impact investing Archives

Top Twelve Popular Podcasts 2018, Jeff Ochs, Venn Foundation

December 26, 2018

The Venn Foundation uses Program-Related Investments in surprising new ways. This week, we’re talking to Jeff Ochs of the Venn Foundation. Jeff is an experienced entrepreneur and investor. He invented and commercialized an educational party game that was licensed by Hasbro. He started a successful nonprofit, Breakthrough Twin Cities. And he was the Executive Director of an angel investing network. In each of these instances, Jeff saw the difficulty of getting the right investments to the right startups at the right time. Jeff explains that today there are two types of capital: Charitable donations, which support causes we care about with no expectation whatsoever for financial return. For-profitinvestments, which are…

Find Your Funding, Part 2, Cathy Clark, CASE Smart Impact Capital

February 26, 2018

CASE Smart Impact Capital is a toolkit that helps you to raise capital that aligns with your needs. In 1992, Cathy Clark had a conversation with Lloyd Morrissett, the co-founder of Sesame Workshop. Lloyd told her “Change happens when the right people with the right idea and the right capital come together at the right time.” This idea stuck with Cathy and has guided her career since. When Cathy first appeared on Social Entrepreneur in January 2016, she said. “It isn’t enough to have a good idea, to want to help people, but you have to have an organization to do it, and eventually that organization needs capital. And that…

Find Your Funding, Part 1, Jeff Ochs, Venn Foundation

February 19, 2018

The Venn Foundation uses Program-Related Investments in surprising new ways. This week, we’re kicking off a two-part mini-series how to fund a business that does social good. We did something similar in April 2016 in a series called Founding & Fuding. In May 2017, Ned Tozun generously shared the story of how he and co-founder Sam Goldman funded d.light. Next week, Cathy Clark is going to be here to talk about CASE Smart Impact Capital, an online resource to help social entrepreneurs figure out how to find the right capital at the right time. This week, we’re talking to Jeff Ochs of the Venn Foundation. Jeff is an experienced entrepreneur…

The Twin Cities Impact Investing Ecosystem Map with Susan Hammel, Cogent Consulting

November 20, 2017

The Twin Cities Impact Investing Ecosystem Map documents impact investing activity in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. If you would have picked up a copy of the Financial Times last Saturday, you might have noticed a half-page ad asking readers to participate in the Investing for Global Impact research study. Two pages later, you may have also noticed a full-page ad for a report from Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI) on the relationship between the Sustainable Development Goals and investment opportunities. And, you may have caught this interview with Rehana Nathoo of The Case Foundation on their efforts to map this space. Impact investing is a hot topic. According to the…

Mapping the Trillion Dollar Impact Investing Sector, with Rehana Nathoo, The Case Foundation

November 20, 2017

The Impact Investing Network Map visually presents the best publicly available information on impact investments. Any good entrepreneur will tell you, problems are opportunities. People in a remote village don’t have access to electricity, and yet, they have funds for kerosene. Companies like d.light and Barefoot Power see a market opportunity. Consumers throw textile and garment waste into landfills, generating 14 million tons of waste per year in the United States. Stacy Flynn launches Evrnu, turning cotton waste into a usable fabric. Social Entrepreneurs turn global problems, including the Sustainable Development Goals, into sustainable businesses. But ideas like these need capital in order to launch and grow. Impact investing is…

Joel Solomon, Author of The Clean Money Revolution

September 18, 2017

Joel Solomon reminds us, “There is $50 trillion that is going to pass hands in North America through death in the next 30 years.” It’s up to us what the impact of that transfer of wealth will be. Joel Solomon is the chair and co-founder of Renewal Funds, a mission venture capital firm based in Vancouver, BC. He is also the board chair of Hollyhock, an educational retreat center and the author of the new book, The Clean Money Revolution: Reinventing Power, Purpose, and Capitalism. Joel was born in Chattanooga Tennessee to a Jewish family. He grew up when segregation was the norm. There were different restrooms and water fountains…

The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, with Mark Norbury, UnLtd

June 12, 2017

UnLtd is the UK’s largest supporter of early-stage social entrepreneurs. Mark Norbury grew up in the time when Land-Aid, Band-Aid, and Live-Aid were popular. “The idea that you can be a rock star who saved the world was pretty damned compelling when you’re fourteen years old” he confesses. But, with a lack of musical talent, Mark decided to focus on the second half of the equation, changing the world. As an 18-year-old, Mark volunteered on London’s east side, working with Father Duncan. “He was much more of a social activist than he was a priest,” Mark explains. “He was five-foot-nothing. He was a British-Asian guy who experienced a lot of…

Find your funding with Ned Tozun of d.light

How to Find Your Funding, with Ned Tozun, d.light

May 29, 2017

Ned Tozun talks about how to find your funding as you start and grow your social enterprise. Social entrepreneurs take on intractable problems. To tackle global challenges, you’re going to need to find funding. One such massive problem is global energy poverty. According to the International Energy Agency, globally 1.2 billion people are without access to electricity. To light their homes, they often depend on kerosene, which is expensive, consuming precious resources from those who can least afford it. Kerosene fumes are hazardous to breathe. When families gain access to solar lights, their expenses go down, their health improves, and often children in the home study later into the night,…

#MoneyMonday in May

May 6, 2016

You are a conscious consumer. You buy local, authentic and fair-trade goods. You use your dollars to try to create the kind of world you want to live in. But what about where you bank or how you invest? Here’s the truth: If you have assets, including a savings or checking account, your assets are having an impact. The only question is, are you being conscious of the kind of impact your assets are having? You’ve probably heard about impact investing, but you have questions. What exactly is impact investing? (It’s thinking about the social and environmental impact that your assets are having) To make an impact, do I have to…

What Will You do With This One Short Amazing Life?

February 3, 2016

Impact: There is Precious Little Time I don’t think about it often, but there is one universal truth all humans share. We have precious little time to make an impact. Do you ever think about that? If you’re anything like me, every once in a while the universe comes along, taps you on the shoulder and whispers in your ear, “Remember why you are here.” Whether we are going to plant a tree, write a book, be a good parent or change the world, we’d better hurry. Of course we want our lives to matter. Who doesn’t, right? But once we understand our place in time, we sense that, if we are going to make an…

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#MoneyMonday in May

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