October 31, 2023 |

Impact Investing Advisor

Guest Author

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Full Time
United States
Posted 1 month ago

Website Phillips Foundation

About the job

Position Description

Title: Impact Investing Advisor

Position Type: Fractional / Part-Time

Location: Remote | Anywhere in the United States (Phillips Foundation has offices in Dallas, TX and Greensboro, NC)

Impact Investing Advisor

Phillips Foundation, a Dallas-based family foundation, seeks an Impact Investing Advisor to lead internal and external impact investing activities of the Foundation.

About Phillips Foundation

Phillips Foundation is a private family foundation and catalytic capital platform that leverages its $60M endowment to maximize social, environmental, and financial value. The Foundation is issue-agnostic but focuses its attention on increasing social equity, catalyzing system change, and building thriving communities.

Following the entrepreneurial legacy of founder Kermit G. Phillips II, the Foundation conceived and implemented a first-of-its-kind Generational Grantmaking strategy in 2013. Between Generational Grantmaking cycles, the Foundation favors original programs and impact investing tools over traditional grants to achieve sustainable impact.

Phillips Foundation has launched four original programs.

Impact Investing Think Tank®is an initiative that convenes and educates investors on the topic of impact investing through speaker series, seminars, workshops, and its online hub of curated information and resources.
Healthy Relationships Initiativeinfuses communities with the information, resources and services families need to maintain healthy relationships and to provide supportive environments for children.
Give As We Grow®is a free app-based digital platform designed to inspire, educate, and track philanthropic activity in children aged 8 to 10 years.
#RealityCheckIt is a social media campaign launched during the recent global pandemic to elevate visibility for critical issues affecting nonprofits and to highlight opportunities for communities to respond through action.

In 2016, the Foundation Board of Trustees approved a 100% values-aligned strategy for the foundation assets with the goal to achieve the Foundation’s mission and institutional outcomes while also seeking to influence broader capital markets. The investment portfolio leverages both program-related investments (PRIs) and mission-related investments (MRIs).

Program-Related Investments. The purpose of the Foundation’s PRIs is to catalyze and support new models that advance social benefits while generating some level of financial returns. These investments aim to catalyze innovation in the finance sector, particularly with the goal of increasing equitable access to capital for under-represented groups. By taking on early-stage risk to prove innovative new models, the Foundation helps to attract investment capital to these new efforts to bring them to scale for sustainability. Examples include investment in new social equity-focused financing structures, innovation in workforce development financing, and a first-of-its-kind guarantee pool to attract investment capital to underserved entrepreneurs and communities.
Mission-Related Investments.The purpose of the Foundation’s MRIs is to align investment capital with the Foundation’s mission and values thereby generating social and environmental benefit while also seeking benchmark-competitive returns. By moving capital to best-in-class investments that seek specific social and environmental targets in addition to superior financial return, the Foundation helps to reward impact-oriented managers and serves to promote a higher level of fiduciary duty. These investments typically seek: fund managers that incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into their investment theses and operations; impact-focused fund managers; impact-themed funds and; working capital loans to growth-stage impact businesses.

As an early adopter of a total portfolio activation for impact approach, the Foundation seeks to influence other investors to make impact investments and adopt total portfolio activation strategies. The Foundation also engages in advocacy and other shareholder engagement practices.

Position Summary

The Impact Investing Advisor will conduct the research, evaluation, selection recommendation, and monitoring of impact investment vehicles, and will make recommendations to align investment selections with the Foundation’s impact and financial goals and risk tolerance.

The Impact Investing Advisor will report directly to the Managing Director, Phillips Foundation, and will collaborate closely with the Chief Investment Officer to refine impact investing strategies and manage a $12M portfolio of higher-impact investments. The Impact Investment Advisor will also influence and collaborate with the Investing Advisor on a $48M portfolio of ESG and impact-themed investments.

The Advisor position is a part-time role, starting at 25 hours per month.

Primary Responsibilities

The Impact Investing Advisor will be expected to:

Advise on impact investment strategy
Advise on investment criteria for MRIs and PRIs
Advise on investment policy in collaboration with the Investment Advisor
Conduct research to build a pipeline of prospective impact investments that align with the Foundation’s priorities
In collaboration with the Chief Investment Officer, evaluate, select, and recommend to the Investment Committee impact investment vehicles
Oversee process for evaluation and analysis of impact investments
Actively monitor and report on the impact and financial metrics for portfolio performance assessment
Share industry insights, best practices, learnings and insights with Staff, Investment Committee, and Trustees
Support the Investment Committee on a range of impact investing-related activities
Collaborate with co-investors and investees to amplify and leverage positive outcomes from the portfolio
Serve as a resource for organizational thought leadership

Experience and Personal Qualities

The Impact Investing Advisor will have the following experience and qualities:

Passion for leveraging investment capital to enable positive social and environmental benefit
Commitment to Phillips Foundation’s focus on increasing social equity, catalyzing system change, and building thriving communities
Minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience and five years of experience in investment and impact management
Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree (preferred)
Experience taking calculated risks with investment capital and being accountable to investment decisions
Experience in or understanding of philanthropy and philanthropic organizations
Outstanding written and oral communication skills
Demonstrable track record as an energetic, flexible, self-starting team player
Direct, honest, and respectful approach to problem-solving, with the ability to foster collaboration and contribute to a strong sense of community among staff, board, and external partners

To apply for this job please visit www.linkedin.com.

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Guest Author

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December 5, 2023

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