Enable Ventures is working to close the wealth gap through disability investment.

By Real Leaders

Enable Ventures is an impact venture fund focused on closing the disability wealth gap while achieving competitive, market-rate returns. Founder and managing partner Regina Kline was among the early players to invest in companies in the global disability technology industry.

She secured backing from Jim Sorenson and Sorenson Impact to launch Enable Ventures in 2022 and has since sourced, led, and supported seed through Series A investments across the spectrum of disability in a portfolio that includes digital software as a service, neurotechnology solutions, and wide-ranging applications of artificial intelligence. Real Leaders spoke with Kline to learn more.

Real Leaders: From lawyer to business owner, tell us about your path to starting Enable Ventures.

Kline: My previous career as a civil rights lawyer was vindicating the civil rights of Americans with disabilities. The largest untapped talent pool hiding in plain sight is people with disabilities who can generate great value in the labor force. There’s a nearly $2-trillion hole in global GDP where disability talent should be.

As a lawyer, I was looking at problem identification. Now I’m looking at building the rival image to those problems and finding like- minded people with conviction who want to fill that wealth gap by getting people access to skills training, higher education, workforce training, and workforce tech. Enable Ventures is the first impact venture capital firm dedicated to closing the disability wealth gap.

The disability community will usher in a new era in technology by leading with conviction around the idea that technology has a great equalizing effect. There is a magnificent market opportunity in people with disabilities in the tools they need as consumers. People with disabilities alongside their friends and families control over $13 trillion in disposable income.

RL: How do you decide what companies you invest in?

Kline: Our investment strategy involves focusing on technology that will drive changes at work in upskilling and reskilling. We’re also focused on what it takes to compete in today’s global marketplace in terms of workplace technology — how people find, obtain, and sustain employment.

Many of the founders in our industry are focused on digital technologies that will bridge the gap and help employers source, obtain, and retain the most talented people who have disabilities to enrich the talent pool and the bottom line. We know from many studies, but particularly from Accenture’s 2018 disability inclusion report, that businesses that retain disabled, diverse talent over time have 30% higher net-profit margins. So we’re looking at the kind of tech that will allow inclusion of disability at scale and employee recruitment and retention.

We’re also really focused on the next generation of assistive technology in the world. What can the tremendous advances in technology at the bleeding edge of AI, machine learning, sensor technology, and light detection and ranging technology in augmented and virtual realities do to remove barriers for people who are deaf or blind, who have barriers to cognition, communication, and speech? How can we allow technology to uplift human potential instead of replacing human potential? How can technology assist people to be on equitable ground with their peers at work, in school, and in education? We’re really focused on those strategies that have the potential to do that but also have significant effects to the rest of society and the rest of the consumer market.

RL: You were recognized with a 2024 Real Leaders Impact Award for Best Collaboration with CIONIC, a neurotechnology company that makes bionic clothing to improve mobility. What has made your partnership successful?

Kline: CIONIC has a very experienced founder, Jeremiah Robison, who is enlightened in the way of leveraging engineering, wearable technology, and sensing technology. I met Jeremiah in a community forum around cerebral palsy and observed the product and the way others reacted to it. I got to understand how the company intended to listen, learn, and grow with the community and saw that there is very much a need for the technology that CIONIC is creating.

As a parent of a daughter with a disability, Jeremiah is approaching this with particular sensitivity to the consumer experience, and he is putting human-centered design at the heart of the product. He is at the cutting edge of bionic clothing and allowing people to resume full integration into their lives and community in an inconspicuous way.

We’re really proud to be an investor in CIONIC. We work together as partners to ensure that as the company grows, it’s scaling with fidelity not only to best business practices and revenue growth, but it’s scaling its impact at the same time.

Aligning growth and impact are key to harnessing purpose for competitive advantage.

By Tripp Baird

When growth is correlated with positive social and environmental impact, businesses can generate value for shareholders and stakeholders. At The Builders Fund, a private equity platform, we seek out collinear business models that embed impact alongside commercial growth and where purpose can be harnessed for competitive advantage. Our approach to impact value creation spans the investment lifecycle from capital formation to company vision, operations, and corporate form. Here’s a closer look at three impact companies we invest in and the difference they’re making.

Acelero LEARNING: Increasing Impact Through Purpose-Driven Investment

In 2022 Builders co-led a strategic investment in Acelero Learning, an early childhood education provider seeking to eliminate gaps between children’s potential and their achievement in school and life. Acelero serves low-income children and families as a direct operator of Head Start centers and through tech-enabled services to other Head Start operators, states, and municipalities. The company also provides training, technical assistance, and consulting services to bring its innovative practices to other childcare centers across the country, reaching over 400,000 children and families annually.

