April 2023 | Field News & Resources
This page features this month's highlights, announcements, resources, and general news related to advancements in the impact investing field.
- California Community Founation President and CEO Antonia Hernández is stepping down after nearly two decades of leading and transforming the foundation into a strong, vibrant advocate for Los Angeles.
- A group of locally-rooted, trust-based organizations including Coastal Enterprises, Inc and Invest Appalachia, bring needed funding to underinvested rural communities, considering social and community benefits alongside financial return.
- New Markets Venture Partners, the nation's oldest edtech-focused venture capital firm announces today the release of its new 2023 Impact Report. The Lumina Foundation played a pivotal role in anchoring their 2010 fund while the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Strada Education Network, and ECMC Group have all played key roles in helping to refine their Impact Theory of Change, especially the focus on research-based milestones and underserved populations.
- Ford Foundation and Radicle Impact are participating in the Series A round of BlueMark, having previously funded BlueMark's seed round with $2.25 million in equity financing. BlueMark is a leading provider of independent impact verification and intelligence for the impact and sustainable investing market.
- More foundations are stepping up to align their endowments with their philanthropic goals through “mission-related investments,” or MRIs. This article identifies four ways foundations and family offices can expand their mission-related investing.
- Builders Initiative and Social Finance released a new report, “Breaking Barriers: A Practical Guide to Unlocking Foundation Endowments for Mission and Returns” to identify common barriers to mission investing and outline promising paths and tactics to help foundations maximize the allocation of endowment assets aligned with their charitable goals.
- The recent Sorenson Impact Summit featured a fireside chat about the future of impact investing and the role of ESG with Jim Sorenson, Founder of the Sorenson Impact Group, and Terrence Keeley, finance-industry veteran and author of Sustainable: Moving Beyond ESG to Impact Investing.
- Debra Schwartz at the MacArthur Foundation led a discussion at the Sorenson Impact Summit with three pioneers in catalytic capital investing to discuss the role of catalytic capital in filling the gaps to unlock deep impact.
- North Sky Capital, a pioneer in impact investing, has released its 2023 Impact Report, highlighting the firm’s year of growth and investments within its flagship impact secondaries and sustainable infrastructure strategies as the world transitions to a cleaner, more sustainable future.
- The CDFI Research Consortium has announced a Request for Proposals on a wide range of research on CDFI impact, performance, strategies, partnerships, barriers, and opportunities. The Consortium was recently launched by the Center for Impact Finance at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.
