Return on Inclusion
Adrienne Bennett, president and CEO of Benkari LLC, Detroit's Entrepreneurs of Color Fund participant. | Photo credit: Kellogg Foundation
Impact Voices | April 25, 2024
Lessons from the Kellogg Foundation’s $310 million in mission-driven investments
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
Return on Inclusion | April 24, 2024
FreeCap’s ‘decarceration index’ highlights companies outcompeting with fair-chance hiring
The US economy is generating more jobs than there are workers to fill them. To address shortages and compete for talent, companies like …
Podcasts | April 24, 2024
Franchising indoor farms to build a billion dollars in Black wealth (podcast)
When one door closes, another one opens. For Zarû Systems’ Loren Taylor, that second door may open onto a self-contained modular vertical farm …
Students at Delaware State University: Photo credit: Delaware State University
Return on Inclusion | April 16, 2024
The brilliant case for impact investing in America’s HBCUs
Editor’s Note: This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in …
Photo by Fairview.
Return on Inclusion | April 15, 2024
New York Life acquires stake in minority-owned firm Fairview Capital
Fairview Capital, a minority-owned investment management firm that specializes in backing diverse and emerging managers in venture capital and private equity, has invested …
Photo by Sky Blue Builders.
Ownership Economy | April 8, 2024
With ELBOs and EOTs, more business owners are exiting to employee ownership
Conversions to worker ownership can be complex for retiring business owners. They may be looking first to keep their enterprise going and second …
Inclusive Economy | April 5, 2024
Addressing the small business financing gap with catalytic to commercial capital
Small businesses’ demand for financing is strong, and creative entrepreneurs and fund managers are working to increase the supply. This week saw deals …
Photo by Known.
Inclusive Economy | April 2, 2024
Known launches ‘founder-centric’ investment bank for middle-market companies
Known Holdings, a Black, Indigenous, Latina and Asian American-owned asset management firm, has launched Known Growth, an investment bank that will invest in …
Ownership Economy | April 1, 2024
Wanted: First-time fund managers with strategies to ‘Unlock Ownership’ in underserved communities
A group of mission-aligned investors is pooling philanthropic capital to provide early, flexible capital to help first-time managers launch funds to finance employee-ownership …
Cohort from Village Capital's 2022 Innovations in Health Equity accelerator program
Sponsored | March 25, 2024
Elevating Outcomes Beyond Clinics: Investing in diverse-led startups to advance health equity in the US
Editor’s note: This guest post is sponsored by Impact Ventures by J&J Foundation, which supports ImpactAlpha’s Investing in Health coverage. In partnership with Impact Ventures, ImpactAlpha is exploring the …
Photo by Westbound.
Dealflow | March 18, 2024
Westbound raises $100 million to back tech ventures built by, for or with underrepresented people of color
Westbound Equity Partners launched in 2019 as Concrete Rose Capital to close the racial wealth gap by providing financial and social resources to …
Photo credit: Indian Energy
Deploy! | March 15, 2024
Tribal community gets Energy Department loan guarantee for solar + storage
The future of energy access runs through locally-led and inclusive businesses. Indigenous-owned renewable energy developers in the US are getting their first cut …
Impact Voices | March 5, 2024
Wrestling with the greedy, predatory, wealth-hoarding history of the financial system
The financial history of extraction, enslavement, and predatory greed have been heavy on our minds when designing the new investment strategy for the …
Return on Inclusion | February 29, 2024
Sorenson Impact backs Redemption’s purchase of Holladay Bank to create a new Black-owned bank
ImpactAlpha, February 29 — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., impact investor. In King’s last public address before he was assassinated, he …
Neighborhood Economics conference, San Antonio | Photo credit: Neighborhood Economics
Inclusive Economy | February 28, 2024
Addressing the social determinants of wealth at Neighborhood Economics
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 28 – The zip code in which a person grows up in America is more a determinant of their health than their …
Photo by Financiera Contigo.
Latin America | February 26, 2024
Blue like an Orange provides $18 million in financing to Mexican lender Fuentebuena
ImpactAlpha, February 26 — Monterrey-based Fuentebuena works with more than 150 municipalities in Mexico to provide payroll loans to unbanked and underbanked city …
Photo by SDS Capital Group.
real estate impact | February 14, 2024
SDS Capital deploys private equity to finance permanent housing for homeless Californians
ImpactAlpha, February 14 — California has the largest homeless population in the US with over 180,000 people living in shelters, tents, cars, under …
Beta Boom's founders Kimmy and Sergio Paluch.
Return on Inclusion | February 14, 2024
Beta Boom scores $14.5 million to back ‘under-the-radar’ founders
ImpactAlpha, February 14 — Since 2018, Beta Boom has backed two-dozen founders developing software solutions for critical issues underserved communities face. The majority …
East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, which received an investment from Kataly Foundation's Restorative Economies Fund
Return on Inclusion | February 11, 2024
How Kataly Foundation is divesting from Wall Street to reinvest in communities
Is it possible to fully divest from Wall Street and invest in community with hundreds of millions of dollars? When I started my …
Return on Inclusion | February 6, 2024
Blk Grvty secures $1 million from Surdna Foundation to back underrepresented fund managers
ImpactAlpha, February 6 — Blk Grvty has received a $1 million commitment from Surdna Foundation for its Equipped initiative, which is looking to …
Inclusive Economy | February 5, 2024
Confronting real bias in asset management to set the record straight on DEI
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 5 – The gloves are coming off. Attempts to roll back initiatives promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, have opened the …
Michael Pugh.
