Money And Meaning

This week’s guest is Antony Bugg-Levine, impact investing pioneer and CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF). Founded in 1980, NFF is a community development finance institution that provides financing and consulting to nonprofits across the country. In his role at NFF, Antony recently helped launch a $75mm Covid-19 response fund to support NYC nonprofit organizations most affected by the pandemic with both grants and interest free loans. Prior to his work at NFF, Antony was a Managing Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, where he led the foundation’s impact investing initiative. He is also the founding board chair of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) and author of the book “Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While Making a Difference” with Jed Emerson. The conversation with Antony spans the history and evolution of the field of impact investing, from a revolving loan fund created in Benjamin Franklin’s will to the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 through the meeting where the phr

“Our board and our team believe that you can define any societal problem as either a climate change problem or an inequality problem…so our thesis has evolved over the years to bring our resources to bear against those two large challenges.” The Autodesk Foundation is a private foundation that focuses on how design and engineering solutions can solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. In this episode, Alex sits down with Joe Speicher, the Executive Director of the foundation, to discuss the evolution of the foundation, how and why they landed on those specific impact areas, the reasons the foundation began impact investing, and why Joe believes that philanthropy is a net negative for society.

MORTAR is a Cincinnati-based accelerator working to help historically marginalized entrepreneurs get the resources they need to start and run successful businesses. Whereas most accelerators pull from as large a pool of entrepreneurs as possible, MORTAR has taken the opposite approach, starting with one specific neighborhood in Cincinnati, Over-the-Rhine, and designing a curriculum to be both relevant and culturally competent for that community. In this episode, Alex sat down with Allen Woods, the Co-founder and Executive Director of MORTAR, to discuss the growth and evolution of the organization, the advantages of localization when it comes to entrepreneurial support, and Allen’s own entrepreneurial journey.

Entrepreneurship is a leading driver of economic growth, job creation, and wealth building yet 83% of entrepreneurs do not have access to either bank lending or venture capital. To reduce this barrier to starting or growing a business, the Kauffman Foundation recently launched the Capital Access Lab. In this episode, Alex sits down with Philip Gaskin, Vice President of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation and Agnes Dasewicz, Entrepreneur in Residence and Capital Access Lab Lead. They discuss the challenge entrepreneurs face raising capital, the Foundation’s effort to create systems-level change in entrepreneurial funding, and why this work is deeply personal for them both.

“About a month ago, we asked ourselves at CASE, ‘what can we do really quickly to help entrepreneurs through this crisis?’ We had already seen some very significant businesses in our local area shut down in the first week and that scared me.” -Cathy Clark, Faculty Director of CASE at Duke Realizing there was a need for a centralized database of emergency funding sources for entrepreneurs struggling during the current pandemic, Cathy Clark built and launched covidcap.com, a searchable website for entrepreneurs around the world, whether for-profit or non-profit, to find funding sources in their community. In this episode, Cathy sits down with Alex to discuss the conception and creation of the site, the response times she is seeing for entrepreneurs in need of funding, and the role that impact investors can play during this crisis.

“I encourage all of us who are the dreamers to continuously put forth new visions for what is possible - particularly in this moment - because, if we can’t do it right now, when can we do it?” - Rodney Foxworth, CEO of Common Future Common Future, formerly BALLE, is an organization dedicated to shifting capital into local communities, uplifting local leaders, and accelerating the development of local economies. In this episode, Lindsay sits down with Rodney to discuss his work, why it is more urgent now than ever, and the opportunity our new reality creates for rebuilding antiquated and exclusionary systems.

In his plenary address at SOCAP17 Jed Emerson said, “We need to understand the purpose of capital is not simply the absence of evil from our pursuit of wealth, something hard enough and potentially impossible for us to achieve, but the active pursuit of healing, wholeness, and love in this world.” In this episode, Lindsay sits down with Emerson, a personal mentor and longtime pillar of the SOCAP community, to discuss the field of impact investing from its origins to the present day. 

"The global water challenge is really about balancing the micro and the macro. People, industry, agriculture–everybody needs water in the right place, in the right quantity, at the right quality, and at the right time. Doing that is unbelievably hard.” –Tom Ferguson Imagine H2O is an organization with a mission to empower people to develop and deploy innovations to solve water challenges globally. On this episode, Alex sits down with Tom Ferguson, VP of Programming at Imagine H2O, to discuss the scope and urgency of today’s water challenges, some of the most promising solutions, including technological innovations he is seeing on the horizon, and what investors can do to help scale solutions that work.

How can technology help extend access to financial services to the 1.7 billion unbanked people in the world? In the latest episode of Money and Meaning, Lindsay Smalling interviews Kiva’s Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Davie, about some of their new solutions to the challenges of financial exclusion. Davie talks about Kiva Protocol and other new ways they are working to change the underlying system in order to expand access to capital in emerging markets.

Blended finance deals have the potential to drive trillions of dollars of institutional capital into high impact projects in emerging markets and could lead to massive progress towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In this episode, Joan Larrea, CEO of Convergence, explains how blended finance can accelerate solutions to poverty, hunger, and the other SDGs. She also talks about the future of the blended finance industry and why we need to really hustle to get on a billions to trillions trajectory if we are to achieve the SDGs on time.

