The talk outpaces the walk: Three tough truths about impact investing. For all the talk of innovation and risk-taking, impact investors, and particularly foundations, can be unnerved by novelty, frustratingly clubbish and slow to cut checks, writes Upstart Co-Lab’s Laura Callanan. Last month, Upstart raised $15 million in the first close of its strategy to drive an inclusive creative economy through film and TV, video games, fashion, music, beauty and other creative industries. Upstart found that foundations required between nine and 18 months to reach an investment decision. Two foundations said their process takes a full 24 months. “This is an eternity when you are starting a fund, and time is (literally) money,” Callanan says. In a guest post, Callanan shares some tough truths she’s learned over a quarter-century of mobilizing impact capital. “Change takes time,” writes Callanan. “But we are overdue for the impact investing club to burst open its doors, welcome new investors, and ask legacy members to work a little harder.”
Chilean startup Reuse raises $4.5 million to refurbish electronics in Mexico. Some 5.5 million tons of electronic devices like smartphones and laptops are discarded each year, according to a recent tally. Circular economy startup Reuse, which operates in Mexico, Chile and Peru, operates refurbished electronics marketplaces that cut down on electronics waste and generate savings for consumers. Reuse sells the used devices to businesses and partners with retailers on trade-ins. The startup generated $15 million in revenues last year.
With collaborations and catalytic capital, place-based pioneers look to expand their impact. If “place-based investing” 1.0 was pioneering new models with local partners, then version 2.0 is leveraging lessons learned from early strategies for wider collaborations and broader impact. “Place-based 2.0 is about how you branch off,” Betty Francisco of the Boston Impact Initiative said at ImpactPHL’s Total Impact Summit last week. Fostering collaborative initiatives, more intentionally engaging public partners on projects, and blending pools of capital to solve complex financing challenges was top of mind for many impact investors as they look to capitalize on the unprecedented federal investment in green infrastructure for underserved communities. The nonprofit Boston Impact Initiative is raising a $20 million second fund to invest throughout Massachusetts and in select communities across New England (see, “The Liist”). The panel, centered on big and bold bets to drive place-based impact, included MacArthur Foundation’s Allison Clark and Ben McAdams of Common Ground Institute, a public policy development organization and was moderated by ImpactAlpha’s Roodgally Senatus.
Anuradha Shetty, previously with Soros Economic Development Fund, joins Bramble Partners as an investment partner… S2G Ventures, which recently spun out from Builders Vision, appoints Vikram Sharma, formerly a senior adviser with Baird Capital, as operating partner… HCAP Partners promotes Jessica Kim, who joined HCAP as an Impact Capital Managers Mosaic Fellow, and Ben Consoli to vice presidents on its investment team. Chenjing Wang, previously with Morgan Stanley, joins as senior associate… Malcolm Sullivan, previously with Greenhouse Software, joins Social Finance as senior talent associate… Quantified Ventures hires Ana Koerner, previously with Wellsky, as a senior associate.
In New Orleans, the city’s housing finance agency has become a “green bank” to underwrite community solar, water treatment projects, and resilience hubs. …
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 …
ImpactAlpha, January 19 – Impact investors have for years debated the need for embedded structures to incentivize impact outcomes for impact fund managers. …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 15 – The $4 trillion muni market is so big that small movements in the pricing of bonds can mean shifts of …
ImpactAlpha, November 17 – That women are more adversely affected by climate change is well established (in impact and development circles at any …
This week’s Agents of Impact Call continued a tradition started nearly a decade ago by Fran Seegull of the US Impact Investing Alliance …
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 …
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 …
ImpactAlpha, July 28 – Most historically Black colleges and universities were formed during the Reconstruction era. In the more than a century since, Spelman, …
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 22 – Even as some politicians ramp up anti-ESG rhetoric, asset owners and allocators are signaling an appetite for investment strategies …
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 …
ImpactAlpha. Feb. 24 – “A labor market where workers have more opportunities and have more power and have more leverage is a good …
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: The rebound in blended finance; how Big Tech …
When one door closes, another one opens. For Zarû Systems’ Loren Taylor, that second door may open onto a self-contained modular vertical farm …
🎧 This Week in Impact. Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: federal funds to …
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 …
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 …
ImpactAlpha podcasts are back! We’re pleased to share our revamped interview show, Agents of Impact, hosted by David Bank and Sherrell Dorsey, founder …
Impact(ed) is part of the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network, a set of shows hosted and produced by leading voices in impact and sustainable investing, …
On This Week in Impact, Brian Walsh dives into some of ImpactAlpha’s top stories, with commentary from editor David Bank. This week: the …