Builders co-led a syndicate of impact investors, including the BlackRock Impact Opportunities Fund and A-Street Ventures, catalyzing additional investment into Acelero Learning. At the time of investment, the company sought growth capital to expand the business and its impact, including the number of students and families served, and enhancing the business’s existing commitment to equity through workforce engagement. Builders led the creation of an Operating Blueprint focused on building the sales and marketing team and commercializing products and existing intellectual property. Through the combination of convening purpose-driven capital and operational engagement, Builders aims to create shared value for the investor group, the management team, and most importantly, the children, families, and communities Acelero serves.

Traditional Medicinals: Articulating Purpose, Values, and Vision

Traditional Medicinals, a certified B Corporation and California Green Business, is a pioneer of the wellness tea category in the U.S. and Canada. It was formed in 1974 to educate consumers about the benefits of traditional herbal medicine while re-inventing the industry of plant-based medicine. The company has a long-standing commitment to positive social and environmental impact through sustainable production practices and engagement with the often impoverished and indigenous herb-sourcing communities in its supply chain.

Purpose creates a fertile ground for increased alignment through shared values with employees and customers, from attracting and retaining top talent to improving customer service, increasing customer loyalty, and improving net promoter scores. Builders believes that purpose, values, and vision cannot come from the top of the company in a vacuum. They are more than the output of a meeting; they emerge from a participative process. Working with management, Builders helped facilitate a yearlong collaborative and companywide process to reexamine and redefine the purpose, values, and vision of the company. Its crystallized purpose, “to inspire active connection to plant wisdom in service of people and planet,” has since become a foundation for a realignment of strategy, an acceleration of in-market performance, and a flourishing of a 50-year-old culture to continue its remarkable run to leadership in the U.S. tea and medicinal supplement space. 

PosiGen: Committing to Being a Force for Good

Headquartered in New Orleans, PosiGen is the nation’s leading residential solar and energy efficiency provider for low-to-moderate income families. The company’s mission is to close the clean energy affordability gap for LMI homeowners by delivering lower-cost utility bills along with the environmental benefits of clean energy through rooftop solar and energy efficiency upgrades. 

PosiGen makes an impact in underserved communities by facilitating annual household savings of upward of 20% on energy bills, with more than $190 million in savings to date. It also generates quality job opportunities in communities where it operates, with more than 65% of its staff identifying as women and/or Black, Indigenous, and people of color. These social benefits are intrinsically linked to the company’s positive environmental impact, with access to clean, reliable energy expanding to new homes and communities, helping reduce and avoid greenhouse gas emissions. 

After completing a Series D investment led by The Builders Fund and a subsequent growth capital round from Builders and other investors in 2022, PosiGen became a public benefit corporation and certified B Corp in 2023. Certified B Corporations meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability and aspire to use the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems. 

The Builders Fund, which has been a certified B Corp since 2015, provided PosiGen with guidance and support throughout the B Corp certification process in alignment with the fund’s impact management and measurement strategy. Builders leverages B Corp certification as part of its impact framework because it supports companies that seek to integrate purpose and profit and make decisions for the benefit of all stakeholders. Purpose-driven companies are uniquely positioned to deepen impact, improve transparency, and create value for stakeholders across the corporate ecosystem. 

Prioritizing equity and empowerment for entrepreneurs and business owners is a winning formula.

By Kathryn Deen

Since its founding in 1992, Advantage Capital has invested over $4.1 billion in over 900 companies, spanning a diverse array of industry sectors and covering the entire risk spectrum through a combination of public-private partnerships. In addition to growing small businesses, the company finances affordable housing and expands renewable energy solutions. Real Leaders connected with President Steven Stull to learn how Advantage Capital is helping lead the way in the impact investing space.

Real Leaders: Describe the problem Advantage Capital is trying to solve.

Steven Stull: Since the founding of our firm, we have worked to bring businesses, jobs, and technologies to communities that have historically lacked access to investment capital. 

Those in underserved communities often face economic instability, a volatile housing market, limited opportunities for quality jobs, and various financial burdens. We leverage our investment acumen, legislative experience, and our emphasis on impact to funnel capital to growth-ready entrepreneurs, innovators, and industries in overlooked areas. We invest with intention in job-generating small businesses — along with affordable housing developments and renewable energy solutions — to grow economies and communities.

RL: What are the company’s most innovative ways of addressing lack of access to investment capital?

