Return on Inclusion
Impact Voices | January 31, 2023
How Fair Food Network is reshaping investment norms to fight wealth inequity
Despite the good intentions and creative strategies of impact investors, extreme wealth inequity persists. The climate crisis will only deepen the divide, unless …
Photo credit: ICA Growth Fund
Return on Inclusion | January 31, 2023
ICA Growth Fund backs four Black and Latinx businesses with ‘impact notes’
ImpactAlpha, January 31 – ICA Growth Fund supports small businesses while encouraging owners to prioritize social impact objectives. The Bay Area-based nonprofit accelerator …
Inclusive Economy | January 27, 2023
ImpactAlpha Deal Spotlight: Black-worker ownership
ImpactAlpha, January 27 — With more than half of business owners in the U.S. over 55 years old, there’s a “silver tsunami” of …
Agents of Impact | January 20, 2023
Demetric Duckett, Living Cities: New decision-makers for the new majority (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 20 – Building wealth for women and people of color is about numbers as well as equity. By mid-century, there will be …
John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy (photo: ImpactAlpha)
Muni Impact | January 17, 2023
Overheard at the Public Finance Conference: Investment opportunities in Emerging Market America
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 17 – A computer glitch that snarled air traffic last week presented a fitting backdrop as government and finance leaders gathered …
Photo by Amplifica.
Women Entrepreneurs | January 17, 2023
Amplifica Capital raises $11 million to invest in women tech founders in Latin America
ImpactAlpha, January 17 — Mexico City-based Amplifica Capital has raised $11 million for its first venture capital fund. The fund will make early-stage …
Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik
Return on Inclusion | January 12, 2023
TPG NEXT secures $500 million from CalPERS for underrepresented alternative asset managers
ImpactAlpha, January 12 — Diverse managers, which includes women, LGBTQ+ and people of color, manage less than 2% of the trillions of dollars …
Looking Ahead to 2023 | December 21, 2022
Abundance, ownership and inclusion hold keys to shared prosperity in 2023
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 21 – Real solutions. Real revenues. Real places. While other investors chased crypto and other tech fads, inclusive investors were finding …
Napoleon Wallace, Southern Reconstruction Fund
Agents of Impact | December 16, 2022
Napoleon Wallace, Southern Reconstruction Fund: Restorative capital for Black wealth
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 – Napoleon Wallace’s presence was all over the recent Mission Investors Exchange conference in Baltimore. …As the co-founder of Activest, which …
Sponsored | December 15, 2022
How impact investments are helping build healthy communities
Our zip codes play a big part in how long and well we live. It’s easier to lead a healthy life when you …
Memphis, TN | Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash
Muni Impact | December 12, 2022
What Adasina learned about advancing ‘fiscal justice’ by investing $60 million in muni bonds
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 12 – San Francisco-based Adasina Social Capital calls itself a “bridge between financial markets and social justice.” But even an organization accustomed …
Creative Economy | December 7, 2022
Upstart Co-Lab’s pipeline of creative economy deals is now an investable impact strategy
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 7 – The “creative economy” of fashion, food, film, video games and other art and culture industries has emerged as a …
Photo by Taco Block.
Place-Based Investing | December 7, 2022
LISC teams with Colorado Health Foundation to back diverse-owned businesses
ImpactAlpha, December 7 — The Local Initiatives Support Corp. has launched the Colorado BIPOC Micro Equity Fund. The $2 million pilot fund provides …
Photo by MEDA.
Women Rising | December 6, 2022
How Mastercard Foundation’s $200 million Africa Growth Fund invests at the intersection of gender lens and good jobs
ImpactAlpha, December 6 — An African consortium led by Mennonite Economic Development Associates, the international development organization known as MEDA, will manage Mastercard …
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.
