News and updates on CO Impact Days 2017, CO Impact Initiative, and Impact Finance Center WWW.COIMPACTDAYS.ORG
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Statistics
We looked inside some of the posts by coimpactinitiative-blog and here's what we found interesting.
Average Info
Notes Per Post
0
Likes Per Post
0
Reblog Per Post
0
Reply Per Post
0
Time Between Posts
5 days
Number of Posts By Type
Text
5
Photo
12
Last Seen Tumblr Blogs
Fun Fact
25% of US internet users with an annual income of $80-100K use Tumblr.
Text
Foundation Programming
Any foundations on the fence about attending CO Impact Days 2017? See below for an all-star line-up that CANNOT be missed!
Karen McNeil-Miller will be speaking at the Social Venture Showcase
Tom Gougeon from Gates Family Foundation will be speaking on PRIs and MRIs,
Erika Davies from Baltimore Community Foundation and Bert Fuess of Silicon Valley Community Foundation will be speaking about Manager Diversity,
Steffanie Clothier and Luis Duarte of Gary Community Investments will co-lead a session on Early Childhood & Education and Impact Investing.
Marla Williams of Community First Foundation and Christine Márquez-Hudson will join Kathy Merchant Former CEO of Greater Cincinnati Community Foundation
Will Morgan of the LP Brown Foundation and Janice Fritsch will be leading a session on private foundations and Impact Investing
Tony Wells of the Tony Wells Foundation will be covering impact investing 101
Jill Ozarski of the Walton Family Foundation will co-lead the conservation and impact investing session
Tracey Stewart of Gary Community Investments will be leading a session on Family Economic Security with Cathy Lund of the Walton Family Foundation.
Ben Bynum of The Colorado Health Foundation will lead a session on For profits and Impact Investing
Randy Welsch of Rockwise Foundation will co-lead a session with Social Ventures
Nicole Bagley of Arca Foundation, Brenn Foundation, and Sapelo Foundation will co-lead a session of individuals and impact investing
Rob Kaplan of Closed Loop Foundation will co-lead a session on Corporate Impact Investing
0 notes
Text
CO Impact Days 2017 Home Work - Reading List
Brad Feld, an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over 20 years just wrote a piece on CO Impact Days.
If you only have a little time, just read his post. If you have an hour, we recommend you reading four short and medium pieces before you attend the conference.
CO Impact Days 2017: Pre-Reading List
Laying the Groundwork for the National Impact Investing Marketplace
Zebras Fix What Unicorns Break
Why Venture Capitalists Aren’t Funding The Businesses We Need
Food & Impact Investing Giving Circles: Food Justice to Food Waste
RT CO Impact Days: Unicorns, Zebras, Ponies, and Donkeys by Brad Feld
VCs love to talk about Unicorns, where a giant return is possible. Some friends in the impact investing world have recently started talking about generating giant returns by investing in Zebras (such as a nonprofit building in rural Colorado) and Ponies (an immigrant restaurant in Seattle currently using payday lending at 35% for their working capital). While these returns have an economic component, they can also have dramatic impact on our society.
If you are interested in impact investing, I encourage you to join the Impact Finance Center (IFC) and presenting funders The Anschutz Foundation, Zoma Foundation, The MacArthur Foundation, Colorado Health Foundation, and Gary Community Investments at CO Impact Days 2017, Nov 15-17, in Denver, Colorado.
CO Impact Days is a three-day experiential executive education conference that teaches investors and philanthropists how to make their investments more effective and their philanthropy more efficient. It also will connect attendees to one hundred of the Rocky Mountains’ most exciting social ventures – projects, nonprofits, for profits, and funds.
CO Impact Days’ Founder Dr. Stephanie Gripne (recently written up in Forbes, Is This Wildlife Conservation PhD The Steve Jobs Of Impact Investing) points out that we need to stop bifurcating our philanthropy from our investing and start treating our philanthropy as an investment.
Gripne and a growing number of her colleagues are taking Emerson’s quote, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” to heart. They are working on figuring out a new investment model where we can start investing in the companies, nonprofits, projects, and funds that society needs.