Stull: We uncover and implement innovative, flexible financing solutions often enabled and accelerated by public-private partnerships, and we meticulously measure the investment outcomes.

It is important to actively advocate for proven public policy that establishes partnerships with state and federal economic development organizations to turn incentives into investments into impact. For Advantage Capital, we have always worked to expand the scope and compliance of tax credit programs to, in turn, expand access to capital across the country beginning with one fund in one state — specifically for small businesses — to dozens of states and programs that include low-income housing and renewable energy investment.

RL: Can you share a couple of Advantage Capital’s success stories?

Stull: After being denied by more than eight banks, Carmen Tapio partnered with Advantage Capital and secured a $1.5-million small business loan in connection with the federal and state New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) programs. The loan allowed her to purchase North End Teleservices, a call center in the highly distressed community of North Omaha, Nebraska. Carmen has grown the company to over 500 employees, providing household-stabilizing benefits including health care, transportation, an apprentice program, micro-academics, performance bonuses, and tuition reimbursement. 

Here’s another example: When Stirling Ultra Cold was at a pivotal point in its growth trajectory, it needed capital to continue. Advantage Capital’s investment, made in connection with the NMTC program, enabled the company to hire new employees, increase research and development, and support the rollout of a new product line. The company manufactures freezers that have become the sustainable choice for hospitals, research centers, universities, and corporate laboratories to store lab samples and other biomedical materials. It is a major employer helping to boost the local economy in rural Athens, Ohio.

RL: What have been some of the company’s biggest challenges, and how have you overcome them?

Stull: Our investment strategy is challenging. We go to communities and areas where traditional lenders are not necessarily active or interested, and we provide financing to the businesses and people who need it and are ready to seize it. We do that by being champions of small business — working hard to provide sophisticated and diverse options. And we ensure thoughtful fundraising and structuring are at the foundation of every fund and initiative — with a nationwide network of prominent investors who share our interest in positive impact. At the end of the day, we meet entrepreneurs and other innovators where they are and join them in their journey. It’s about sharing a common goal: growth.

RL: Why should other leaders in the field of investing follow suit?

Stull: We know capital changes lives. For many people, life is not getting any easier. Investing with intention and being motivated by meaningful impact can go together with successful investment outcomes and competitive returns. There is an opportunity — perhaps an obligation — to do both. Taking a double-bottom-line investment approach can lift people up, grow local economies, and have an enormous ripple effect across the country. Ensuring talented, experienced professionals are participating in that process is important. 

RL: What does the future of impact investing look like, and what role does Advantage Capital hope to play in it?

Stull: The future of impact investing is poised for major growth. Impact investing is a trillion-dollar industry and isn’t going away anytime soon. I am optimistic and believe more businesses are going to establish and accelerate strategies that do good while doing well. We will continue to do what we do best — funnel flexible financing to the places and people who need it and are ready to seize it. And we hope to continue to expand our scope as we grow our affordable housing and renewable energy business lines.

Impact investor Kelly Ann Winget is a believer in investing for impact, yet she’s going about it in a different way.
 

By Real Leaders

As founder and CEO of Alternative Wealth Partners, Winget has built a successful career pursuing her unique, contrarian approach to driving positive change.

While others focus on checklists, Winget emphasized leveraging one’s lived experiences to make a difference on any scale. There are global leaders, but impact also happens locally within communities.

When asked about her philosophy, Winget dove into opportunities she sees differently. Where some concentrate on funding diverse founders, she stressed the need to develop the investor pipeline itself. Currently, most investment committees lack diversity, hindering their ability to properly evaluate all opportunities.

She continued by saying that by educating more women and minority investors, these groups gain knowledge and confidence to become impact investors supporting their own communities. Winget’s book “Pitch the Bitch” aims to bring more women into investing through financial literacy.

In her portfolio, Winge looks outside norms to drive change. She actively invests in traditionally male-dominated industries like manufacturing, energy infrastructure, and oil/gas extraction. One example was acquiring an ammunition component manufacturer, now the only woman-owned business in that field.

Winget believes diverse leadership provides a fresh perspective that can spot new problems and innovative solutions others may miss.

For too long, industries like oil/gas have narrowly focused on extraction costs rather than broader stakeholder impacts. Her approach weighs safety, environmental stewardship, and community impacts equally with returns.

Statistics show women reinvest profits more into local communities compared to men. For Winget, impact means redistributing wealth tangibly for the world, not just short-term profits. By empowering underrepresented groups as both investors and entrepreneurs, real, sustainable change can happen from within industries over time.

