflow | July 17, 2019
New Media Ventures backs startups engaging new voters and voices
ImpactAlpha, July 18 – Civic tech investor New Media Ventures announced investments into 17 startups that will share $1.5 million funding. The portfolio includes …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | June 10, 2019
Voatz raises $7 million for safe mobile voting
ImpactAlpha, June 10 – Before the 2016 U.S. elections, President Obama noted the emergence of election tech, designed to create “safe, secure, smart systems for …
Dealflow | February 7, 2019
Media Development Investment Fund raises $13 million for journalism in markets hostile to the press
ImpactAlpha, February 7 – “Democracy dies in darkness,” the Washington Post’s Super Bowl ad warned. Independent media shines a light, especially in emerging markets where …
Dealflow | May 22, 2018
Harlem Capital backs Paladin to boost pro bono legal services
ImpactAlpha, May 22 – Many law firms require attorneys to provide 50 hours per year of pro bono services for disadvantaged communities, communities of color …
Democracy and Peace | May 1, 2018
Building peace through innovative finance
ImpactAlpha, May 1 – Durreen Shahnaz, founder of the Singapore-based Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), told the United Nations General Assembly, “If we can promote …
Dealflow | April 24, 2018
Another civic tech tool for down-ballot candidates
ImpactAlpha, April 24 – Interest in running for office is spiking in the U.S., especially among women. Change Research has secured seed funding to …
Dealflow | April 17, 2018
BallotReady secures $1.5 million for information on candidates in US elections
ImpactAlpha, April 17 – BallotReady aggregates biographies, issue stances, news and endorsements across the US to help voters learn more about candidates in …
Features | April 3, 2018
What’s the fiduciary duty of index investors when it comes to gun companies?
Guns are big business, with lots of investors. Weapons sales in the US last year totaled $12.4 billion, up from $10.3 billion in …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | March 24, 2018
SeamlessDocs raises $7.5M led by SJF Ventures
The company’s SeamlessGov tool is used by more than 300 US state and local governments to manage digital forms, online payments and workflow …
Dealflow | March 9, 2018
NewsGuard launches with $6 million in backing to fight fake news
Steven Brill, founder of The American Lawyer and Court TV, and Gordon Crovitz, former Wall Street Journal publisher, are launching a platform to …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | January 19, 2018
Voatz raises $2.2 million to improve election transparency
Can blockchain make voting more secure? Boston-based Voatz makes mobile-voting software that uses the distributed-ledger technology to safeguard results. Originally designed for university …
Beats | January 13, 2018
Straight talk on global development
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh is on a mission — bring private-sector metrics and standards to the U.N.’s Social Impact Finance (UNSIF), a fund founded in 2016 to …
Democracy and Peace | January 3, 2018
The new loophole in the U.S. tax bill that could draw private capital to distressed communities
The intention to generate social or environmental benefit is key to impact investing. But a tax break can be an additional incentive. Among …
Democracy and Peace | December 16, 2017
The Brief’s Big Ten: 2030 Finance, tax-cut casualties, investing in Detroit, Colorado and Virginia
Good Friday evening, ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: The Brief’s Big Ten 1. Introducing 2030 Finance, where ImpactAlpha tracks the global shift of capital. The tagline …
affordable-housing | December 15, 2017
Four ways the tax bill would hurt low-income Americans
Sen. Marco Rubio’s 11th-hour demand for a bigger child tax credit, along with other last-minute changes, makes clear that the U.S. tax bill …
Dealflow | December 13, 2017
Propel Capital launches fund for civic tech and political engagement
Civic tech — from promoting awareness and transparency to straight-up political campaign tools — is a growing impact investment theme. The 2016 U.S. election was particularly catalytic …
Dealflow | December 8, 2017
Impact Shares, YWCA, NAACP develop publicly traded social justice investments
The Dallas-based non-profit investment manager Impact Shares is partnering with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago and the NAACP on two social-justice exchange-traded funds, bundles of …
2030 Finance | December 7, 2017
Why Rise of the Rest should own impact, Propel Capital’s civic tech fund, cleantech investing 2.0,
Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: Impact Voices Yes, Steve Case, there is impact alpha. As more money folks embrace impact investing, it seems some impact …
Democracy and Peace | December 5, 2017
Tax cut complicity, social justice ETFs, finding Einsteins, the $600B global goal opportunity in…
Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: ImpactAlpha Original Complicit: Where are impact investors as the tax bill transfers wealth to the rich? Talk about a …
2030 Finance | November 3, 2017
Impact tax hacks, Milwaukee startups, China’s impact ecosystem, closing the 2°C climate action gap
Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: Returns on Investment podcast Tax Hacks: Turning tax reform toward inclusive prosperity. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. called taxes “the …
Beats | November 3, 2017
Tax Hacks: Turning tax reform toward inclusive, sustainable prosperity
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. called taxes “the price we pay for civilization.” In the latest Returns on Investment podcast, our regular roundtable goes …
Democracy and Peace | October 31, 2017
Doing impact deals Down Under
Australia this year has been aggressively building up its impact-investing infrastructure, an effort championed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Now a group of …
Catalytic Capital | October 19, 2017
George Soros’ $18 billion gift to Open Society Foundations could boost impact investments
The hedge-fund billionaire and a global advocate has transferred $18 billion in assets to his long-time philanthropy. With the gift, to be distributed …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | October 19, 2017
Community capital channels, Soros’ billions, tech stop: Middle America, long-term stock exchange
Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: ImpactAlpha Original Expanding the pool of capital for investments in low-income communities. Not long ago, most investments in community …
Democracy and Peace | October 5, 2017
Social-change economics, Rise Fund hits $2B, JP Morgan in DC, environmental impact investors…
Greetings, ImpactAlpha readers! #Featured: Returns on Investment Real Impact: Morgan Simon on bringing communities into impact investing. The longtime leader in the field …
Dealflow | September 13, 2017
Red Cross launches war-zone rehabilitation bond
The International Committee of the Red Cross has created what it’s calling the first humanitarian impact bond, a $27.3 million private placement to …
Dealflow | September 1, 2017
Media Innovation Program to cultivate independent media in South Africa
Free and independent media was limited under South Africa’s decades-long apartheid regime and is an increasing concern under the government of embattled President …
Clean Energy | August 31, 2017
Tax the wealthy, the robots and…electric vehicles?
2030 Even a modest increase in electric-vehicle sales, to 20% of new car sales, would cut gas revenues by $3 billion Photo credit: Department …