Giving Strong is a social impact consulting firm that advises foundations, corporations, and other social enterprises on philanthropic strategies and communications to reach their impact goals. Specialties in place-based work, convening community, and developing thought leadership.
We provide accessible equitable evaluation that enables you to create measurable and sustainable transformative social impact. We work with investors who want to make a positive social impact on the world in addition to making a financial return on their investment. Whether you plan to build your investment thesis, design an equitable screening process, conduct culturally responsive due diligence, or measure social impact post-investment, we can help you apply an equity lens to your investment.
The Impact Evaluation Lab brings clarity and accountability to impact investors, aligning impact investment strategies with traditional capital-markets expectations so the impact sector can scale with integrity and become a trusted part of mainstream finance.
Through our flagship tools, the Impact Authenticity Score and the Impact Navigator, the Impact Evaluation Lab provides assessments of mission alignment, impact execution and financial performance to identify funds which deliver on their impact commitments. Developed in partnership with leading impact organizations, fund managers and asset owners, the IEL tools provide practical, actionable insight and analyses for fund managers and asset owners, empowering confident allocation decisions in the impact investing sector.
Our mission is to provide the tools and develop the trust that is required by all asset owners and investors to enable impact investing to fulfill its potential as part of the core architecture of global financial markets.
Consultant to https://www.inicio.ventures/, vetting Latinx enterprises and supporting Latinx Fund Managers; member & investor at https://www.levelleaders.com/ investing in Black-women owned businesses; Project Manager for the New York Small Business Funder Collective - banks, foundations, HNW donors closing the racial wealth gap in NY Metro (new effort, website under construction), https://philanthropynewyork.org/ serving as fiscal agent; Senior Consultant https://bwam.network/, Black Women in Asset Management; Board Member, Eileen Murphy Foundation, new family foundation with goals to give and invest to support youth in distressed communities and circumstances.
Invest Appalachia (IA) is a regional impact investment platform designed by and for the people of Central Appalachia. IA provides blended investment capital to strengthen business opportunities, build equitable local wealth, advance critical sectors, and increase quality of life for everyone in Central Appalachia. IA was initiated through the Appalachia Funders Network and developed by a collaborative group of regional leaders representing CDFIs, public and private philanthropic entities, local institutions, and community organizations. Invest Appalachia will provide flexible capital to intermediaries, community projects, social enterprise businesses, critical infrastructure, and other efforts that that support healthy & resilient communities, wealth-building jobs, and inclusive market development. As a blended capital fund, IA is able to bring both investment and catalytic capital to support mission-aligned projects. IA’s capital is designed to advance key sectors and community infrastructure within the Central Appalachia region in partnership with – and frequently subordinate to – existing financial intermediaries. IA will partner with other sources of investment, including community lenders, commercial lenders, public financing, and philanthropy, to create the capital blend or “stack” of different forms of capital tailored to each project.
Operating at the intersection of impact investing and philanthropy, LOHAS' mission is to enable the flow of charitable contributions into for-profit social and environmental impact ventures and thereby support more effective and sustainable solutions to our world's greatest challenges.
Seed Commons is a national network of locally rooted, non-extractive loan funds that brings the power of big finance under community control. By taking guidance from the grassroots and sharing capital and resources to support local cooperative businesses, we are building the infrastructure necessary for a truly just, democratic and sustainable new economy.
Our community wealth cooperative gives the power of big finance to small, community-centered actors, creating a national network that makes local investments that serve people rather than extracting from them.