Winget’s experience-based philosophy challenges conventional wisdom.

Rather than checklists, she focuses on developing a more diverse ecosystem where underserved markets may finally gain needed attention and funding to drive progress.

In a deeper dive into her investment process, Winget looks for founders who truly believe in their vision for the long-haul, remaining calm under pressure with a sense of responsibility to investors. As an entrepreneur herself, Winget understands the dedication required and only partners with others equally committed.

When discussing ESG metrics, Winget noted challenges in industries like oil/gas but aims to operate sustainably within regulations. 

For stakeholders, she emphasized building relationships with suppliers to overcome obstacles together through open communication and mutual understanding of challenges.

By empowering underrepresented groups from the inside-out, Winget believes her contrarian approach can make the greatest impact where it’s needed most. Through financial education and diverse leadership, industries may finally address problems previously overlooked, benefiting communities and the planet.

Winget’s experience-driven philosophy challenges norms to drive progress through an expanded definition of impact investing. By developing inclusive ecosystems, underserved markets may gain long- overdue support for positive change.

It’s tough to find a better example of environmental stewardship and sustainable use than organic farming.

Indeed, the responsible growth of food that sustains us is pretty much the ideal picture of the impact-investing ethos. With only an estimated 1% of farmland in the United States certified as organic, it’s an area ripe for growth.

For Iroquois Valley Farms, that growth will be fueled in large part by next-generation farmers. Iroquois Valley, founded in 2007, provides long-term leases and mortgages to organic and regenerative farmers. As the nation’s first organic, family-farmer-focused Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Iroquois Valley is enabling the millennial generation to invest directly in healthy, organic food production. The company, whose stock has earned over 8% annualized since inception, has invested $70 million in organic farmland. The REIT is incorporated as a Public Benefit Corporation and is a certified B Corp, meaning that in addition to providing a financial return, the company provides benefits to the public such as healthy food, safe water, and a cleaner environment.

It’s a long way from the company’s beginnings just prior to the mortgage-fueled Great Recession. At that time, cofounder David Miller came into possession of a 10-acre piece of family property, which he transitioned to an organic farm. At the same time, Dr. Stephen Rivard, Miller’s college roommate, was observing the effects of overexposure to herbicides and pesticides on agriculture workers.The duo, along with 10 friends and family members, formed Iroquois Valley Farms. It’s a farmer-centric business model, meaning the farmers bring opportunities to Iroquois, not the other way around. “We never go out and buy land and then try to find a farmer,” he explains. “That’s a non-scalable approach to being in business. Farmers bring us the opportunity, and we buy the land and lease it to the farmer, with a goal of the farmer eventually buying the land from us.”

“It’s hard to move too fast in organic farming, but if you try, you usually make big mistakes,” Miller claims. “This is not the kind of business where you can just buy some land, shake hands with the farmer, come back in 10 years, and sell the property to pay everybody off. That’s a complete mismatch with what the farmers want. They want the land for the rest of their lives, so we knew that we had to be different than a traditional farmland investor.”

In addition to growing slower with its committed capital, the firm is willing to work with individual investors.

“In 2019, we did a direct public offering that allows people to invest in our REIT even if they are not accredited investors,” says Miller. “Because the REIT isn’t traded on an exchange, investors buy our shares directly from the company. We accept investments from trusts and IRAs because they are long-term investment vehicles that fit with the time horizons of our model.” Additionally, the company is large enough that if an investor wants to redeem their investment, they can do so after 5 years, without the company selling the farmland. The long-term horizon of the investment and the risky nature of farming means Miller and the staff at Iroquois must be innovative.

Iroquois Valley Farms thinks carefully about diversification. It has a large investor base of over 600 investors and has invested in over 80 farm properties, diversifying its risk away from any one farm. “We also diversify operationally with farms that use different regenerative practices like agroforestry, no-till intercropping, and rotational grazing,” says Miller. The company has also partnered with collaborative investors to fund several deals with a direct impact on the soil and environment. 

To help farmers who need resources beyond what a for-profit company can provide, Miller and Rivard set up a foundation called the Healing Soils Foundation. Healing Soils is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization that works to improve the health of the food system by improving soil health, human health, community health, and planet health. Joseph Mantoan is HSF’s chairman of the board and works with his five-person board to provide grants to farmers whose mission aligns with the Foundation’s beliefs. One of the immediate goals of HSF is to help BIPOC farmers. Black and Brown farmers have had over 12 million acres of land unjustly taken from them and have been victims of discrimination. 

