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The Brief

April 24, 2024

The Brief

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Featured: LP / GP

Family offices warm to investment opportunities in the climate transition. As much as $200 trillion in investment is needed by 2050 to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to BloombergNEF. That’s many multiples of today’s level of climate investments. The more than 4,500 family offices globally that manage $6 trillion in wealth are poised to play a critical role in getting philanthropic and investment dollars off the sidelines and into climate solutions. “These are trillion-dollar issues,” writes Bruce McNamer of Builders Initiative, the grant and catalytic investment arm of Walmart heir Lukas Walton's Builders Vision. “To move these transitions forward faster, we need to attract and unlock additional capital.” The family office makes R&D grants for promising innovations, investments to bring technologies down the cost curve, anchor investments in early stage companies and funds, and it engages with public companies and its family office peers. Says McNamer, “It is the ability to engage in these kinds of wide-ranging capital deployment and influencing activities that make family offices potentially important players.”

Podcast: Agents of Impact

Franchising indoor farms to build a billion dollars in Black wealth (podcast). Two years ago, Loren Taylor missed out on becoming mayor of Oakland, Calif. by 677 votes. “But who’s counting?” jokes Taylor on this week’s Agents of Impact podcast. The biomedical engineer-turned-city council member has turned to business to tackle racial wealth gap. As CEO of Zarû Systems, he has the ambitious goal of growing Black wealth by a billion dollars through 1,000 businesses worth at least $1 million each. “We’re focused on bridging the racial wealth gap – unapologetically,” Taylor says. Zarû’s first business application: modular, turnkey indoor farms run by local owner-operators.

Dealflow: Inclusive Communities

Next Billion raises capital to invest in digital infrastructure and services in Latin America, Asia and Africa. The investment firm Next Billion Capital Partners funds tech ventures supporting access to basic services in emerging markets. It reached a first close for its debut Digital Growth Fund with backing from Impact Engine, Capricorn Investment Group, responsAbility and other investors. The fund provides up to $15 million in growth equity to companies delivering financial services, insurance, healthcare and education to women, low-income households and small businesses in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Next Billion is looking to raise $250 million.

Signals: Inclusion Alpha

FreeCap’s ‘decarceration index’ highlights companies that are 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 Walmart, Apple, Alphabet and JPMorgan Chase are recruiting, training and hiring from a pool of more than 70 million formerly incarcerated workers, who have faced rampant discrimination in the job market. A new "decarceration index" from FreeCap Financial helps investors identify companies with leading fair-chance hiring practices. Companies “able to hire people with arrest records are going to be in a better position to compete in the labor market in the future,” says Tanay Tatum-Edwards of FreeCap. The data provider that helps quantify the prison industrial complex for investors.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Economist Lawrence Summers joins the advisory board of residential solar provider Palmetto… Runway is hiring a chief lending officer… Gavi is hiring a head of private sector partnerships and innovation in Geneva… Also in Switzerland, Impactful Business Networks is recruiting a global CEO.
The Call

Muni Impact | March 22, 2024

How green banks are blending finance for community infrastructure and greenhouse gas reduction (video)

In New Orleans, the city’s housing finance agency has become a “green bank” to underwrite community solar, water treatment projects, and resilience hubs. …

Impact Investing | March 1, 2024

The Call: Impact value-creation isn’t just for impact investors (but they’re better at it)

Private equity fund managers looking for value-creation opportunities are increasingly finding their way to impact themes like climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture, employee engagement …

Call Recording | January 19, 2024

The Call: Moving from the ‘why’ to the ‘how’ of impact incentives

ImpactAlpha, January 19 – Impact investors have for years debated the need for embedded structures to incentivize impact outcomes for impact fund managers. …

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 …

Climate + Gender | November 17, 2023

To be effective, climate solutions need a gender lens (video)

ImpactAlpha, November 17 – That women are more adversely affected by climate change is well established (in impact and development circles at any …

Impact Investing | October 13, 2023

State of the Impact Field: Unprecedented opportunity tempered by sober realism (video)

This week’s Agents of Impact Call continued a tradition started nearly a decade ago by Fran Seegull of the US Impact Investing Alliance …

Ownership Economy | September 29, 2023

Labor and capital align in new movement for worker ownership (Video)

ImpactAlpha, Sept. 29 – It’s the age-old struggle: labor vs capital, workers vs. owners. But what happens when employees get a stake in the …

