Ben McAdams: Marrying public real estate and private capital (podcast). What is the net worth of Salt Lake City? It’s a relatively straightforward exercise to total up the balance sheet of a company or an individual. But many cities don’t know what they own, much less what it’s all worth. As mayor of Salt Lake County a decade ago, Ben McAdams was frustrated that there wasn’t $500,000 in a $1.3 billion annual budget for a promising early-childhood education program (so he helped craft one of the country’s first social impact bonds). But an effort he led to map the value of the city’s underutilized real estate yielded an impressive number: at least $15 billion, and up to $45 billion if properties are developed thoughtfully. “I found out there is actually money under our mattress,” McAdams tells David Bank on this week’s Impact Briefing podcast. “It's real estate that is just forgotten.”After his single term in Congress (as a Democrat from a deep red state), McAdams has been working with a half-dozen cities to tap the riches in underutilized public real estate. His "Putting Assets to Work" policy incubator is working with Atlanta, Cleveland, Annapolis, Chattanooga, Lancaster, Calif., and Harris County, Texas, which have similarly found billions in untapped assets. The next step is to help cities deploy those assets to generate income that will fund essential services. A city that contributes, say, a $5 million parcel toward a $20 million housing project (with private investors supplying the rest) could earn 25% of the rental income. At scale, McAdams says, “You're funding education. You're solving affordable housing. You're solving homelessness. You are investing in roads and bridges and filling potholes. And then you’ve still got enough money left to cut taxes.” Some of the cities are close to closing their first deals; Sorenson Impact Group is incubating a “community equity fund” based on McAdams’ work. “It's real revenue that's out there,” he says, “if we can just figure out the right systems and then bring in the private capital to do it.”
Seeking proposals for a China climate ETF or mutual fund. California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF) Innovations, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, is seeking proposals from sustainable financial advisors and fund management companies that specialize in the development of climate-aligned exchange-traded funds and mutual funds, as well as the marketing of those investment products to U.S.-based retail and institutional investors. The purpose of the request for proposals is to expand China-focused, climate-aligned investment product offerings for the U.S. market through the development of a climate-friendly fund product – in the form of an ETF, index fund or mutual fund that tracks a designated climate index. The RFP will offer a sponsorship of up to $300,000 to deliver the fund. All work required for regulatory approval must be concluded by Oct. 31.
Dealflow spotlight: Emerging market investors spot opportunities in essential products and services. Economic uncertainty has kept many investors out of emerging markets. Seasoned impact investors know where to spot steady and growing opportunities. “These are such essential services that we know businesses will continue to have these needs,” said Amee Parbhoo of Accion Venture Lab, which invested in three companies in Asia introducing financial services to small businesses in manufacturing, logistics and agriculture.
Carol Adams, professor of accounting at Durham University Business School, is named chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board. She takes the reins from Judy Kuszewski… Alex Amouyel is stepping down as MIT Solve’s executive director to join Newman’s Own Foundation as president and CEO… Eric Wilburn has resigned as Earthshot Labs’ head of product.
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ImpactAlpha, Feb. 9 – The fatal beating by police of Tyre Nichols in Memphis last month exposed risks to the city’s finances that have …
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 18 – Cities around the U.S. are raising low-cost capital in the municipal bond markets by highlighting intentional efforts to address long-standing …
ImpactAlpha, September 30 – Capital to support women’s economic growth and financial inclusion is flowing – finally! – in many advanced economies. In emerging …
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 19 – Investors, entrepreneurs, corporate executives and world leaders have descended on New York for Climate Week, the annual gathering alongside the …
ImpactAlpha, June 27 – ImpactAlpha’s spring season of Agents of Impact Calls spanned a period of tumult in the financial markets: instability in …
ImpactAlpha, June 3 – Just as investment in financial inclusion in Africa was really ramping up, a market downturn threatens to slow progress. Or …
ImpactAlpha, May 13 – One defining outcome of the pandemic: a boom in entrepreneurship. A record five million businesses were started in the …
ImpactAlpha, April 22 – The Ukraine crisis risks tipping up to 1.7 billion people — over one-fifth of humanity — into poverty, destitution …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 1 – High-impact investments in fragile countries invariably entail political risk. And impact investments in a free press, humanitarian tech, financial inclusion …
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 11 – It’s one thing for a corporation to set environmental or social goals. It’s another to shift executives, employees and supply …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Bottom-up policies for access to capital in divested communities. Top-down strategies to reshape capitalism to work for all stakeholders. “We …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 11 – ”$100 a ton?” exclaimed CDP’s Paula DiPerna on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact Call this week. “I should be popping champagne.” …
