ImpactAlpha Podcasts

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Family Office Ceniarth finds that their impact-first portfolio is not making money… but that's been their plan all along; a new Latin American investor rewards founders with better terms when they deliver more impact; And finally a climate justice fund raises $71 million to back clean energy projects the banks won't touch.

Story links:

• “Ceniarth’s impact-first portfolio is not making money. That’s the point,” by Diane Isenberg and Greg Neichin
• "To upgrade food systems in Latin America, Capibara adds impact incentives for founders, and for itself," by Jessica Pothering
• “Afterglow Climate Justice Fund raises $71 million to finance community-owned green projects,” by Amy Cortese

Xenia Viragh, head of impact investments at The SCAN Foundation, joins David Bani. The $280 million California-based foundation is adding mission-related investments to their grantmaking around policy and advocacy for older adults. 

SCAN will be at this month’s Grantmakers in Aging conference in Denver to help other foundations think about adding investments to their philanthropic toolkits. David spoke with Xenia about SCAN’s roughly $13 million carve-out for impact funds and direct deals targeting the affordability, quality and delivery of elder care.

See all of ImpactAlpha's Valuing Aging coverage.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: From Galveston to Kansas City, overlooked cities are getting organized and making themselves investment ready; investing in the economic determinants of a healthy democracy; And a deal spotlight on Blue Earth Capital, which is unsticking impact capital.

Story links:

• “Power of place drives impact in a national movement of overlooked cities like Galveston,” by Dennis Price
• “Investing in shared prosperity, broad ownership and other economic determinants of a healthy democracy,” by David Bank
• “Blue Earth Capital on ‘unsticking’ impact capital and the rise of an impact secondaries market (Q&A),” by Danielle Rossingh

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: As President Trump calls climate change a “con job” at the UN, investors and philanthropies are raising money and building projects anyway; development banks abroad and Asia's asset owners are stepping up on climate finance –  is it enough; And this week's deal spotlight shines on Celsius Companies, a Philadelphia-area holding company buying up clean energy contractors to turn their workers into owners.

Story links:

• “Hoax this! Climate Week NYC showcases real solutions to real (really!) climate change,” by Amy Cortese
• “Development finance institutions rally private climate capital as US threatens multilateral banks,” by Jessica Pothering
• “As US retreats, Asia's investors take the lead on climate financing,” by Dennis Price
• “Holding company for clean energy contractors in Philadelphia aims to turn workers into owners,” by Roodgally Senatus

Jim Sorenson, the entrepreneur, investor and founder of the Sorenson Impact Foundation and the broader Sorenson Impact Group joins David Bank. They discuss Jim's new book, The Impact Capitalist, "propelling" ones values rather than just living them, the bipartisan case for an ownership economy, and two of the ventures he's helped stand up in Utah.

Disclosure: Sorenson Impact Foundation is an investor in ImpactAlpha.

Amit Bouri joins David Bank. The co-founder and, for a few more months, the CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network is stepping down after 17 years.

Amit has a unique perspective on the field of impact investing, since he’s done so much to build it. The GIIN is due to release a new sizing analysis at its investor forum in Amsterdam.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor Jessica Pothering. Up this week: Ahead of New York Climate Week, why investors are getting down to business, even as AI sucks up the oxygen (and the capital) in the room; why African pension funds — sitting on $600 billion in assets — are starting to dip into private equity and private debt to fund small businesses back home; and, with batteries as a service, how gas stations in Nigeria and South Africa are becoming an unlikely source of power for small businesses.

Robert Munson, CEO of SOCAP Global, the company behind SOCAP, joins David Bank. The annual impact investing conference this fall leaves its longtime San Francisco home to convene in Chicago.

They discuss this year’s emphasis on getting out of the conference center in Willis Tower and into Chicago’s neighborhoods, as well as the anxieties swirling around politics, funding and AI, and the excitement running through this year's themes, including Pathways to Shared Prosperity and A Future that works for everyone. 

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Restructuring and layoffs hit Pro Mujer, as gender lens and development funders pull back; how faith-based investors, from Catholic sisters to family offices, are quietly building some of the most values-driven capital in private markets; and, spotlighting a floating modular nuclear reactor company that just landed $50 million seed round.

Doug Lee, founder and CEO of D3Jubilee Partners, a Seoul-based impact venture firm, joins Dennis Price. D3 is co-hosting Asia Impact Nights in Kobe, Japan alongside the Japan Social Innovation and Investment Foundation. For this 10th anniversary convening, D3 has moved from Korea for the first time, to Japan, under the theme of Asia's "triple transition" — demographics, climate and, of course, AI.