Call Recording | August 25, 2023

Mobilizing capital in Indian Country (video)

ImpactAlpha, August 25 – A growing ecosystem of Native-led entrepreneurs, lenders, financial intermediaries and nonprofits are driving Indian Country’s emerging economy. “It’s kind …

Participants in ImpactAlpha's call on HBCUs

Return on Inclusion | July 28, 2023

Impact at HBCUs: Hubs of talent, innovation and Black excellence (video)

ImpactAlpha, July 28 – Most historically Black colleges and universities were formed during the Reconstruction era. In the more than a century since, Spelman, …

Muni Impact | June 22, 2023

Connecting supply and demand for racial equity strategies in muni markets (video)

ImpactAlpha, Jun. 22 – Even as some politicians ramp up anti-ESG rhetoric, asset owners and allocators are signaling an appetite for investment strategies …

Call Recording | March 31, 2023

Metrics Madness: Wealth, ownership and ‘quality adjusted life years’ (video)

ImpactAlpha, Mar. 31 – The search for a universal metric to guide investments in racial justice and equitable wealth-building was…aspirational. “We are still a …

Policy Corner | February 24, 2023

Policymaking for workers and communities in the Year of the ‘S’ (video)

ImpactAlpha. Feb. 24 – “A labor market where workers have more opportunities and have more power and have more leverage is a good …
Podcasts

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 …

Podcasts | April 12, 2024

Reconnecting communities, impact investing in Puerto Rico, and how business owners are exiting to employees

🎧 This Week in Impact. Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: federal funds to …

Photo credit: Bess Adler (used with permission)

Corporate Impact | April 10, 2024

Alison Taylor: The broken chain from transparency to accountability to corporate action (podcast)

The era of cake-ism (as in having it and eating it, too) has come to an inglorious end. “I think we’re in an …

Podcasts | March 29, 2024

This week in impact: green bank who’s who, emerging market catalytic climate capital, brazilian impact.

Host Brian Walsh dives into ImpactAlpha’s top stories, with commentary from editor David Bank. Up this week: Tracking the players building the US’s …

Podcasts | March 26, 2024

Building an inclusive economy with Lenore Champagne Beirne

ImpactAlpha podcasts are back! We’re pleased to share our revamped interview show, Agents of Impact, hosted by David Bank and Sherrell Dorsey, founder …

Podcasts | March 26, 2024

Impact(ed): An introduction to CDFIs and equitable community lending

Impact(ed) is part of the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network, a set of shows hosted and produced by leading voices in impact and sustainable investing, …

Podcasts | March 21, 2024

How Texas’s anti ESG campaign is costing it money, cookstoves and carbon markets, and Vanguard gets punked

On This Week in Impact, Brian Walsh dives into some of ImpactAlpha’s top stories, with commentary from editor David Bank. This week: the …

Podcasts | January 11, 2024

Impact(ed): Harnessing the potential of VC for good (podcast)

Venture capital invested nearly $500 billion in 2022. By investing into startups seeking transformational scale, successful venture-backed companies have the potential to change …

Looking Ahead to 2024 | December 29, 2023

Holiday List No. 3: Eight ImpactAlpha podcasts to ring in 2024

ImpactAlpha, Dec. 29 – “Net zero is not going to get us anywhere,” Ariane Mahler of Veridien Global Investors told David Bank of ImpactAlpha …

Lenore Champagne Beirne and Sherrell Dorsey

Plugged In | December 22, 2023

Plugged In: Capitalizing and coaching the innovators building an inclusive economy (video)

ImpactAlpha, Dec. 22 – Diverse innovators building for all customers in large industries like digital health, fintech and the future of work have been …

Podcasts | December 8, 2023

A tale of two COP28s with Marilyn Waite and Dawn Lippert

The numbers tell the story: overall attendance at COP28 is up threefold from last year – and the number of fossil fuel lobbyists …

Impact Investing | December 6, 2023

Impact(ed): Driving foundation endowments toward social justice (podcast)

Private foundations collectively control more than a trillion dollars of capital invested across a variety of traditional asset classes. A small portion of …
Opinion

Builders Vision's Lukas Walton, Joanna Cohen and Miranda Lindl O’Connell | Photo credit: Builders Vision

Climate Finance | April 24, 2024

The climate transition and investment opportunities for family offices

This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …

Blockchain/AI/IoT | April 23, 2024

How impact investments in Anthropic can strengthen responsible innovation in tech

