Greetings, Agents of Impact!
Welcome to the latest ImpactAlpha Open, our free weekly newsletter that brings you the top news and opportunities in impact investing.
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In this week’s Open:
- Racial bias in venture capital
- Navajo power
- Investing in good jobs
- Climate risk in insurance markets
Ok, let’s get to it. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- Racial bias in venture capital. A lawsuit that alleges anti-white racial discrimination by a VC fund that provides capital for early-stage businesses run by Black women paradoxically highlights the industry’s real problem with racial equity – implicit bias against founders of color, I report.
- Deploy, deploy, deploy. A $180 million philanthropic consortium will provide catalytic grants to ensure that rural, tribal, communities of color and other under-resourced places can tap federal funds for the rebuilding that is required, as Amy Cortese reports.
- Navajo power. A local solar developer is tapping the immense renewable energy potential in Indian country – and cutting tribal communities in on the benefits, as founders Brett Isaac and Michael Cox explain in a Q&A with Jessica Pothering.
- Community-owned real estate. Community ownership can be a success factor for commercial real estate developments in low-income communities, as Roodgally Senatus details in his story on LocalCode Kansas City and other efforts.
- Investing in good jobs. As labor flexes its power in a strong jobs market, investors are looking for companies that can attract and retain employees with “quality jobs,” I report.
- “A for effort.” Our roundup of annual private equity impact reports found that legacy firms like KKR, Bain, Apollo and TPG – spoiler alert – give themselves good grades on climate, sustainability and inclusion.
Agents of Impact
🏃🏿♀️ On the move
- Larry Kramer will step down as president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation at the end of the year to become president and vice chancellor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
- Mohnish Jain, ex- of Deloitte, joins Ankur Capital as finance manager.
- Tufts’ Julianne Zimmerman joins Adasina Social Capital as managing director.
Impact Briefing
🎧 On the podcast
David Bank speaks with Hugo Contreras, who helped lead The Nature Conservancy’s efforts in Latin America to value, conserve and enhance water, our most irreplaceable resource, in the next conversation in our series from the Salzburg Global Seminar, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Host Monique Aiken has the headlines.
- Listen to the latest episode, and follow all of ImpactAlpha’s podcasts on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Short Signals: What We’re Reading on Impact Investing
🗺️ Navigating impact investing. To kick off a series on impact investing, Deloitte lays out the fundamental difference between ESG and impact, recognized standards and emerging regulations in Europe. (Deloitte)
🛵 Gig workers fight back. As more on-call workers fall under the purview of algorithms, workers are being pitted against each other. Jakarta’s motorbike taxi drivers provide a playbook for resistance and new ways for workers to build collective power. (MIT Technology Review)
🟰 Equity pays. The list of metro areas where Black residents are thriving most – such as Huntsville, Ala.; Augusta-Richmond, Ga.-S.C.; Killeen-Temple, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta – correlates to more equitable representation of Black-owned employer businesses. (Brookings Institution)
🌾 Financing food. Agriculture and food systems include high-emission and climate-vulnerable sectors, yet attract little finance for climate solutions. An analysis by sector, geography and financial instrument breaks down climate finance going to agriculture, forest and aquaculture systems. (Climate Policy Initiative)
⚠️ Climate risk in insurance markets. The cost of the 357 separate billion-dollar weather disasters since 1980 from severe storms to heat waves to wildfires, has reached more than $2.5 trillion. An analysis reveals how 15 market-leading insurance companies are publicly reporting their climate risk data. (Ceres)
☀️ Al is optimistic. “I’m convinced we are going to solve the climate crisis,” Al Gore says in a new Ted Talk in which he lays out a vision to accelerate climate action. “If you doubt that we as human beings have the will to act, please always remember that the will to act is itself a renewable resource.” (TED)
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- The World Bank is hiring a chief executive officer for its Climate Investment Funds in Washington, DC.
- Blackstone Charitable Foundation is looking for a finance and operations associate in New York.
- State Street Global Advisors is hiring a head of sustainability stewardship in Boston.
Scan through dozens of more impact jobs curated on ImpactAlpha.com.
🤝 Meet up
Don’t miss these upcoming impact investing events:
- 27-30 August: Latimpacto Conference (Rio de Janeiro)
- 19 September: Carbon Smart Summit (New York)
- 2-3 October: GSG Global Impact Summit 2023 (Málaga, Spain)
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