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Press release: OPIC Provides Initial Financing to SunFunder’s Solar Energy Transformation Fund to Expand Access to Beyond the Grid Solar
The Solar Energy Transformation Fund is one of a group of investment vehicles managed by SunFunder, a solar energy finance business with offices in the U.S., London and Nairobi working to scale up clean energy access in Africa and Asia by financing solar companies active in off-grid and weak-grid communities.
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- Press release
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Critics: Give Development Impact Bonds a Chance to Learn to Walk Before They Run
Brian Boland, co-founder of The Delta Fund - a donor-advised fund focused on poverty alleviation and justice reform - pushes back on a recent critique of development impact bonds. That critique, published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review by Kevin Starr, took DIBs to task for high costs and questioned whether the investor returns are justifiable. Boland argues that DIBs are in their infancy, investors are already learning a lot from early pilots, and any pioneering new system requires time before it can scale.
- Categories
- Investing
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Salesforce Builds $50 Million Impact Investing Portfolio
Suzanne DiBianca, chief philanthropy officer and executive vice president of corporate relations at Salesforce, was among the first employees at the company and has championed social impact from the beginning. Building a $50 million impact investing portfolio is her latest initiative.
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- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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Press release: New €200 million impact fund launched to scale agribusiness in developing countries
Small scale farming is one of the biggest industries in the world, with 500 million small farms and 2.5 billion people relying on small scale farming on a daily basis. The demand for impact investing in rural agriculture is growing as investors strive to end poverty and hunger to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The ABC Fund will also focus on creating employment, particularly for young people in Africa, to offer them an alternative to migration.
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- Press release
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Paying for success: The story of how Utah became a leader in social impact investing
It's difficult to pin down exactly what the United States spends annually on social services, but a 2017 report from the Congressional Budget Office showed $1.2 trillion had been collected to fund social services. However, sometimes it can be difficult to tell if that money is being spent effectively or if real results are being achieved, said Jeremy Keele, former president and CEO of the Sorenson Impact Center, who was involved in implementing the preschool program. On the other hand, the Utah preschool program has measurable results.
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- North America
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- impact investing
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Giant US teacher’s pension backs new female- and minority-led activist fund with $250 million
The sizable — and lengthy — capital commitment from the largest educator-only pension will allow the firm, Impactive Capital, to begin investing.
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- Investing
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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Three Key Trends in Social Impact: Announcing NextBillion’s Special Series for 2019
NextBillion is pleased to announce the topics of our three special series for 2019: “By Women, For Women: Leaders and Innovations in Gender Equity,” “Scaling Up Without Selling Out,” and “New Frontiers in Renewable Energy.” Each series will be managed by a different member of NextBillion’s editorial team: Check out the descriptions and email the appropriate editor if you’d like to explore a potential guest post on any of these topics. We’re looking forward to seeing how the discussion in these series will develop in the coming months.
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- Energy, Finance, Investing, Social Enterprise
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KKR Turns to Impact Fund Co-Investing With $510 Million Deal
KKR and private equity rivals including Bain Capital and TPG have dived into impact-investing strategies in the past two years, launching funds devoted to sustainability.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- energy access, ESG, impact investing