This Week in Impact

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Pegasus Capital’s contrarian play for orphaned climate projects in emerging markets. How a Ugandan pension fund is creating its own new savers with investments in small business and agriculture (07:45). And, should impact have a veto in investment decisionmaking(12:07)?

Story links:

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Unsolicited advice for the Gates Foundation following the announcement that it would increase its giving and spend down its endowment by 2045; How California's massive public pension funds find alpha in emerging fund managers (09:45); And, glimmers of hope for blended finance in the face of a global foreign aid pullback (15:27).

Story links:

• “⁠Impermanence is the future: Four unsolicited ideas for sunsetting the Gates Foundation⁠,” by Gary Community Ventures’ Santhosh Ramdoss

• “⁠CalPERS and CalSTRS find alpha in emerging managers that have earned ‘the right to win’⁠,” by David Bank and Roodgally Senatus

• "⁠Blended finance loses a big investor and some of its steam⁠," by Jessica Pothering

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Two views on the future of impact investing from Calvert Impact and Innovative Finance Initiative. Temasek makes the case for the private equity opportunity in climate adaptation and resilience (09:10). And, how Mati Carbon plans to leverage its  $50 million X-Prize to remove carbon and support farmers in tropical zones (14:15).

Story Links:

• “⁠Calvert Impact’s market-shaping strategy for the future of impact⁠,” by Calvert Impact’s Jenn Pryce.
• “⁠Innovative Finance Network’s fund designs for radical impact⁠,” by Innovative Finance Network’s Aunnie Patton Power and Doughnut Economics Action Lab's Erinch Sahan.
• “⁠Temasek on hot sectors for PE investment in climate adaptation and resilience⁠,” by Amy Cortese and Jessica Pothering

• “⁠Mati Carbon leverages its $50 million XPRIZE to remove carbon and support farmers in tropical zones⁠,” by Jessica Pothering.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor Jessica Pothering. Up this week: With US markets all over the place, investors at the Milken Global Conference shift their focus to ownership, AI, and the rest of the world. How impact investors are responding to proposed cuts to health and medical research (8:33). And, forget your astrological sign – Phenix Capital proposes four archetypes for impact fund managers (15:23).

Story links:

• “⁠With markets down, up and sideways, investors look to ownership, AI and the rest of the world⁠,” by Amy Cortese and David Bank
• “⁠KKR’s Pete Stavros: Employee ownership is a competitive advantage in private equity (Q&A)⁠,” by David Bank and Roodgally Senatus
• "⁠With medical research funding in peril, one biotech VC firm pushes innovation forward⁠," by Jessica Pothering
• "⁠Illusionist, Learner, Achiever or Champion: What kind of impact fund manager are you?⁠," by Phenix Capital’s Daniel Moreno and Mohit Saini

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Some initial entries into the playbook for shared prosperity. How inflation and economic instability is affecting pay-as-you-go financing in the off-grid solar market (08:40). And, why Tom Steyer see now as a buying opportunity for climate investors with dry powder to deploy (13:50).

Relevant links:

• “Galvanize’s Tom Steyer on why now is a good time for climate investors with cash (Q&A),” by David Bank
• “⁠Defaults on pay-as-you-go solar tick up with income pressure and financial literacy challenges⁠,” by Lucy Ngige
• Contribute a strategy to the playbook through this short form

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: How climate tech founders and funders are planning to ride out the political storm. What the lackluster fundraising totals for TPG NEXT means for emerging and diverse managers (07:00). Plus, five promising pages in the playbook for shared prosperity (11:56).

Relevant links:

• Climate tech is counting on falling costs, rising demand to ride out the political storm
• Lackluster fundraising for TPG NEXT sends mixed signals to emerging and diverse managers
• Re:Construction: Five promising pages in the playbook for shared prosperity
• Contribute to the playbook
• RSVP for the call

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: A call to action from impact investors in response to the growing political risk in the US market. Plus, how the idea of employee ownership is bringing lawmakers together across the aisle (7:55). And the strategies and structures LPs are using to get their money back in a volatile market environment (11:55).

Story links:

• “In a polarized US Capitol, employee ownership brings lawmakers together,” by Roodgally Senatus
• Restive LPs look to secondaries and other creative exits to recoup their capital,” by Amy Cortese

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank, live-ish from the Re:Construction road show. Up this week: How impact investors are reacting to a tariffying week for Wall Street and global trade. What comes next for foreign aid in the wake of the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID (7:10). And, why it’s critical to continue assembling a playbook for shared prosperity (12:15).

Relevant links:

• “⁠Rebuilding global aid was the (mostly) talk of the town at Skoll World Forum⁠,” by Caroline Bressan
• “⁠Could trade chaos cut emissions and make impact investments the safer bet?⁠” by Amy Cortese and David Bank
• “⁠People, purpose and perseverance: Assembling the playbook for shared prosperity⁠,” by David Bank
• ⁠Submit your plays for shared prosperity.⁠

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor Jessica Pothering. Up this week: Climate insurance in California that incentivizes landowners to reduce wildfire risks. Plus, making subsidies smarter by targeting the operating needs of agriculture businesses and the funds that support them.

Chapters

• (00:00) Innovative Climate Insurance Pilot in California
• (08:17) Concessional Capital and Africa's Farmers

Story links:

“⁠Innovative climate insurance in California gives landowners incentives to reduce wildfire risks⁠,” by Jessica Pothering

“⁠Making subsidies smarter by targeting Africa’s farmers and the funds that support them⁠,” by Jessica Pothering

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: With proxy season here, how shareholders can apply a system stewardship model for the companies they own; why strategies to share the wealth via employee ownership are attracting popular support, and a look at our spring “Re:construction” tour, which offers a playbook for shared prosperity.

Chapters

• 00:00 Proxy season insights
• 06:00 Employee ownership models
• 11:50 Re:construction and shared prosperity

Event RSVPs:

• North Carolina: Friday, April 4 - ⁠Building models for shared prosperity⁠, UNC Chapel Hill
• Washington, DC: April 8 - ⁠Purple Party⁠,
• Boston: Saturday, April 12 - ⁠Boston International Film Festival⁠

Story links:

• “⁠Shareholders can fight back with system stewardship⁠,” by The Shareholder Commons’ Frederick Alexander
• Ownership Call: ⁠impactalpha.com/calls⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠
• “⁠A playbook of what and who is working to build prosperity for all⁠,” and “⁠‘Special Purpose Credit Programs’ face the axe⁠,” by David Bank