In addition to REIT shares, Iroquois Valley also offers promissory notes for investment. Recognizing that the costs associated with a 3-year transition to Certified Organic status is the most difficult period for farmers, the company offers Soil Restoration Notes. The Notes carry a 5-year term and pay 2% per annum interest to investors. The proceeds are used to help farmers with the organic transition, which is all about restoring the soil.

A Certified B and Public Benefit Corporation, Iroquois Valley is also an investment option for donors to the ImpactAssets Giving Fund (a donor-advised fund) and is included in the ImpactAssets 50, a resource that provides investors and financial advisors with detailed information about 50 of the most experienced impact investment firms and potential investment options.

Iroquois Valley continues to innovate and raise capital. As Miller says, “We care about social values, our health, and the environment. We believe it’s important to engage the next generation, so they can invest in this change.”

When David Gough needs to be inspired, he thinks of people like Shanté, a custom jewelry entrepreneur in Newark, NJ; Alfa, who owns and operates a beauty and skincare salon in Miami; and Shirley, a gourmet popcorn proprietor in Fresno, CA. 

They are among tens of thousands of women across the United States who took their entrepreneurial dreams and turned them into reality with the help of Grameen America, a nonprofit provider of microloans, financial training, and support to its borrower members. 

“Our borrowers are resilient, and they have great business ideas; they just need a little capital to make them happen,” said Gough, Grameen America’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “It’s inspiring to see what an impact a small loan can make in the lives of women and their families.”

A Hand Up

Since its founding in 2008, Grameen America has loaned more than $2.4 billion to over 150,000 women, replicating a business model that was developed by Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.

Grameen America focuses on women who live below the federal poverty line—a group with few options for accessing capital, opening bank accounts, or establishing credit scores. It has remained faithful to Yunus’ original methodology, which requires women to form a support group and go through training to learn about loans, savings, and credit building before receiving a microloan. Initial loans cannot exceed $2,000, and borrowers make weekly payments over a 6-month term.

Borrowers open free savings accounts with commercial banks and make weekly deposits as part of the program. Grameen also reports microloan repayments to Experian, helping the entrepreneurs establish a credit score and build their financial identity.

But the secret sauce of Grameen’s program is the weekly center meeting, during which about 35 entrepreneurs meet with a relationship manager. Appointments are mandatory, and attendance is taken. Members must bring proof of repayment of that week’s installment, and they participate in financial literacy training designed to help their businesses succeed and enable financial mobility out of poverty. 

The weekly meetings create a peer-to-peer learning environment that nurtures success. “Our members learn the discipline of borrowing money, they see everybody else in a similar position, and they share what they’re doing with the money,” says Gough. “You have this wonderful social capital model that gets developed. We would lose that if we were just giving the money out without any accountability or community.”

Scaling Impact

Grameen America, led by former Avon CEO Andrea Jung, has ambitions to scale up its reach into communities across the country rapidly. To do so, Gough says the nonprofit will need to operate like a social business that is as self-sustaining as possible. “We need to deliver in a businesslike way to cover our costs,” he says. “If we’re going to ask our members to pick themselves up by their bootstraps, we should do the same as an institution. So, we run it as a business to be reliable to our borrowers.”

With 29 branches in 23 cities, Grameen aims in 2022 to add six new branches in underserved communities in Atlanta, GA, Phoenix, AZ, Riverside, CA, Philadelphia, PA, and a second location in Charlotte, NC, and Miami, FL. For every branch they open, the organization tracks key performance indicators to ensure the branch can cover direct costs and achieve full sustainability within five to six years.

The organization is reaching deeper into communities with initiatives like the $100 million ‘Lifting America: The Campaign for Her Future,’ as well as the ‘Elevating Black Women Entrepreneurs’ Initiative, which launched in May 2022 and aims to expand to $1.3 billion in loans to more than 80,000 Black women entrepreneurs by 2030. 

Grameen is also leveraging technology to drive efficiencies, including digitizing loan disbursements and repayments.  During the pandemic, they pivoted to using services like Zoom and WhatsApp. “We were worried about members being able to adopt the technology, but to our great joy, they learned it well…with a little help from their kids,” said Gough.

Perhaps most ambitious, Gough says, are Grameen’s plans to grow its loan portfolio—from $158 million currently to $600 million in ten years.  While some money can be raised with philanthropic donations and bank Community Reinvestment Act lending, Grameen is also tapping impact investors with a debt investment targeting foundations, banks, high net worth individuals, and offerings through ImpactAssets.   