In the realm of AI discourse, much attention is directed towards fostering responsible development of the technology itself (e.g. Is it free from …

Impact Voices | April 21, 2024

Unpacking the experiments, barriers, and pivots: exploring community banking with Kataly Foundation

Developing an investment strategy that meets our fiduciary requirements as resource stewards, embodies our racial justice values, and prioritizes the communities we serve …

Macro Impact | April 17, 2024

Good economy actually is good news as impact investors adjust to new realities

(Editor’s note: In this conclusion to ImpactAlpha’s four-part Macro Impact series, contributing editor Rob Brown parses the economic signals for public and private …

Photo credit: reach52

Sponsored | April 17, 2024

Innovative startups are changing the landscape of health impact everywhere. Are investors aware?

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 …

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 …

Impact Voices | April 16, 2024

How innovative financing structures can help close California’s housing gap

The way housing is financed and constructed in the United States has experienced little change in decades, leading to skyrocketing costs, barriers to …

Impact Voices | April 15, 2024

Elevating impact reporting to raise the performance of impact fund managers

“One million lives touched.” “800 jobs created.” “50,000 acres of land restored.” Capital allocators often see these types of punchy headlines in the …

AceliAfrica's impact performance report explores ties between impact performance and financial risk and return

Impact Management | April 15, 2024

Six impact performance reports that go beyond the basics to give investors needed insights

Impact Frontier’s Impact Reporting Norms target a leverage point in the impact investing system: impact reporting. They promise to provide greater clarity and …

Credit: Mati Carbon

Impact Voices | April 15, 2024

How Mati Carbon is using the carbon markets to address farmers’ adaptation finance gap and boost their incomes

Ashish Kumar is a long-time climate investor and a market / ecosystem builder. He is a strategic advisor to Mati Carbon. This month, …

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Catalytic Capital | April 9, 2024

The impact investing opportunity in Puerto Rico’s economic comeback

In one of Puerto Rico’s poorest neighborhoods, you can find what economists might call a “green shoot.” The plan for Oasis, a six-acre, …

Emerging and Growth Markets | April 9, 2024

How and why British International Investments directs capital to small businesses

Development finance institutions like to style themselves as the original impact investors. It was Lord Reith, the first chairman of the UK’s development …
Agents of Impact

Photo by Wharton ESG Initiative.

Agents of Impact | April 12, 2024

Impact MBAs: Raising up the next impact leaders (video)

The winner of a contest to sharpen the impact lens of students through deal sourcing and diligence was a team from London Business …

Agents of Impact | January 26, 2024

Ines Schiller, Vyld: Reengineering the tampon – and the ethos of biotech

ImpactAlpha, January 26 – Ines Schiller got the idea for seaweed tampons while training in South Africa to be a marine environment guide. …

Looking Ahead to 2024 | December 25, 2023

Holiday List No. 1: A dozen Agents of Impact to watch in 2024

ImpactAlpha, Dec. 23 – Bold leaders. Taking action. Driving impact. That’s the tagline we’ve used for the dozens of Agents of Impact we profiled …

Photo: Kris Krug

Agents of Impact | December 8, 2023

Tzeporah Berman, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty: Winding down production to fulfill the Paris Agreement

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished …

© Margo Moritz. Used by permission.

Agents of Impact | November 3, 2023

Andrea Armeni, NYU: On a quest to transform finance

Sustainable development? “More of the same.” Forest carbon credits? “Outside-imposed extraction.” Impact investing? “Are we really going far enough? Or are we just …

Christopher Bentley | Photo by The De-Carceration Fund.

Agents of Impact | September 8, 2023

Christopher Bentley, The De-Carceration Fund: Lifting ‘justice tech’ entrepreneurs

ImpactAlpha, September 8 — In 15 years in impact investing, Christopher Bentley noticed “a lot of for-profit companies focused on the criminal justice …

Agents of Impact | August 18, 2023

Monica Brand Engel, Quona Capital: Taking on the messy work of financial inclusion

ImpactAlpha, August 18 – Monica Brand Engel’s advice to impact investors is this: Imperfect execution is ok. “Authentic impact is about accepting imperfection …

Samuel Yeboah of Mirepa Investment Advisors

Agents of Impact | August 11, 2023

Samuel Yeboah, Mirepa Investment Advisors: Helping Africans invest in Africa

ImpactAlpha, Aug. 11 – Samuel Yeboah isn’t discouraged by the economic storm battering his home country of Ghana and many other emerging economies. “As …

