Blog

Interview with Dave Castillo, CEO of Native Community Capital Fund   I met Dave Castillo at a Confluence Philanthropy Meeting in 2013 when he launched the Southwest Native Green Loan Fund with Confluence. Swift Foundation (where I worked from 2011-19) made an early decision to invest in...

Interview with Rob Riley, President of Northern Forest Center Celina Adams, a colleague from the Just Economy Institute (formerly RSF Social Finance Integrated Capital Investing Institute fellow) and fellow financial activist introduced me to the  Northern Forest Center and its plan to launch the Northern Forest Fund....

Interview with Reggie Knox, Executive Director of California FarmLink I met Reggie Knox of California FarmLink in 2016 at the Louisville, Kentucky meeting of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders. Ironically, I had traveled to the middle of the United States to discover an organization...

Interview of Dawn McGee, CEO, Goodworks Evergreen I met Dawn McGee, an Advisor at the Just Economy Fellowship (formerly RSF Social Finance Integrated Capital Institute), in 2018 where she spoke about place-based investing for job creating and community well-being as the cornerstone of their investment portfolio....

The Transformative 25 25 funds transforming finance for people and planet (To download a PDF version, please subscribe to my newsletter here.) by Jen Astone, Integrated Capital Investing Philanthropy is missing a strategic opportunity for transformative finance. Given the multiple crises of structural racism, climate change, economic inequality and the...

25 funds transforming finance for people and planet

by Jen Astone, Integrated Capital Investing, jen@iciaptos.com

Philanthropy is missing a strategic opportunity for transformative finance. As foundations and mission-aligned investors swiftly shift their investments into ESG screened funds and direct investments in values-aligned companies and entrepreneurs, they overlook many visionary funds and fund managers who are forging the future that we need. These funds are myth-busters and courageous innovations. More than rethinking our financial system, they are creating viable alternatives to investing in people and planet for generations to come.

I met Ted Levinson when I was at the Swift Foundation and he was developing the idea for Beneficial Returns. As a former leader of the RSF Social Finance social entrepreneurship loan team, he has inspired me to rethink investment approaches to benefit people and...

“A 2019 study sponsored by Knight Foundation found that asset management firms owned by women and people of color manage only 1.3 percent of the $70 trillion investment management industry despite demonstrating performance on par with if not better than majority firms.” ...

Congratulations to the Gwitch’in First Nation stopping Goldman Sachs from investing in oil and gas development in the Artic National Refuge through their effective lobbying. Candide launched the Olamina Fund to provide debt capital focused on Black and Native communities. Sean Sherman of the...

Underlying transformative philanthropy is the ability to stretch the imagination and challenge our mindsets. Here are some notable readings for philanthropy: Soil Wealth busts the myth that regenerative agriculture investments are nonexistent. In a comprehensive report on investments in regenerative agriculture, their team of researchers...