Return on Inclusion | December 5, 2022
Investors must make noise so BIPOC entrepreneurs don’t have to make do
This post is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. Join …
Place-Based Investing | December 1, 2022
M&G Catalyst backs Lafayette Square’s direct lending business with $200 million
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 1 – M&G’s Catalyst has committed $200 million to Lafayette Square’s direct lending business. The capital is a boost for the …
Return on Inclusion | December 1, 2022
Six ways to build the Long COVID economy
One hundred million. That’s the number of people globally who never recovered from the Coronavirus. COVID Long Haulers, as we are known, experience …
Return on Inclusion | November 30, 2022
Through ‘ownership trusts,’ investors can help employees become owners and owners retire
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 30 – Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s unusual succession plan made waves with its massive commitment of the family-owned company’s future profits …
Return on Inclusion | November 29, 2022
Toussaint Bailey, Uplifting Capital: Bringing ‘the quietly bothered’ into impact investing (podcast)
Between the true believers in investing for impact and those that, for whatever reason, have their heels dug in, there are the “quietly …
Return on Inclusion | November 28, 2022
Collective ownership, renter payouts and neighborhood trusts expand access to housing wealth
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 28 – Late in the afternoon on a Friday in September, a dozen or so Latina small-business owners gathered at the headquarters …
Return on Inclusion | November 21, 2022
VC Include’s Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson on three drivers of inclusion alpha (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, November 21 – Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson is nearly one-third of the way toward her goal of seeding 100 women and historically underrepresented fund …
Impact Voices | November 21, 2022
How housing investments can create wealth for investors – and tenants
“E,” for environmental, gets most of the love in ESG investing. Investments in the “S” and “G,” for social and governance, particularly in …
Photo credit: The California Endowment; painting by Baadal Nanjundaswamy
Sponsored | November 21, 2022
How The California Endowment is investing for health and racial equity (Q&A)
President and chief executive officer for The California Endowment Robert Ross is a leader in leveraging impact investing to advance the foundation’s mission …
Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash
Muni Impact | November 18, 2022
Mispriced risks, investor demand and community power center racial equity in municipal bonds (video)
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 18 – Cities around the U.S. are raising low-cost capital in the municipal bond markets by highlighting intentional efforts to address long-standing …
Photo by MasteryPrep.
Dealflow | November 15, 2022
Achieve Partners acquires MasteryPrep to improve college readiness for underserved students
ImpactAlpha, November 15 — New York-based Achieve Partners is acquiring Baton Rouge, La.-based edtech company MasteryPrep. MasteryPrep has worked with more than 500 …
Photo by Gary Community Ventures.
Return on Inclusion | November 15, 2022
Dearfield Fund secures $7.5 million to help Black first-time homeowners make down payments
ImpactAlpha, November 15 — Making a down payment is one the biggest challenges for first-time homebuyers in the U.S., particularly for Black and …
Muni Impact | November 9, 2022
The ‘Black Tax’ plagues small municipalities. Can bond banks help?
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 9 – An old idea is finding new life in the municipal bond market, where a stubborn complacency with conventional ways of …
Dealflow | November 7, 2022
Amazon commits $53 million to support female climate tech founders
ImpactAlpha, November 7 — Amazon, through its $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, says it will invest $50 million directly in climate tech companies …
Image credit: Origen Carbon Solutions / screenshot
Climate and Clean Tech | November 3, 2022
Elemental Excelerator stocks the climate tech pipeline for hard-to-decarbonize industries
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 3 – Early-stage climate tech investor and accelerator Elemental Excelerator has helped launch some of the hottest names in climate tech. Among …
Aaron Samuels and Brian Hollins | Photo by Collide Capital.
