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In this week’s Open:
- Trump seeks to claw back $20B in climate funding
- Stakeholders make the business case for diversity
- Community ownership in Portland
- Impact alpha fund managers
Let’s jump in. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- Trump’s EPA seeks to claw back $20 billion in climate funding. Courts will decide whether parking $20 billion at Citibank was a smart move to safeguard a generational opportunity to finance a just transition, scooped ImpactAlpha’s David Bank and Amy Cortese. Dig in.
- Stakeholders make the business case for diversity. From Tesla to Target, shareholders and other stakeholders are staking out the business case for diversity and inclusion even as public policy reverses course, I reported. Keep reading.
- Community ownership in Portland. Local enclaves are nurturing new models for shared prosperity, as Roodgally Senatus documented in his profile of a strip mall in Portland that is helping neighborhood families build wealth and community ownership. Read up.
- Mitigating forced labor risk. In global supply chains, where forced labor remains distressingly common, investors are more important than ever in identifying abuse of low-wage migrants and pushing portfolio companies to disclose their “social audits,” good or bad, argued Transparentem’s E. Benjamin Skinner. Dig in.
- Product-impact fit. Monitoring impact is not an overhead burden, but “an important part of building a business and reaching the holy grail for any startup: product-market fit,” argue 60 Decibels’ Ellie Turner and Tom Adams, and Malika Anand of Catalyst Fund, who introduced a new design goal: “product-impact” fit. Get smart quickly.
- Emerging impact managers on The Liist. This month’s roundup from Jessica Pothering and Lucy Ngige highlights emerging managers forging ahead with inclusive and climate investment strategies. There are many more such talented managers on The Liist, our newly upgraded database of impact fund managers who are actively raising capital. Take a spin.
Agents of Impact
💸 Impact alpha fund managers chart a path through uncertain times
Next month, Impact Capital Managers, an association of fund managers seeking “superior returns and meaningful impact,” will honor individuals that have been central to building the network, which has grown to more than 140 members with $70 billion in assets under management. Brian Trelstad, a partner with Bridges’ US Sustainable Growth Fund, helped catalyze ICM and other core institutions of impact investing. Cynthia Muller of the WK Kellogg Foundation was an early funder and a trailblazer in broadening the scope of impact investments. Kendall Bedford, an associate at SustainVC, won this year’s “emerging leader” award.
- Keep reading, “Impact alpha fund managers chart a path through uncertain times,” by Amy Cortese on ImpactAlpha.
🏃🏽♀️ On the move
- HSBC selects Julian Wentzel to replace Celine Herweijer as chief sustainability officer.
- Azolla Ventures promotes Ally Harada to head of finance and operations.
- Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation taps Mandy Price, previously with Kanarys, as managing director.
The Week’s Podcasts
🎧 This Week in Impact: Community Ownership
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: An innovative investment vehicle turns a strip mall in Portland into a community investment trust that’s helping local renters build family wealth; the Liist gets an upgrade to highlight impact fund managers who are actively raising; plus, why impact investors are split on President Trump’s proposal to axe the carried interest tax loophole for private equity fund managers.
- Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple or Spotify.
The Week’s Deal Spotlight
🧳 Mobile Pathways raises $1 million for AI tools for US immigration attorneys
Immigration legal and advocacy groups in the US have had a lot more work to take on since President Donald Trump came back into office. San Francisco-based nonprofit Mobile Pathways is using artificial intelligence to help immigrants get access to reliable and timely legal assistance and representation.
- Keep reading this post, and catch up on all of this week’s dealflow reporting.
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- Mission Driven Finance is recruiting a vice president of fund management.
- Morgan Stanley’s Investing with Impact team seeks an analyst/associate in New York.
- Broadstreet Impact Services seeks a senior impact analyst.
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 ImpactAlpha partner events:
- Feb. 25-27: The Latin American Impact Investment Forum (Mérida, Mexico).
- Mar. 7: Equitech Texas Welcome Breakfast at SXSW (Austin)
- Mar. 12-14: Latin American Regenerative Investment Summit (Bogotá)
- Apr. 1-2: Phenix Capital’s Impact Summit Europe (Amsterdam)
Subscribe (with 75% off) to access substantial discounts on partner events.
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