But no matter how big Grameen gets, the bottom line comes back to people like Sheila, who took out a Grameen loan to start a mobile boutique on 125th street in Harlem, next to the iconic Apollo Theater. “Our borrowers are some of the smartest people when it comes to generating income and going out and hustling to get it,” he says. “They just need access to an affordable microloan and a little support to help them reach their goals.”

Interested in learning more about Grameen America’s impact investing opportunities? Contact dgough@grameenamerica.org

Over the past year, in communities across the country, Derrick Morgan has quietly built “The Dream Team” of impact investors.

With a unique playbook and the grit and determination that made him a star linebacker for the Tennessee Titans, Morgan in 2021 launched I AM Nation, a network of 40 professional athletes that has come together to share knowledge, pool resources and educate each other on ways to meet collective goals in business and impact investing.

By building a collective of athlete investors, I AM Nation has the influence and critical mass needed to break down barriers and open opportunities for its members and for the communities they came from. 

“I AM Nation is the go-to platform for the athlete that has ambition to continue to grow after the game,” said Morgan. “It’s centered around group economics and the common thread is the greater good and giving back. We’re investing together, building our networks and finding creative ways to give back to our communities.”

Added Leger Douzable (pictured above), a former defensive lineman who’s now a college and professional football broadcaster: “What do we want to accomplish with our investments?  It’s all about leveraging capital, influencing culture, and creating a community.”

The group’s membership is a Who’s Who of elite athletes and includes NBA champions, Pro Bowlers and Super Bowl winners. But it’s what members are doing outside the game that may eclipse their stardom. 

Among I AM Nation’s members are Ex-NFL linebacker Spencer Paysinger, the producer, creator and writer of All American, the successful CW Network series inspired by his life; Cliff Avril, Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl champion and Pro Bowler, who is today a real estate entrepreneur; former New Orleans Saint Marcus Colston, a professor at University of New Orleans;  and NBA star Josh Childress, who launched Landspire Group, a real estate firm that’s part of TPG NEXT, a new initiative providing growth capital and operating resources to seed, support, and scale the next generation of diverse investors and entrepreneurs. 

That community of peers is what attracted strong safety Johnathan Cyprien, who is building a career after football in real estate. “What I enjoy most is this group of like-minded current and ex-pro athletes joining together in business,” he said. “The power of I AM Nation to pool resources and assets brings an advantage to the community over other investment groups. This being the first group of its kind will not only inspire but be a resource to new professional athletes to educate themselves in investments and maximize their finances.”

For Morgan, I AM Nation is all about capturing the collaborative power of professional athletes and, at the same time, overcoming the silos that sometimes form in a locker room. “On game day, you’re sitting next to your teammates, hyper-focused on the game, but a lot of the time you don’t get to talk about things outside of that realm,” he said. “It’s such a missed opportunity. When do you get that much social and financial influence in a room?”

One powerful tool for busting silos is education. In July, I AM Nation held its first retreat featuring Gary Vaynerchuk, chairman of VaynerX , early-stage investor Anthony Pompliano, community real estate developer Brandon Rule, and Nathan Rodland, General Partner, Elefund and Founding COO, Robinhood, among an impressive line-up of investors and entrepreneurs. Cyprien, who is working on his first real estate project, a 373-unit community development in Orlando, said the retreat was “exceptional. The whole experience was first-class, and the educational portion was memorable and informative.”

For Douzable, I AM Nation’s focus on education and collaboration has a cumulative effect. “I know people always talk about wanting to get a ‘seat at the table,’ but with I AM Nation, we’re creating our own table by realizing the value of our influence to build new opportunities.”

“Without professional athletes, there is no game, but too often we’ve relinquished our value to the powers that be who control the industry,” added Morgan. “So as a collective of professional athletes that is very business-minded, we’re taking our value to the next level.”

The athletes are bringing that value back to their communities through impact investing.  Morgan has made several impact investments—including affordable housing developments in Nashville and a venture investment in Fresno-based Bitwise Industries, a LatinX founded tech training and consulting company that works with underserved populations in underdog markets. Other athletes have also done impact deals, but now are joining forces through the Hometown Fund, a pooled donor advised fund at ImpactAssets. By bringing multiple donors together, the fund is unlocking catalytic investment capital and leveraging the off-the-shelf architecture of donor advised funds to create fast, strategic constructs with deep impact capabilities.

“Part of our education around impact and giving back to the community is to point out that this doesn’t have to be a traditional philanthropic effort, it could be a double bottom line return type of format,” Morgan said. “ImpactAssets represents a very creative resource for our members in terms of giving back and caring for the community they come from. We want to help the guys fulfill their desire to benefit the community and find creative ways outside of the traditional playbook for athletes to get into the community.”

