general-mills
Beats | February 16, 2017
Demand for organic products boom, but supply lags
Last year’s 11 percent increase in organic farmland in the U.S. sounds like a big win for sustainable agriculture. Except it isn’t. Of the …
- Beats
- The Brief
April 16, 2024
The Brief
Featured: Returns on Inclusion
The brilliant case for impact investing in America’s HBCUs. Four years into a social justice movement in which private and public funders vowed to prioritize communities of color, America’s 107 historically Black colleges and universities continue to lack reliable and affordable access to capital. The end of affirmative action in higher education admissions only increases the imperative to close the funding gap for HBCUs, argues Kresge Foundation's Erika Brice in a guest post. “It’s a moment that calls for a response,” says Brice, an alum of Howard University in Washington, DC (for background, see “Social returns on investments in HBCUs rise as affirmative action recedes”). Kresge invested $3.5 million in Reinvestment Fund’s $25 million HBCU Brilliance Fund to help HBCUs restructure their balance sheets, diversify their revenues, upgrade infrastructure and enhance student services. The flexible, mission-driven debt capital represents an underwriting approach that Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution, says “better reflects the financial realities of the schools.” The Brilliance Fund will back real estate projects both on and off campus. “Our long term goal is to have HBCUs serve as community anchors,” says Reinvestment Fund’s Damien Wilson. HBCUs generate an estimated $14.8 billion in annual economic impact.
Podcast: Agents of Impact
Building equitable food systems with community and reparative capital. On this week’s Agents of Impact Podcast, co-host Sherrell Dorsey chats with Olivia Watkins of Black Farmer Fund. The fund aims to meet the modern needs of Black farmers and food entrepreneurs with affordable capital and technical assistance (for background see, “Black Farmer Fund is reimagining U.S. agricultural finance, on farmers’ terms”).
Dealflow: Adaptation Finance
Pula lands $20 million to offer livestock insurance to smallholder farmers. Insurance tech startup Pula launched in 2015 to provide crop insurance to small scale farmers, 80% of whom lack access to products that protect their incomes from extreme weather events, like drought. The Kenyan company partners with insurers to embed their policies into the costs of the farm inputs farmers buy – when a farmer buys seeds, for example, those seeds come with an insurance policy. Its Series B equity round will support its expansion into livestock insurance. Swiss impact investor BlueOrchard led the round. Along with existing investors, Gates Foundation, Kenyan venture capital firm Hesabu Capital and the IFC also participated (see, "The next big thing is climate adaptation for smallholder farmers").
Impact Voices: Catalytic Capital
How innovative financing structures can help close California’s housing gap. The way housing is financed and constructed in the United States has changed little in decades. The result: skyrocketing costs and a nationwide housing shortage. California alone needs an estimated 2.5 million new homes by 2030, with 40% of those units for lower-income households. More than 100 policies adopted by the state in recent years to unwind exclusionary land use practices and increase housing production are unlocking development potential. Private investors and philanthropists have a big role to play in “catalyzing innovative approaches to financing housing to increase the pace of development, including increasing access to capital, reducing financing costs, and seeding novel approaches,” writes Kevin Schuster of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in a guest post on ImpactAlpha.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Alison Lingane, who co-founded Project Equity with Hilary Abell in 2014, is transitioning from her role as chief innovation and investment officer to senior advisor to Project Equity’s Employee Ownership Catalyst Fund… Connectivity Capital is hiring a project manager in Washington, DC… MacArthur Foundation is looking for an awards manager in Chicago… Also in Chicago, Builders Vision is recruiting a vice president for impact measurement and management… Chicago TREND is hiring a senior property manager.
- 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 HBCUsReturn 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 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 DorseyPlugged 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 …
Podcasts | December 1, 2023
All eyes on Dubai as COP 28 begins with Stephan Nicoleau
ImpactAlpha’s Amy Cortese speaks with Full Cycle’s Stephan Nicoleau at the start of COP 28 to hear what he’s expecting – and hoping …
- Opinion
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 returnImpact 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 CarbonImpact 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 RicoCatalytic 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, …
Frontier 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 …
Muni Impact | April 5, 2024
Billions to trillions: How municipal bonds can multiply the reach of the US ‘green bank’
To achieve stated climate goals, the U.S. government is embarking on what should be the largest coordination of private and public capital aimed …
SDGs | April 3, 2024
Blending Billions: Lessons from more than three dozen big blended finance transactions
In a world in which the UN SDG financing gap continues to grow, we face a double hurdle: blended finance is still struggling …
Sponsored | April 3, 2024
Seven red flags institutional investors should avoid when evaluating impact fund managers
As more investment firms launch impact funds, it has become increasingly difficult for institutional allocators to identify the most qualified fund managers to …
ESG | April 1, 2024
Why I love ESG regulation… and tell VC funds to forget about it as quickly as possible
Measure what matters. Disclosures are key. Transparency leads to accountability. Which investor, and in fact regulator, wouldn’t agree with these common-sense business mantras …
Impact Voices | March 27, 2024
Investing in life vs. tech: Lifting up nature-based solutions for ecosystems and communities
“We need to invest in life, rather than expensive infrastructure investments,” Anne van Leeuwen, a founding farmer from the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture, pleaded …
- 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 KrugAgents 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 AdvisorsAgents 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 CallaghanAgents 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 …
- More
April 16, 2024
The Brief
Featured: Returns on Inclusion
The brilliant case for impact investing in America’s HBCUs. Four years into a social justice movement in which private and public funders vowed to prioritize communities of color, America’s 107 historically Black colleges and universities continue to lack reliable and affordable access to capital. The end of affirmative action in higher education admissions only increases the imperative to close the funding gap for HBCUs, argues Kresge Foundation's Erika Brice in a guest post. “It’s a moment that calls for a response,” says Brice, an alum of Howard University in Washington, DC (for background, see “Social returns on investments in HBCUs rise as affirmative action recedes”). Kresge invested $3.5 million in Reinvestment Fund’s $25 million HBCU Brilliance Fund to help HBCUs restructure their balance sheets, diversify their revenues, upgrade infrastructure and enhance student services. The flexible, mission-driven debt capital represents an underwriting approach that Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution, says “better reflects the financial realities of the schools.” The Brilliance Fund will back real estate projects both on and off campus. “Our long term goal is to have HBCUs serve as community anchors,” says Reinvestment Fund’s Damien Wilson. HBCUs generate an estimated $14.8 billion in annual economic impact.