Venture capital invested nearly $500 billion in 2022. By investing into startups seeking transformational scale, successful venture-backed companies have the potential to change …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 29 – “Net zero is not going to get us anywhere,” Ariane Mahler of Veridien Global Investors told David Bank of ImpactAlpha …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 22 – Diverse innovators building for all customers in large industries like digital health, fintech and the future of work have been …
U.S. impact investors, we have a problem. In truth, there are several, and they all center around just how challenging it is to …
Achieving net-zero emissions requires transitioning from a fossil-fueled economy to one energized through metals and materials. Nearly $2 trillion in investment in mining …
In the dynamic economic environment of the Asia-Pacific region, a significant investment opportunity is emerging: institutional investors’ capacity to champion gender equality through …
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
This series of guest posts is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange to present new ideas and perspectives in …
Editor’s note: This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in …
Latin America is witnessing a transformative trend in family office philanthropy: the shift towards impact investing. Traditionally, philanthropy in the region has been …
Rural economic development is a complex issue, including in Colombia. Rural regions are often culturally diverse areas, but have limited access to quality …
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
In the realm of AI discourse, much attention is directed towards fostering responsible development of the technology itself (e.g. Is it free from …
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is seeding green projects in primarily low-income communities by sending $27 billion through a network of nonprofit lenders. …
The winner of a contest to sharpen the impact lens of students through deal sourcing and diligence was a team from London Business …
ImpactAlpha, January 26 – Ines Schiller got the idea for seaweed tampons while training in South Africa to be a marine environment guide. …
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 …
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished …
Sustainable development? “More of the same.” Forest carbon credits? “Outside-imposed extraction.” Impact investing? “Are we really going far enough? Or are we just …
ImpactAlpha, September 8 — In 15 years in impact investing, Christopher Bentley noticed “a lot of for-profit companies focused on the criminal justice …
ImpactAlpha, August 18 – Monica Brand Engel’s advice to impact investors is this: Imperfect execution is ok. “Authentic impact is about accepting imperfection …
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 11 – Samuel Yeboah isn’t discouraged by the economic storm battering his home country of Ghana and many other emerging economies. “As …
Many investors look at promising new climate solutions and say, ‘Great, come back to me when you have traction.’ Azolla Ventures is more …
ImpactAlpha, June 30 – The first thing that Katherine Stodulka does when you meet her is suggest you meet someone else. Then she’ll …
ImpactAlpha, May 26 – A decade ago, investors pushed back against the loan products Jessica Espinoza was designing for female business owners as …
The talk outpaces the walk: Three tough truths about impact investing. For all the talk of innovation and risk-taking, impact investors, and particularly foundations, can be unnerved by novelty, frustratingly clubbish and slow to cut checks, writes Upstart Co-Lab’s Laura Callanan. Last month, Upstart raised $15 million in the first close of its strategy to drive an inclusive creative economy through film and TV, video games, fashion, music, beauty and other creative industries. Upstart found that foundations required between nine and 18 months to reach an investment decision. Two foundations said their process takes a full 24 months. “This is an eternity when you are starting a fund, and time is (literally) money,” Callanan says. In a guest post, Callanan shares some tough truths she’s learned over a quarter-century of mobilizing impact capital. “Change takes time,” writes Callanan. “But we are overdue for the impact investing club to burst open its doors, welcome new investors, and ask legacy members to work a little harder.”
Chilean startup Reuse raises $4.5 million to refurbish electronics in Mexico. Some 5.5 million tons of electronic devices like smartphones and laptops are discarded each year, according to a recent tally. Circular economy startup Reuse, which operates in Mexico, Chile and Peru, operates refurbished electronics marketplaces that cut down on electronics waste and generate savings for consumers. Reuse sells the used devices to businesses and partners with retailers on trade-ins. The startup generated $15 million in revenues last year.
With collaborations and catalytic capital, place-based pioneers look to expand their impact. If “place-based investing” 1.0 was pioneering new models with local partners, then version 2.0 is leveraging lessons learned from early strategies for wider collaborations and broader impact. “Place-based 2.0 is about how you branch off,” Betty Francisco of the Boston Impact Initiative said at ImpactPHL’s Total Impact Summit last week. Fostering collaborative initiatives, more intentionally engaging public partners on projects, and blending pools of capital to solve complex financing challenges was top of mind for many impact investors as they look to capitalize on the unprecedented federal investment in green infrastructure for underserved communities. The nonprofit Boston Impact Initiative is raising a $20 million second fund to invest throughout Massachusetts and in select communities across New England (see, “The Liist”). The panel, centered on big and bold bets to drive place-based impact, included MacArthur Foundation’s Allison Clark and Ben McAdams of Common Ground Institute, a public policy development organization and was moderated by ImpactAlpha’s Roodgally Senatus.