I AM Nation also sees the potential for a “network effect” with the Hometown Fund. With the fund providing seed money for an impact investment, Morgan and other members are developing partnerships that can come alongside and anchor a lot of their efforts. “We don’t have institutional money amongst us, but there are foundations and institutions that do,” he said. “This is a partnership model with strong allies,” including fans, friends and financial services that can form a network of support for impact investments.

But whether it is affordable housing investments or pooled impact capital in The Hometown Fund, Morgan is crystal clear on what he wants to achieve: “I want results. Capital is a very critical piece of the puzzle in terms of moving the needle on a lot of systemic issues. That’s why I gravitated towards the impact investment route because capital gets things done. Whatever else you want to say about it, money moves the needle.”

It’s the most generous time of the year. From Giving Tuesday to last-minute donations to favorite charities, December marks the month when Americans most benevolently open hearts and wallets to support the causes and issues that are most important to them.  

Of the $427.71 billion Americans contributed to charities in 2018, approximately 30 percent of giving occurred in December; nearly 10 percent of annual giving occurs on the last 3 days of the year.

This Holiday Season — with worries about climate change, economic inequality and other issues tearing at the fabric of civil society — philanthropy needs to do more than ever. The United Nations, for example, has identified an annual $2.5 trillion investment gap critical to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. 

The urgency of human needs and system risks requires creative solutions that put more capital to work. So, what if you could double the impact of your philanthropic giving?  Through smart tax planning and growing opportunities to put philanthropic dollars to work in impact investing, more individuals are finding new ways to expand the power and positive feelings generated by philanthropic giving.

Impact investing — investments made with the intention of generating measurable social or environmental impact alongside a financial return — is a rapidly growing way that some philanthropists are putting charitable dollars to work even before they are granted. A 2019 report by Global Impact Investing Network, found that over 1,340 organizations currently manage $502 billion in impact investing assets worldwide, up from just $10.6 billion in 2014. 

“The impact investing industry is experiencing significant momentum,” noted Amit Bouri, Co-Founder and CEO, Global Impact Investing Network. “Major firms, large and small, are entering the impact investing market every week, and the industry has received a swell of support from governments, academics, and business leaders.”

Here are five ways to combine the generosity of the season with catalytic investments that can expand the impact of your charitable giving:

Donate Appreciated Securities:  Although a tax break is not the major motivation for most philanthropy, giving in a tax-smart way allows donors to give more and plan giving more strategically. Donating appreciated assets such as stocks, mutual funds or real estate either directly to a charity or to a donor-advised fund is a one such tax-smart strategy.  Giving long-term appreciated assets allows you to give to a charity and get a full tax deduction on the fair market value of the securities. Since the securities are donated rather than sold, you don’t have to pay capital gains taxes, meaning 100% of the value of the donation can go to work to support impact investing and charitable granting.     

Bundle Charitable Giving: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) changed the math for charitable contributions by nearly doubling the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples filing jointly. As a result, fewer Americans will itemize their expenses and charitable deductions than prior to the TCJA.  

While it was feared that the TCJA could dampen charitable giving, donations were up slightly in 2018. One possible reason: ‘Bundling,’ a charitable strategy in which individuals make donations every two or three years instead of giving every year in order to meet higher standard deduction requirements. For instance, an individual who gives $5,000 annually could give $10,000 every two years, getting itemized deductions the first year and taking the standard deduction the next. Using a donor-advised fund is one way to take the bundled, invest the funds for potential growth and then grant money to charities over the course of two or three years.

Use a Donor-Advised Fund to make Catalytic Impact Investments: With more than 121.42 billion in charitable assets, donor-advised funds are the nation’s fastest-growing charitable vehicle. This efficient, low-cost charitable structure allows donors to reap tax benefits while putting charitable dollars to work in a strategic way. But increasingly, donors are finding ways to transform the charitable assets in donor advised funds into a catalytic resource for good. 

At ImpactAssets, a $1.1 billion donor advised fund, donors are investing in breakthrough solutions to some of the world’s biggest global challenges, through a 100% impact investment platform of mutual funds, private debt and equity and custom investments. Other funds, including many community foundations across the country, are also incorporating impact investment options into their menu of investments. 

With more individuals than ever turning to donor-advised funds to facilitate giving, the opportunity to solve problems with a combination of investments and donations will only grow. By activating the vast pool of philanthropic capital already set aside to do good, donor advised funds have the power to accelerate transformative change.

