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New Guidance on Applying a Child Perspective Within Gender Lens Investing
A new UNICEF guidance, developed in collaboration with 2X Global, shows how investors can intentionally apply a child lens within gender lens investing to strengthen and amplify outcomes for women, children, businesses and societies.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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Parked Capital is a Missed Opportunity: Why Donor-Advised Funds Should be Funding Climate Businesses Now
If philanthropic capital is waiting for a rainy day to address climate change, it’s already pouring. But according to Adam Fraser at Terraset, instead of supporting solutions to this challenge, a significant source of funding is either lying dormant — or actively contributing to the problem. As he explains, Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) are sitting on over $327 billion in capital: money that was already gifted to a charitable entity and earmarked for the public good. That money is invested in the market, growing tax-free, and sometimes even financing high-emission sectors like the fossil fuel industry, while innovative startups struggle to fund carbon removal and other climate solutions. He explores the sort of impact this funding could make if it were mobilized, and argues that the time to deploy it is now.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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Five35 Ventures Completes 1st Portfolio Exit, Generates 3.5x Return From Complete Farmer Investment
The Africa Growth Fund is a US$200 million fund-of-funds designed to strengthen African-led, women-led investment vehicles and enable them to invest in businesses with the potential to contribute to inclusive growth and job creation.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Scaling Without Breaking: A Practical Tool for Strengthening Health-Focused Digital Wholesalers in LMICs
Patients across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) often use private providers for healthcare products and services, making these frontline settings a valuable pathway for increasing the availability of quality medicines and improving health outcomes in these markets. François Lepicard, Alice Magand and Guillaume Massot at Hystra, and Laura Collet at Sanofi share learnings from the Sanofi Impact Fund, supported by the Hystra team, which invests in digitally enabled wholesalers that help stock last-mile providers with medicines and other health products. They highlight the common challenges these businesses are facing, exploring how funders can help overcome them, and sharing a tool that outlines key priorities and performance targets across the digital wholesaler business model in the health sector.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
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Press Release: WaterEquity Appoints Lauren Ferstandig as President
Founded by entrepreneurs Gary White and Matt Damon of Water.org, the success of WaterEquity is built on decades of collective experience investing in water and sanitation in emerging markets.
- Categories
- WASH
- Region
- Global
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British International Investment Reaffirms Commitment to 2X Challenge and Raises Gender Investment Target to 30 Percent Under New 5-Year Strategy
New UN data shows that 351 million women and girls could still be living in extreme poverty by 2030, underscoring the urgency of accelerating investment in women’s economic empowerment.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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Missing the Exit: The Growing Need for New Exit Pathways in Agriculture Investing
Exits make the wheel of impact investing go around, enabling companies to sustain and grow their operations, while also allowing investors to recycle returned capital into other impactful solutions. But as Coco Lim at Acumen explains, right now that wheel is not turning — particularly in agriculture, which has the lowest ratio of exits to deals of any sector in Africa. She argues that this situation puts impact investors at a crossroads: They can stay the course and hope that big exits are around the corner, or they can build the necessary exit pathways themselves. She discusses the challenges of achieving exits in smallholder-focused agriculture, highlighting the limitations of current investing models and exploring some exit strategies that offer untapped opportunities for impact investors and businesses.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
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An Important Update on ANDE’s Future and Sunsetting Operations
Danielle Baussan, Interim Executive Vice President for Policy Programs at the Aspen Institute has made the difficult decision to wind down ANDE’s operations and sunset the network by November 2026.
- Categories
- Education, Energy, Finance, Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
- Region
- Global
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