SoCal Grantmakers' 2024 Annual Conference - Better Together: Creating a Collective Legacy
MIE's Senior Vice President of Member Experience and Partnerships, Melanie Audette, will be speaking at this event.
About the Session—Unlocking Capital: Demystifying Impact Investing for Foundations
Foundations have a powerful yet often underutilized tool at their disposal: impact investing. This session will introduce philanthropic professionals to impact investing by exploring the different tools available to foundations, including loans, equity investments, and guarantees. Using real-world examples and case studies, attendees will learn how to leverage different impact investing strategies to help unlock capital, reduce risks, and support high-impact projects. Our session speakers will also help participants introduce impact investing strategies to their foundations and implement them into their organization’s programmatic efforts.
Speakers:
- Melanie Audette, Senior Vice President, Mission Investors Exchange
- Rosa I. Benitez, Director of Program Investments, Weingart Foundation
- Janet Boachie, Impact Investing Associate, The California Endowment
- Kevin Schuster, Senior Manager, Community, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
About the Event
We are entering a unique moment in Southern California. While the nation and the world feel increasingly divided, there is growing global interest in the economic, environmental, and cultural potential of our region. Major sporting events coming to Los Angeles, including the 2026 World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl, and the 2028 Olympics and Summer Paralympics, are harbingers of the role our region must play as a leader working to solve complex problems from housing and homelessness to climate change and disaster mitigation.
There are tremendous opportunities ahead for this region. Everyone working across sectors—philanthropy, government, corporate, and community-based organizations—have vital roles to play. But we can't go about it alone. Now, more than ever, we need partnership. Because when we work together, we work better.
SCG's 2024 Annual Conference, Better Together: Creating a Collective Legacy, will explore how this sector can leverage this pivotal moment for the long-term benefit of our communities. It will discuss how forging a legacy of equity and prosperity for this region will require us to deepen our relationships and return to fundamental questions about collaboration: How do we build community and trust between ourselves and our partners? Do we have systems of accountability and care amongst one another? What does it mean to be a thriving, interdependent region with shared values and vision?
Join SCG's signature annual event to learn about the critical issues this sector will grapple with in the years ahead, the consequences of the impending November elections, and the strategies needed to ensure a lasting impact in Southern California. Together, explore the potential of philanthropy to leverage global moments in service of regional movements and progress.