Extend Philanthropy Across Generations:  Making philanthropy and impact investing a family activity is a powerful way to extend deeply personal values to next generations. Whether it is an informal family discussion, or the creation of a formal structure, such as a foundation or donor advised fund, giving as a family can help build stronger bonds while seeking solutions to some of society’s biggest challenges. The learning goes both ways. As millennials move up the ranks in business or take charge of family wealth, many are showing their elders how to put more of their family’s wealth to work for good. 

Double Down with Organizations You Care About:  Individuals can also maximize their charitable impact by aligning social enterprise investments with charitable giving. At ImpactAssets, donors are using their donor advised fund to “double down” by both donating to nonprofits and investing in related organizations. Donors have made more than 500 ‘Custom Investments’ in social enterprises, including TerraCycle, Beyond Meat, Komaza and many others that are driving positive change. Donors see this strategy as sensible risk mitigation because supporting a charitable organization’s philanthropic mission is far more efficient if it doesn’t need to undo damage done by unaligned investment management.  

Making charitable dollars go further with strategic giving and impact investing is a benefit to charities and individuals alike. This giving season, challenge yourself to act with increased urgency in responding to the climate crisis, societal injustice and inequity around the world. Your donations can be a catalytic resource to fund social enterprises and move fast and fearlessly to create impact. 

The 2nd Angel Tank social enterprise pitch competition was an inspiring kick-off to the 2019 SEED Conference in San Francisco, CA on May 20, 2019.

An impact twist on ABC’s Shark Tank, this year’s Angel Tank featured five leading Bay Area impact investors as judges and a select group of six social entrepreneurs. Each entrepreneur had 5 minutes to pitch their world-changing idea to a live audience for a change to win two prizes: the Angels Choice and Audience Choice Award.

ImpactAssets and Real Leaders co-hosted Angel Tank for the second year to support the growing field of investors and entrepreneurs activating seed capital for good.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to support and showcase this exceptional group of social entrepreneurs. Their fresh ideas and inspiring vision of a more inclusive and just system are helping to transform business as a force for good — for profit, people and planet.” — Tim Freundlich, CEO, ImpactAssets

The Angels Choice Award winner was Savvy Cooperative, who won the judges vote for their innovative approach to healthcare. Savvy Cooperative is designing healthcare through patient insights and creating income opportunities as the first patient-owned co-op and public benefit corporation. Jen Horonjeff, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Savvy Cooperative accepted the award — a $12,500 philanthropic investment through the ImpactAssets Giving Fund, a donor advised fund.

Giving Fund donors Elizabeth Stelluto Dunaier, Kristin Hull and Janine Firpo sponsored the investment.

“Being an Angel Tank judge at the SEED conference is inspiring because there is such a wide variety of people addressing the problems in our society through business. I like the breadth of the investments and personally do my seed stage investing through my Giving Fund because it’s philanthropic capital. I’m able to take a much different approach to risk and invest in companies earlier on than if I needed the financial return.” — Elizabeth Stelluto Dunaier, Angel Investor, NextWave / Personal Portfolio

The Audience Choice Award winner was Native Women Lead, who won the support of the audience as a native women led business network that’s revolutionizing systems in a way that honors native culture, creativity and sustainability practices. Jaime Gloshay, Co-Founder of Native Women Lead accepted the award — a $20,000 Real Leaders Media Prize.

Giving Fund donor Kristin Hull also committed an additional $5,000 of capital into Native Women Lead.

The excitement from impact investors and social entrepreneurs who participated in Angel Tank highlights the timely opportunity to invest in world-changing entrepreneurs, and the important role philanthropic capital must play in accelerating solutions at the seed stage.

To learn more about how you can invest philanthropic capital in early-stage impact ventures through the Giving Fund click here.

2019 Angel Tank Entrepreneurs

• Jen Horonjeff, Founder & CEO, Savvy Cooperative
• Sarah Lin, Co-Founder, EllieFunDay
• Emily Darchuk, Founder, Wheyward Spirit
• Jaime Gloshay, Co-Founder, Native Women Lead
• Sapna Satagopan, Xyza News For Kids
• Pedro Moura,Co-Founder, CEO, Flourish

2019 Angel Tank Judges

• Chris McLemore, Program Manager of Oakland Startup Network, Kapor Center
• Aarti Chandna, Partner, SV2
• Kristin Hull, Founder, CEO & CIO, Nia Impact Capital
• Eva Yazhari, CEO, Beyond Capital
• Elizabeth Stelluto Dunaier, Angel Investor, NextWave/Personal Portfolio