Anuradha Shetty, previously with Soros Economic Development Fund, joins Bramble Partners as an investment partner… S2G Ventures, which recently spun out from Builders Vision, appoints Vikram Sharma, formerly a senior adviser with Baird Capital, as operating partner… HCAP Partners promotes Jessica Kim, who joined HCAP as an Impact Capital Managers Mosaic Fellow, and Ben Consoli to vice presidents on its investment team. Chenjing Wang, previously with Morgan Stanley, joins as senior associate… Malcolm Sullivan, previously with Greenhouse Software, joins Social Finance as senior talent associate… Quantified Ventures hires Ana Koerner, previously with Wellsky, as a senior associate.
In New Orleans, the city’s housing finance agency has become a “green bank” to underwrite community solar, water treatment projects, and resilience hubs. …
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 …
ImpactAlpha, January 19 – Impact investors have for years debated the need for embedded structures to incentivize impact outcomes for impact fund managers. …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 15 – The $4 trillion muni market is so big that small movements in the pricing of bonds can mean shifts of …
ImpactAlpha, November 17 – That women are more adversely affected by climate change is well established (in impact and development circles at any …
This week’s Agents of Impact Call continued a tradition started nearly a decade ago by Fran Seegull of the US Impact Investing Alliance …
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 …
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 …
ImpactAlpha, July 28 – Most historically Black colleges and universities were formed during the Reconstruction era. In the more than a century since, Spelman, …
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 22 – Even as some politicians ramp up anti-ESG rhetoric, asset owners and allocators are signaling an appetite for investment strategies …
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 …
ImpactAlpha. Feb. 24 – “A labor market where workers have more opportunities and have more power and have more leverage is a good …
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: The rebound in blended finance; how Big Tech …
When one door closes, another one opens. For Zarû Systems’ Loren Taylor, that second door may open onto a self-contained modular vertical farm …
🎧 This Week in Impact. Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: federal funds to …
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 …
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 …
ImpactAlpha podcasts are back! We’re pleased to share our revamped interview show, Agents of Impact, hosted by David Bank and Sherrell Dorsey, founder …
Impact(ed) is part of the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network, a set of shows hosted and produced by leading voices in impact and sustainable investing, …
On This Week in Impact, Brian Walsh dives into some of ImpactAlpha’s top stories, with commentary from editor David Bank. This week: the …
Venture capital invested nearly $500 billion in 2022. By investing into startups seeking transformational scale, successful venture-backed companies have the potential to change …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 29 – “Net zero is not going to get us anywhere,” Ariane Mahler of Veridien Global Investors told David Bank of ImpactAlpha …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 22 – Diverse innovators building for all customers in large industries like digital health, fintech and the future of work have been …
U.S. impact investors, we have a problem. In truth, there are several, and they all center around just how challenging it is to …
Achieving net-zero emissions requires transitioning from a fossil-fueled economy to one energized through metals and materials. Nearly $2 trillion in investment in mining …
In the dynamic economic environment of the Asia-Pacific region, a significant investment opportunity is emerging: institutional investors’ capacity to champion gender equality through …
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
This series of guest posts is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange to present new ideas and perspectives in …
Editor’s note: This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in …
Latin America is witnessing a transformative trend in family office philanthropy: the shift towards impact investing. Traditionally, philanthropy in the region has been …
Rural economic development is a complex issue, including in Colombia. Rural regions are often culturally diverse areas, but have limited access to quality …
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
In the realm of AI discourse, much attention is directed towards fostering responsible development of the technology itself (e.g. Is it free from …
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is seeding green projects in primarily low-income communities by sending $27 billion through a network of nonprofit lenders. …
The winner of a contest to sharpen the impact lens of students through deal sourcing and diligence was a team from London Business …
ImpactAlpha, January 26 – Ines Schiller got the idea for seaweed tampons while training in South Africa to be a marine environment guide. …
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 …
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished …
Sustainable development? “More of the same.” Forest carbon credits? “Outside-imposed extraction.” Impact investing? “Are we really going far enough? Or are we just …
ImpactAlpha, September 8 — In 15 years in impact investing, Christopher Bentley noticed “a lot of for-profit companies focused on the criminal justice …
ImpactAlpha, August 18 – Monica Brand Engel’s advice to impact investors is this: Imperfect execution is ok. “Authentic impact is about accepting imperfection …
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 11 – Samuel Yeboah isn’t discouraged by the economic storm battering his home country of Ghana and many other emerging economies. “As …
Many investors look at promising new climate solutions and say, ‘Great, come back to me when you have traction.’ Azolla Ventures is more …
ImpactAlpha, June 30 – The first thing that Katherine Stodulka does when you meet her is suggest you meet someone else. Then she’ll …
ImpactAlpha, May 26 – A decade ago, investors pushed back against the loan products Jessica Espinoza was designing for female business owners as …
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