Hi there, Agent of Impact! This week, take advantage of these opportunities at ImpactAlpha:
📞 Agents of Impact Call 64: Blending Billions. Here come the billion-dollar blended finance funds. This week’s Call will dissect how such mega-deals get done. Climate Fund Managers’ Rajashree Padmanabhi will join Mitsubishi UFJ’s Ariane Pevide, MacArthur Foundation’s Debra Schwartz, and Nnamdi Igbokwe of blended-finance network Convergence, to share practical lessons in blending billions for renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, health, education and small business lending, this Thursday, Sept. 19, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP today.
🔌 Plugged In: Inside Wisconsin’s game plan to tap federal financing for the green transition. On her LinkedIn Live discussion this Wednesday, Sherrell Dorsey’s will engage Forward Together Wisconsin’s Mandela Barnes on the nonprofit network’s plan to leverage once-in-a-generation climate funding to improve neighborhoods and lower costs for the state’s rural areas and working-class families, communities of color and Tribal communities. Get Plugged In, Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET / 7:30pm London.RSVP today.
✅ Find more impact alpha. If you like this weekly Open, you’ll love ImpactAlpha’s daily Brief, the award-winning newsletter that sets the table for Agents of Impact five mornings a week. Grab a full subscription to make the most of our news feed and features, vibrant community and smart data and tools to unlock the alpha in impact. Take 25% off.
In this week’s Open:
- Ethical fashion in NYC
- Impact fundraising in Oaxaca
- Rise of student-led impact funds
- A near climate-free debate
Let’s jump in. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- Ethical fashion in NYC. “Really what we are building is a different kind of fashion system,” Remake’s Ayesha Barenblat told Amy Cortese at the nonprofit’s upcycled fashion show on a rooftop in New York’s Lower East Side.
- Impact fundraising in Oaxaca. “Everything that we do has to be done with awareness, has to be done with consciousness,” said Rafael Bucios of Los Amantes, an artisanal Mezcal distillery, as I reported (and sampled) from Latimpacto’s ‘Impact Minds’ gathering in Oaxaca. Dig in.
- Deals, fundraising, mergers and more in Latin America. Get the gossip.
- Rise of student-led impact funds. The work of building out an inclusive and sustainable economy will no doubt fall to the next generation of impact investors and entrepreneurs. ImpactAlpha’s Lynnley Browning reported on the proliferation of student-led impact funds at colleges and business schools around the world. Learn more.
- Reclaiming ESG in private markets. Founders and VCs will need a sharp eye for materiality, and the hidden alpha in impact themes such as diversity and good governance, in order to reclaim the promise of ESG in private markets, as VentureESG’s Johannes Lenhard and Hannah Leach wrote in a guest post. Take a peek.
- Inclusive impact management. As Jessica Pothering reported, Agents of Impact need an open and collaborative approach to impact measurement to prevent the growing welter of sustainability regulations from becoming “a neocolonial barrier to capital access for the Global South.” Level up.
Agents of Impact
💃 Edgar Villanueva, Decolonizing Wealth Project: Championing Indigenous fashion and finance
Edgar Villanueva is a model – literally – for the principles of reparative finance. On a Soho rooftop at New York Fashion Week, the activist and author of “Decolonizing Wealth” sported a suit made of vegan cactus leather from Mexican retailer Sarelly Sarelly, along with a beaded pendant by Navajo designer Sean Snyder. The fourth annual Celebrating Indigeneity event, hosted by Villanueva and his nonprofit, the Decolonizing Wealth Project, celebrated Indigenous fashion designers including Jantay Kahm, Bethany Yellowtail and Naiomi Glasses, and championed climate sustainability (see, “Ethical and inclusive are in style at New York Fashion Week”). “I see this as a narrative change opportunity,” Villanueva told ImpactAlpha, “but also a wealth building opportunity for Natives in this industry.”
- Keep reading, “Championing Indigenous fashion and finance,” by Jessica Pothering and Amy Cortese on ImpactAlpha. Follow us on Instagram.
🏃 On the move
- ImpactPHL appointed Kafi Lindsay, former director of Philadelphia’s Office of Strategic Partnerships, as CEO
- Patricia Letayf will replace fellow co-founder of Five One Labs, Alice Bosley, as executive director.
- Inclusive Prosperity Capital promoted Claire Getman to senior associate.
The Week’s Podcasts
🎧 This Week in Impact: A near climate-free debate
Host Brian Walsh takes up some of the week’s top stories with ImpactAlpha’s editorial director Amy Cortese. Up this week: The scant attention to climate change and the Inflation Reduction Act in the US presidential debate, the sustainable side of fashion week in New York, and a look at the rising number of student-led impact funds.
- Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple or Spotify.
🏛️ Capitol Gains: How capital flows shape communities
The size and direction of capital flows can mean the difference between a neighborhood that thrives and one that is left behind. “We need half a billion to a billion dollars in a single neighborhood over 20 to 30 years to really catalyze growth,” Brett Theodos of the Urban Institute says on the latest Capitol Gains podcast.“We’re spending a penny when we need a dollar.”
- Listen to the latest episode of Capitol Gains with Matt Posner and James McIntyre. Capitol Gains, a project of Court Street Group, is part of the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network.
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- Opportunity Finance Network is recruiting a chief financial officer in Washington, DC.
- In Chicago, Builders Vision is on the hunt for an energy vice president, and Impact Engine is looking for an investment analyst.
- Lafayette Square seeks an originations business development associate.
Sign up to Impact Careers get the top impact investing job listings and internships right in your inbox. Register for free.
🤝 Meet up
Don’t miss these upcoming impact investing events:
- September 25: Norselab Impact Day (Oslo)
- October 7-9: AFSIC Investing in Africa (London)
- October 23-24: GIIN Impact Summit (Amsterdam)
- October 28-30: SOCAP Global (San Francisco)
Subscribe (with 25% off) to access substantial discounts on partner events.
Partner with us. Reach the most influential audience in impact investing. Get in touch.
Get ImpactAlpha for Teams. Save with substantial group discounts. Start here.