Impact Investing | July 14, 2023

Amy Duffuor, Azolla Ventures: Bridging climate gaps with catalytic capital

Many investors look at promising new climate solutions and say, ‘Great, come back to me when you have traction.’ Azolla Ventures is more …

Katherine Stodulka (foreground) with Mark Swilling of the University of Stellenbosch, Colombian Minister of the Environment Maria Susana Muhamad, and climate justice researcher Nina Callaghan

Agents of Impact | June 30, 2023

Katherine Stodulka, Systemiq: Making introductions to bridge gaps in sustainable finance

ImpactAlpha, June 30 – The first thing that Katherine Stodulka does when you meet her is suggest you meet someone else. Then she’ll …

Agents of Impact | May 26, 2023

Jessica Espinoza, 2X Global: Proving gender as a value-driver

ImpactAlpha, May 26 – A decade ago, investors pushed back against the loan products Jessica Espinoza was designing for female business owners as …

Agents of Impact | May 12, 2023

Aina Abiodun, VertueLab: Centering community in climate tech in the Pacific Northwest

ImpactAlpha, May 12 – Nigeria-born climate entrepreneur and “professional nomad” Aina Abiodun is bullish on place-based climate innovation. “There is nothing more urgent than …
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The Liist

April 24, 2024

The Brief

Featured: LP / GP

Family offices warm to investment opportunities in the climate transition. As much as $200 trillion in investment is needed by 2050 to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to BloombergNEF. That’s many multiples of today’s level of climate investments. The more than 4,500 family offices globally that manage $6 trillion in wealth are poised to play a critical role in getting philanthropic and investment dollars off the sidelines and into climate solutions. “These are trillion-dollar issues,” writes Bruce McNamer of Builders Initiative, the grant and catalytic investment arm of Walmart heir Lukas Walton's Builders Vision. “To move these transitions forward faster, we need to attract and unlock additional capital.” The family office makes R&D grants for promising innovations, investments to bring technologies down the cost curve, anchor investments in early stage companies and funds, and it engages with public companies and its family office peers. Says McNamer, “It is the ability to engage in these kinds of wide-ranging capital deployment and influencing activities that make family offices potentially important players.”

Podcast: Agents of Impact

Franchising indoor farms to build a billion dollars in Black wealth (podcast). Two years ago, Loren Taylor missed out on becoming mayor of Oakland, Calif. by 677 votes. “But who’s counting?” jokes Taylor on this week’s Agents of Impact podcast. The biomedical engineer-turned-city council member has turned to business to tackle racial wealth gap. As CEO of Zarû Systems, he has the ambitious goal of growing Black wealth by a billion dollars through 1,000 businesses worth at least $1 million each. “We’re focused on bridging the racial wealth gap – unapologetically,” Taylor says. Zarû’s first business application: modular, turnkey indoor farms run by local owner-operators.

Dealflow: Inclusive Communities

Next Billion raises capital to invest in digital infrastructure and services in Latin America, Asia and Africa. The investment firm Next Billion Capital Partners funds tech ventures supporting access to basic services in emerging markets. It reached a first close for its debut Digital Growth Fund with backing from Impact Engine, Capricorn Investment Group, responsAbility and other investors. The fund provides up to $15 million in growth equity to companies delivering financial services, insurance, healthcare and education to women, low-income households and small businesses in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Next Billion is looking to raise $250 million.

Signals: Inclusion Alpha

FreeCap’s ‘decarceration index’ highlights companies that are 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 Walmart, Apple, Alphabet and JPMorgan Chase are recruiting, training and hiring from a pool of more than 70 million formerly incarcerated workers, who have faced rampant discrimination in the job market. A new "decarceration index" from FreeCap Financial helps investors identify companies with leading fair-chance hiring practices. Companies “able to hire people with arrest records are going to be in a better position to compete in the labor market in the future,” says Tanay Tatum-Edwards of FreeCap. The data provider that helps quantify the prison industrial complex for investors.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Economist Lawrence Summers joins the advisory board of residential solar provider Palmetto… Runway is hiring a chief lending officer… Gavi is hiring a head of private sector partnerships and innovation in Geneva… Also in Switzerland, Impactful Business Networks is recruiting a global CEO.