Return on Inclusion | October 31, 2022
Collide Capital raises $66 million to back early-stage diverse founders
ImpactAlpha, October 31 — New York-based Collide Capital has raised $66 million to invest in early-stage Black, Latino and female founders “we believe …
Jeff Cherry of Conscious Venture Partners
Return on Inclusion | October 31, 2022
Baltimore’s Conscious Venture Partners raises $17 million to back purpose-driven startups
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 31 – Conscious Venture Partners has raised $17 million to back purpose-driven startups. The Baltimore-based fund manager is expanding across the U.S., …
New York City
Return on Inclusion | October 27, 2022
Trinity Church Wall Street commits $20 million to MSquared’s New York affordable housing fund
ImpactAlpha, October 27 — Women-owned real estate impact firm MSquared is aiming to tackle the U.S. affordable housing crisis at the intersection of …
David Reuter of private equity firm LLR Partners.
Impact Voices | October 26, 2022
Three ways to move your private equity firm closer to racial justice – and create value
Like many people, the summer of 2020 was a moment of personal and professional reckoning for me. The uprising that followed the murder …
Photo credit: Flourish Ventures
Return on Inclusion | October 26, 2022
Flourish Ventures to invest $12 million in tech startups ‘Made in Africa’
ImpactAlpha, October 26 — U.S.-based venture capital firm Flourish Ventures has launched Madica, short for ‘Made In Africa’, to invest in and provide …
Impact Voices | October 19, 2022
Employees: The Missing ‘E’ in ESG
Workers, the people most important to capitalism, have been buried in the ‘S’ in ESG, for environmental, social, and governance risk factors in …
Return on Inclusion | October 17, 2022
In tough times, corporate leaders must double down on diversity, equity and inclusion
History has shown that our nation’s most vulnerable workers tend to be hit hardest during economic downturns. During the height of the pandemic, …
Policy Corner | October 17, 2022
Policy Corner: Diversity in asset management
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 17 – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week released guidance that investment advisers can consider diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI …
Franz Hochstrasser (left) and Matthew Moroney, cofounders of Raise Green
Climate and Clean Tech | October 13, 2022
Raise Green snags $1.2 million to expand access to climate deals for retail investors
ImpactAlpha, October 13 — Somerville, Mass.-based Raise Green manages an online marketplace that helps small-scale solar developers and green ventures get financing for …
Klean Energy Kulture cofounders Michael Hawthorne and Corey Dennard, aka Mr. Hanky. | Photo credit: Klean Energy Kulture/FYE Images
Return on Inclusion | October 11, 2022
Klean Energy Kulture aims to bring swagger to climate to activate Black communities
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 11 – Climate action needs some swagger. A hip-hop super producer and a “community organizing nerd” are teaming up to give the …
Photo by Amazon.
Dealflow | October 11, 2022
Amazon Catalytic Capital to invest $150 million in underserved founders
ImpactAlpha, October 11 — Amazon has launched Amazon Catalytic Capital to invest in at least 10 venture capital funds, as well as accelerators, …
Photo by Peopleimages.
Policy Corner | October 3, 2022
U.S. Treasury channels $8 billion to help CDFIs and MDIs boost small-business lending
ImpactAlpha, October 3 — Community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, and minority depository institutions, or MDIs, played a vital role getting aid to …
Photo by Northwell Health.
Investing in Health | October 3, 2022
Town Hall Ventures raises a $350 million fund to improve how health care is delivered to underserved communities
ImpactAlpha, October 3 — Disparity in health outcomes, life expectancy and deaths are becoming a mounting crisis in the U.S., particularly in underserved …
Impact Voices | September 26, 2022
How asset managers are digging in on diversity to stand out from their peers
ESG begins at home. As increasing numbers of investors are looking for environmental, social and governance investment opportunities, asset managers are directing more …
Image by standret on Freepik
Women Rising | September 26, 2022
African Women Impact Fund secures initial $60 million for gender-lens investments
ImpactAlpha, September 26 — South Africa’s Standard Bank Group and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa are looking to raise $1 billion …
Photo by Hedgeweek.
Return on Inclusion | September 23, 2022
ImpactAlpha Deal Spotlight: Inclusive fund managers
ImpactAlpha, September 23 — First-time impact fund managers tend to outperform more experienced peers. This week, VC Include selected a dozen impact-oriented venture …