TechSoup was the first nonprofit in the US to launch a national direct public offering (DPO). In the year since the launch of this growth capital campaign, they have raised over $8 million, with individual investments ranging from $50 to $1 million. In this episode, Alex Kravitz has a conversation with Rebecca Masisak and Ken Tsunoda about their unique approach to fundraising, lessons they have learned from the experience, and how the DPO has helped TechSoup grow and strengthen their community. Featured Voices: Rebecca Masisak, CEO, TechSoup Ken Tsunoda, VP of Development, TechSoup

Laura Callanan and her organization Upstart Co-Lab are working to convince investors that they have a tremendous opportunity to drive impact through investments in the arts, culture, and heritage-based businesses that make up the creative economy. Souls Grown Deep is a Foundation and Community Partnership dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting the cultural traditions and work of African American artists from the South. Under the leadership of Maxwell Anderson, Souls Grown Deep has partnered with Upstart Co-Lab to invest $1M in opportunities that align with their mission. On this episode, Lindsay Smalling interviews Callanan and Anderson about their partnership and the opportunities that creative lens investing offers for investors, museums, creatives, and communities.

For the final episode of 2019, we bring you highlights from the SOCAP19 mainstage. The theme that ties each of this episode’s featured highlights together is that they all demonstrate the power of cross-sector collaboration. The clips highlight examples of ways that leaders from across the global marketplace have been working together in innovative ways to solve some of the greatest challenges of our time. Featured Voices: Neville Crawley of Kiva with Helen Avery of Euromoney Bonnie Glick of USAID with David Bohigian of OPIC Kat Taylor of Beneficial State Bank with Tim Freundlich of ImpactAssets Susan Taylor Batten of ABFE with Rip Rapson of the Kresge Foundation

The evolution of microfinance from radical idea to global industry was surprisingly fast, sometimes messy, and filled with successes and failures. Despite numerous challenges, microfinance grew into a global industry that has helped lift millions of people out of poverty. As impact investing continues to move into the mainstream, what can the industry learn from the early days of microfinance? This week’s episode, recorded live at SOCAP19, features a panel of leading microfinance experts and practitioners who share lessons they learned and offer insights into the current state, and potential future, of impact investing. Featured voices: Geoff Davis of Cicero Impact Capital Johanna Posada of Elevar Equity Arun Sharma of International Finance Corporation Monica Brand Engel of Quona Capital

Though no one can predict exactly how automation, robotics, and other emerging technologies will shape the future of work, we can be sure that workers will need to be able to quickly learn new skills in order to compete. In this episode, you’ll hear Jean Shia, Head of Portfolio and Investment at Autodesk Foundation, lead a SOCAP19 panel discussion among active investors in workforce tech. Each expert shares their unique approach to investing in the future of work, data and trends that are driving their strategies, and the solutions they are investing in to help ensure that workers are not left behind. Panelists: Jean Shia, Autodesk Foundation Amon Anderson, Acumen America Jason Palmer, New Markets Venture Partners Sonali Kothari, ETF@JFFLabs Elizabeth Garlow, Lumina Impact Ventures

In this episode, Javier Torres of the Surdna Foundation leads a conversation on what it will take to achieve racial equity with Black Lives Matter co-creator and Principal of the Black Futures Lab Alicia Garza and Rashad Robinson, President of Color of Change. They discuss how, in order to achieve real, lasting change, the conversation must move beyond income and wealth disparity and begin to address disparities in power. They also share personal stories of why they do the work they do, how they are contextualizing their work in the current political climate, and what they want listeners to think, feel, and do after listening to this conversation.

Fran Seegull is the Executive Director of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, an organization spun out of the G7 Social Impact Investment Taskforce to raise awareness and grow demand for impact investing across America. In this episode, Lindsay Smalling has a conversation with Seegull that offers insight into the history and growth of the field, including many of the most important watershed moments and policy landmarks, and offers her perspective on the mainstreaming of impact investing. She also discusses both critiques of the field and the recent Business Roundtable announcement expanding the purpose of a corporation to be about serving all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

Invisibility and harmful stereotypes are two of the biggest challenges facing Indigenous people today. According to research conducted by The Reclaiming Native Truth Project, nearly 80% of Americans know little to nothing about contemporary Native peoples, which leads to systemic bias, racism, and neglect of Indigenous communities. In this episode, Lindsay Smalling talks with Crystal Echo Hawk and Nick Tilsen, two Indigenous leaders who head organizations working to change the narrative and the status quo in order to help Indigenous communities thrive. They discuss their efforts to bring about widespread narrative change, concrete examples of why it is such an exciting time to make big investments and big impact in Indian Country, and where their movements are headed in the future.  Echo Hawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation, is Founder and CEO of IllumiNative. Tilsen, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, is Founder, President, and CEO of NDN Collective.

At the intersection of democracy, impact investing, and progressive media, you will find New Media Ventures (NMV). This organization is a nonprofit seed fund and angel network working to create positive change across America by investing in entrepreneurs and activists “wrestling with the biggest challenges facing our democracy.” By investing solely to maximize impact, whether into nonprofits or for-profits, NMV is working to address fundamental challenges to democracy and to correct systemic power imbalances. In this episode, Lindsay Smalling sits down with Julie Menter, Managing Director of New Media Ventures.

For any community development initiative to achieve the desired positive outcomes, impact investors must design with communities instead of for them. Opportunity Zones, even with the recent criticism, are still seen as a way to drive investments that will build wealth and create social impact in marginalized communities. How can the great community development work that is being done at the local level be connected with big top-down policies like Opportunity Zones? This episode, recorded live in Baltimore, features a cross-sector panel of community leaders, investors, and OZ experts exploring inclusive community development. Featured voices include Pickett Slater Harrington of Joltage, Candace Chance of the Baltimore City Intergenerational Initiatives for Trauma and Youth (B-CIITY), John Brothers of the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, Ben Siegel of the City of Baltimore, and Elise Liberto of Brown Advisory.