Podcast: Agents of Impact
Building equitable food systems with community and reparative capital. On this week’s Agents of Impact Podcast, co-host Sherrell Dorsey chats with Olivia Watkins of Black Farmer Fund. The fund aims to meet the modern needs of Black farmers and food entrepreneurs with affordable capital and technical assistance (for background see, “Black Farmer Fund is reimagining U.S. agricultural finance, on farmers’ terms”).
Dealflow: Adaptation Finance
Pula lands $20 million to offer livestock insurance to smallholder farmers. Insurance tech startup Pula launched in 2015 to provide crop insurance to small scale farmers, 80% of whom lack access to products that protect their incomes from extreme weather events, like drought. The Kenyan company partners with insurers to embed their policies into the costs of the farm inputs farmers buy – when a farmer buys seeds, for example, those seeds come with an insurance policy. Its Series B equity round will support its expansion into livestock insurance. Swiss impact investor BlueOrchard led the round. Along with existing investors, Gates Foundation, Kenyan venture capital firm Hesabu Capital and the IFC also participated (see, "The next big thing is climate adaptation for smallholder farmers").
Impact Voices: Catalytic Capital
How innovative financing structures can help close California’s housing gap. The way housing is financed and constructed in the United States has changed little in decades. The result: skyrocketing costs and a nationwide housing shortage. California alone needs an estimated 2.5 million new homes by 2030, with 40% of those units for lower-income households. More than 100 policies adopted by the state in recent years to unwind exclusionary land use practices and increase housing production are unlocking development potential. Private investors and philanthropists have a big role to play in “catalyzing innovative approaches to financing housing to increase the pace of development, including increasing access to capital, reducing financing costs, and seeding novel approaches,” writes Kevin Schuster of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in a guest post on ImpactAlpha.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Alison Lingane, who co-founded Project Equity with Hilary Abell in 2014, is transitioning from her role as chief innovation and investment officer to senior advisor to Project Equity’s Employee Ownership Catalyst Fund… Connectivity Capital is hiring a project manager in Washington, DC… MacArthur Foundation is looking for an awards manager in Chicago… Also in Chicago, Builders Vision is recruiting a vice president for impact measurement and management… Chicago TREND is hiring a senior property manager.
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 | 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 …
Podcasts | December 1, 2023
All eyes on Dubai as COP 28 begins with Stephan Nicoleau
ImpactAlpha’s Amy Cortese speaks with Full Cycle’s Stephan Nicoleau at the start of COP 28 to hear what he’s expecting – and hoping …
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, …
Frontier 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 …
Muni Impact | April 5, 2024
Billions to trillions: How municipal bonds can multiply the reach of the US ‘green bank’
To achieve stated climate goals, the U.S. government is embarking on what should be the largest coordination of private and public capital aimed …
SDGs | April 3, 2024
Blending Billions: Lessons from more than three dozen big blended finance transactions
In a world in which the UN SDG financing gap continues to grow, we face a double hurdle: blended finance is still struggling …
Sponsored | April 3, 2024
Seven red flags institutional investors should avoid when evaluating impact fund managers
As more investment firms launch impact funds, it has become increasingly difficult for institutional allocators to identify the most qualified fund managers to …
ESG | April 1, 2024
Why I love ESG regulation… and tell VC funds to forget about it as quickly as possible
Measure what matters. Disclosures are key. Transparency leads to accountability. Which investor, and in fact regulator, wouldn’t agree with these common-sense business mantras …
Impact Voices | March 27, 2024
Investing in life vs. tech: Lifting up nature-based solutions for ecosystems and communities
“We need to invest in life, rather than expensive infrastructure investments,” Anne van Leeuwen, a founding farmer from the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture, pleaded …
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 …