“It’s super rare to get world-class portfolio advice from someone who doesn’t have their hand in your pocket. It’s rarer to get a whole new framework for thinking about donations and philanthropic work. Rarest is all is a combination of clear next steps and challenge to take action. Stephanie Gripne and John O’Halloran of the Impact Finance Center deliver a trifecta.”
You can preview a DRAFT Community Foundation & Impact Investing course here:
The course password is: CoimpactdaysMar122019
Thank you for the opportunity to better inform you about Impact Finance Center (IFC), CO Impact Days, CO Impact Investing Education Institute and our plans to scale, replicate, and create the National Impact Investing Marketplace. Just as Accelerators such as TechStars, Village Capital, or 500 Startups identify, educate, and invest in entrepreneurs, Impact Finance Center is an Accelerator for the asset owners, where we identify, educate, and activate early adopter philanthropists and investors who want to become impact investors. IFC was founded in 2012 and is a nonprofit academic center that forms partnerships with academic institutions. Founded in 2015, IFC’s flagship initiative, CO Impact Days and CO Impact Investing Education Institute, a three year effort to catalyze $100M of investment in social ventures and is the first-ever statewide marketplace for impact investing and Phase 1 of the National Impact Investing Marketplace. Since inception, we completed over 170 presentations and courses to over 5,000 participants as part of CO Impact Education Institute and CO Impact Days 2016 and 2017 together showcased more than 150 social ventures, connecting them to mentors, partners, and impact investment capital. We are embarking on a formal evaluation of direct, indirect, and community successes from 2015-17. Early estimates indicate that 258 direct impact investments of $201M have been completed since 2012, in addition to upgrading the governance of several asset owners.
How do we create the National Impact Investing Marketplace? We do it by scaling CO Impact Days and Impact Investing Education Institute to a regional Rocky Mountain Impact Days and Impact Investing Education Institute while replicating it throughout the U.S to develop six regional marketplaces.
We have all the pieces of the puzzle on the table. Now we need to commercialize and scale the solution.
Our goal is to create the National Impact Investing Marketplace by 2030.
Our strategy is simple.
We need to grow more impact investors faster and more efficiently
We create a self-sustaining financial model for Impact Days and Initiative.
The five tactics will use to achieve that will be
Formalizing our education and launching Impact Investing Education Institute. In person courses for community foundations, investors, nonprofits and social enterprises, startups, corporate strategics, law, accounting, program officers, trustees, etc. will be converted to online and hybrid livestreaming courses.
Launch pilot Impact Investing Giving Circles that will recruit new philanthropists and investors
Develop a social enterprise model for Impact Finance Center (IFC), CO Impact Days, CO Impact Investing Education Institute that will result in a financially self-sustaining social enterprise.
Create the National Who's Who and Impact Investing Directory expanding our Rocky Mountain Who's Who and Impact Investing.
Socialize and the Outsourced Chief Investment Advisor position and Impact Lab partnerships, or outsourced impact investing department to provide curriculum, education, and technical assistance for higher education institutions, community foundations, and other asset owners.
Impact Investing Education Institute starting with converting in-person courses to online testing whether or not we can effectively charge for education. We are testing whether or not the online courses are effective in identifying new philanthropists and investors and educating while producing a sliding scale modest revenue. In person courses for community foundations, investors, nonprofits and social enterprises, startups, corporate strategics, law, accounting, program officers, trustees, etc. will be converted to online and hybrid livestreaming courses. The following quotes illustrates the value of this education to investors.
Impact Investing Giving Circles will physically grow new impact investors through a process of identifying, educating, and activating them through experiential group learning at the cost of $500-$5,000 assuming we can raise philanthropic support to cover the administration and education costs of running the circles in partnership with the community foundations. For example, working with the Women’s Council of the Denver Downtown Partnership and the Women’s Foundation of Colorado we are going identify philanthropists and investors to donate $2,000 or more into a pooled donor advised fund and create a Women’s Impact Investing Giving Circle. Additional impact investing giving circles are being developed in Colorado for Environment and Health around the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and Workforce, Education, and Early Childhood.
“TestimonialsI’ve been in the field of aligning money with values and business, since the early 80’s. I wrote a book about it and do many interviews and talks on the topic. Watching Stephanie map an overview of the diverse strategies and creative possibilities for moving money towards positive impact, was by far the best, most action-packed, cogent, eye-opening presentation and overview of the field that I have ever experienced. Talk to Stephanie. Book her to speak to your group. Encourage her to write a book, do video training, or clone herself. You will be doing a great service for the world. Her presentation of the comprehensive strategies available to influence and leverage capital for the betterment of communities and issues will give rich dividends.
Put on your seatbelt!”
You can read how it fits into our national vision that was published in the Foundation Review this past year ”Laying the Groundwork of the National Impact Investing Marketplace,” which builds off of the Forbes article.
Impact Finance Center