Impact Engine’s Priya Parrish joins David Bank to explain why purpose built investment firms end up with better impact outcomes than purpose driven …
2x Global’s Sana Kapadia joins host Monique Aiken to ring in Women’s History Month and talk about the state of gender-lens investing. Plus, …
The roundtable – that’s Brian Walsh, Imogen Rose-Smith and David Bank – is back together to discuss private equity and, specifically, that $4.5 …
It’s called the Silver Tsunami. In the United States, baby boomers own half of the privately held businesses with employees. And those boomers …
Fran Seegull of the Impact Investing Alliance joins host David Bank (filling in for Brian Walsh) to talk about jobs, climate and communities …
ImpactAlpha’s David Bank joins Host Monique Aiken to to share some takeaways from this week’s Agents of Impact Call on the steps that …
Development finance institutions are essential to the mobilization of capital to slow climate change and to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. So why …
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 20 – Building wealth for women and people of color is about numbers as well as equity. By mid-century, there will be …
The historic buildout of low-carbon and sustainable infrastructure is on. Spurring this climate action is hundreds of billions in federal spending in the …
Host Brian Walsh is joined by Kristin Hull of Nia Impact Capital, a long-time Tesla investor who says Elon Musk’s Twitter escapades threaten …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 13 – Talk about catalytic capital. With a fresh $100 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act boosting its financing capacity …
Host Monique Aiken has the headlines and David talks with Aisha Weeks of the Dearfield Fund for Black Wealth about narrowing the racial …
Editor’s note: This blog is part of ImpactAlpha’s series, “Sustaining Impact,” authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Sustaining Learning Labs. Key insights …
For all the optimism contained in International Women’s Day, the reality is that in most places around the world, the gender gap isn’t …
If ESG is a foot in the door to an economy built around sustainability, inclusion and equity, then governance is the power that’s …
The pandemic heightened awareness of the foundational role that caregiving plays in the US economy. Yet care infrastructure for childcare, eldercare, and other …
Often within the impact investing landscape, “impact” is defined by who we invest in and what we invest in. To truly create systems …
One year ago, the unthinkable happened: history, whose end had been (perhaps academically) proclaimed after the fall of the Soviet Union, came roaring …
Over my 20-plus years as a professional working on economic development, development finance, and impact investing, as both an investor and an advisor, …
Editor’s note: This blog is part of ImpactAlpha’s series, “Sustaining Impact,” authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Sustaining Learning Labs. Key insights …
More electric vehicles (EVs) were sold each week of 2022 than in all of 2011. Analysts expect this explosive growth to remain unabated …
Editor’s note: This blog is part of ImpactAlpha’s “Scaling Impact” series, authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Scaling Learning Labs. Key insights …
Despite the good intentions and creative strategies of impact investors, extreme wealth inequity persists. The climate crisis will only deepen the divide, unless …
Scores of anti-ESG bills were introduced in Republican-led states in January. The onslaught continues despite the more than $1.1 billion in financial costs …
ImpactAlpha, March 10 – Laura Ortiz Montemayor is not on board with decarbonization or its advocates. “Carbon is key to life. It’s a …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 17 – Years before this week’s elegant and understated Super Bowl appearance, Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty turned down the NFL’s invitation to headline …
ImpactAlpha, February 3 — Andrew Crosson was a decade deep in the work of community economic development in central Appalachia when he got …
ImpactAlpha, January 27 – Gary Forster left his job in logistics at Procter & Gamble to volunteer in Zambia, inspired by the 2005 …
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 20 – Building wealth for women and people of color is about numbers as well as equity. By mid-century, there will be …
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 13 – A small-business lender in the Mississippi delta. A microfinance bank in Uganda. A global development finance institution in London. Laurie …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 – Napoleon Wallace’s presence was all over the recent Mission Investors Exchange conference in Baltimore. …As the co-founder of Activest, which …
“I love complexity,” says Berlow, founder of Vibrant Data Labs, a “social impact data science” group. An ecologist and data nerd, Berlow spent …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 2 – Back in 1931, Winston Churchill predicted we’d grow real meat without the animals. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug …
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 4 – Barbados is an island nation of just 166 square miles and less than 300,000 inhabitants. But its leader, Mia …
Blake Jones is “a cooperative geek.” After co-founding four co-op enterprises, including Namaste Solar and Clean Energy Credit Union, he has brought the …
ImpactAlpha, October 7 – Regina Kline has seen the state of labor and employment for disabled Americans up close, as a lawyer representing workers …
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 6 – Blockchain eco-warriors descended on Medellin, Colombia last week to stake a claim for the role the technology can play in …