Community Finance | January 24, 2024
LISC’s Michael Pugh on navigating legal challenges to community development finance (Q&A)
ImpactAlpha, January 24 — After 100 days at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Michael Pugh is getting down to business. At the top …
Inclusive Economy | January 16, 2024
TPG NEXT anchors Black-led private equity strategy
ImpactAlpha, January 16 — TPG NEXT, backed by a $500 million allocation from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, has lined up a …
Dealflow | January 12, 2024
Deal spotlight: European impact investing funds
ImpactAlpha, January 12 — Carbon13, a climate-focused “venture builder” based in Cambridge, England, reached an undisclosed first close for a €30 million (£26 …
Inclusive Economy | December 18, 2023
At Stake in ’24: Expanded ownership and access to capital to build wealth and bridge divides
ImpactAlpha, December 18 — If the redistribution of wealth pits the haves and have-nots against each other, the predistribution of ownership may put …
Impact Investing | December 18, 2023
Embrace the rainbow: The investment case for LGBT fund managers and startups
Adaptability and innovation are a recipe for success in the dynamic world of entrepreneurship. For LGBT folks, these two words are deeply ingrained …
Muni Impact | December 15, 2023
The arbitrage opportunity in high-impact municipal bonds (video)
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 15 – The $4 trillion muni market is so big that small movements in the pricing of bonds can mean shifts of …
Civil Rights attorney Farhana Khera | Photo credit: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Return on Inclusion | December 5, 2023
Q&A: Navigating racial equity investment strategies for a post-affirmative action economy
The backlash against investing for racial equity has only grown since last summer’s Supreme Court ruling that struck down the use of race …
Spring's Keith Ippel, Olivia Hornby and Graham Day | Photo by Spring.
Canada | November 30, 2023
Vancouver Foundation anchors Spring Impact Capital to invest in Canadian health and climate ventures
ImpactAlpha, November 30 — Spring Impact Capital is looking to raise CAD $20 million ($14.7 million) to invest in two dozen early stage …
Community Finance | November 28, 2023
Mission Driven Bank Fund secures $110 million for local lenders in low-income communities
ImpactAlpha, November 28 — The Mission Driven Bank Fund will back a pipeline of over 300 FDIC-insured minority depository institutions, or MDIs, and …
Dealflow | November 16, 2023
SuperCircle scores $7 million to help fashion brands and retailers reduce textile waste
ImpactAlpha, November 16 — The growth of textile-recycling ventures in recent years has been fueled, in part, by a rapid increase in textile …
Photo by First Australians Capital.
Inclusive Economy | November 15, 2023
Jack Dorsey’s Block backs First Australians Capital for Indigenous-led enterprises
ImpactAlpha, November 15 — Like Indigenous communities in the US, Canada and other countries, many first, or Aboriginal, Australians lack access to housing, …
Dealflow | November 8, 2023
Candide’s Afterglow Climate Justice Fund secures $36 million to lend in frontline communities
ImpactAlpha, November 8 — Low-income communities that often bear the brunt of climate change also hold the key to many climate solutions. Candide …
Social Finance's Kirstin Hill and Tracy Palandjian.
Dealflow | November 7, 2023
Social Finance taps donor-advised funds for impact-first investments
ImpactAlpha, November 7 — Boston-based nonprofit Social Finance is launching a fund to attract some of the big pools of capital locked up …
Photo by Social Finance.
Locavesting | November 2, 2023
Colorado foundations back Social Finance’s fund to upskill local workers
ImpactAlpha, November 2 — Gary Community Ventures and the Colorado Health, Colorado Gives and Walton Family foundations and other local backers have committed …
Return on Inclusion | October 24, 2023
UnitedHealth Group backs Enable Ventures to invest in disability solutions
ImpactAlpha, October 24 — New funds are emerging to invest in positive impact for the global disabled population, which often face ableism, discrimination, …
Return on Inclusion | October 23, 2023
SOCAP23: From DEI to equitable wealth-building to shared prosperity
ImpactAlpha, October 23 – The annual SOCAP conference kicks off today in San Francisco with the promise of honest self-criticism and actionable practices …
Impact Voices | October 17, 2023
Tapping the creativity of local fund managers to scale small business finance
Small businesses are the growth engine for inclusive and resilient development in Africa. Yet the $330 billion annual financing gap remains stubbornly sticky …
Photo credit: Sanari Capital
Gender Smart | October 12, 2023
Sanari Capital lands $65 million to invest in South African businesses and job growth
ImpactAlpha, October 12 – Sanari Capital has for a decade provided growth capital to South Africa’s mid-sized businesses. The portfolio of the women-led, …
Muni Impact | October 11, 2023
Mispriced risks in bond markets mean Black communities pay more for climate resilience
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 11 – A community’s racial makeup, irrespective of economic variables, affects its cost of capital in the $4 trillion US municipal bond …
Plugged In | October 6, 2023
Plugged In: Building equitable food systems with reparative capital and community (video)
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 6 – How we grow our food matters, but for over a century, “who” gets a fair shot at owning and profiting …
Photo by Cortica.
Investing in Health | October 5, 2023
Cortica raises $115 million to expand care for children with autism and neurodiverse conditions
ImpactAlpha, October 5 — San Diego-based Cortica launched in 2017 to streamline the fragmented care journey that families of autistic and neurodivergent children …
Inclusive Economy | October 4, 2023
Road to justice for Black farmers leads through flexible finance
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 4 – More than 150 years of discriminatory lending and land heists have left a generation of Black farmers with little access …
Photo by Los Muertos Crew.
The Liist | October 3, 2023
The Liist, October 2023: Native and women-led funds tap opportunities in climate and creativity
ImpactAlpha, October 4 – There may be too few female fund managers managing too little global investment capital. But in many months, more …
Impact Voices | October 2, 2023
Investing for a post-affirmative action economy
After the US Supreme Court decision curtailing affirmative action in college admissions, 21 Democratic attorneys general powerfully came together to take a stand: …