Another voice in the movement is Ross Baird in his new book, The Innovation Blind Spot: Why We Back the Wrong Ideas―and What to Do About It. Ross makes a strong case that we are missing many of our innovations because of an outdated, obscure, misaligned investment model. According to Baird,
“While most communities across the US think in two pockets – the business and philanthropy communities don’t intersect – Colorado is leading the country in one-pocket thinkers. From the way we invest and support startups, to how employees can own and build wealth in companies, to how finance can be used to reshape traditionally philanthropic sectors such as the environment and early childhood education, Colorado is leading the way.”
An article by Jennifer Brandel, Mara Zepeda, Astrid Scholz & Aniyia Williams, Zebras Fix What Unicorns Break, introduces Zebras as an alternative to to Unicorns. And Gripne’s paper, Laying the Groundwork for the National Impact Investing Marketplace, makes the case that the reason we do not have $1B impact funds for nonprofits, immigrants, and women, is not because we do not have $50M of institutional quality of deal flow. Rather, it’s because there is no incentive to create the infrastructure to do the necessary capacity building to find and scale up these investments. Gripne and her team are also working on a new paper to be introduced at CO Impact Days, inspired by the Zebras article mentioned above, “If Angels Invest in Unicorns, do Heroes Invest in Zebras and What About Ponies and Donkeys?”
This conference is not just about Coloradans. CO Impact Days was designed to expand regionally and replicate to up to five other regions throughout the U.S. creating the National Impact Investing Marketplace. Indiana is bringing a cohort of ten community leaders, Washington is bringing five, and Maryland is bringing three. CO Impact Days is the first statewide marketplace for direct investing, and is just Phase 1 of the national model. Gripne and her team (which Andrew Currie, Kathy Merchant, who led Greater Cincinnati Foundation for 20 years and wrote the book on Community Foundations and Impact Investing, and Nicole Bagley, trustee on Arca Foundation, Brenn Foundation, and Sapelo Foundation) have their sights set on a national marketplace, and they want to invite you in on the ground floor.
Last year’s inaugural CO Impact Days led to over 20 impact investments from first-time, direct investors. They included Nicole Bagley’s investment in Silvernest (a tech platform that provides a matchmaking service for the aging population to find housemates and additional income, companionship, or help around the house) and the Kenneth King Foundation’s investment in Colorado Lending Source’s Main Street Character Loan Fund (providing up to $50K loans to Colorado for those of who have a good idea and good character), among others.
In addition to producing CO Impact Days, IFC is also rolling out a new tool, impact investing giving circles, to catalyze new investors and source Zebras, Ponies, and Donkeys. Impact investing giving circles will provide philanthropists and investors with a low-cost, low risk, first safe investment opportunity by using a donation in a pooled donor advised fund (to be hosted by a community foundation, thus supporting their work as well).
IFC plans to pilot these impact investing giving circles in Colorado in the areas of Conservation & Water, Women, Rural Community Investment. Its Food Impact Investing Giving Circle will be piloted in multiple cities including Chicago, Boston, and Denver, with Chef’s Collaborative and an Immigrant & Minority Impact Investing Giving Circle is being launched in Seattle in partnership with Ethnic Business Coalition to refinancing payday loans for restaurants.
To Get involved in CO Impact Days 2017
Register as an Investor: http://bit.ly/2vMVtFb
Register as Community Attendee: http://bit.ly/2gIgQSf
Volunteer to be a Social Venture Judge: http://bit.ly/2gN41tO
Donate to support CO Impact Days & Initiative: https://goo.gl/3282Tg
Join CO Impact Days & Initiative Mailing List: http://tinyurl.com/y76n29ma
0 notes
Text
Now in its second year, CO Impact Days, the Impact Finance Center’s 3-day experiential user conference, has teamed up with Givkwik as its technology partner to further elevate the signature event.
This year, CO Impact Days will take place November 15-17 and continues its promise to be the place where focused investors and philanthropists gain the confidence, tools and connections they need to take action in new, powerful ways.
Building on the successes of last year, the partnership with Givkwik also allows the conference team to debut an efficient online experience that includes an interface for ventures to submit applications and profiles, an interface for judges to evaluate those ventures, a dashboard for the management team to track the progress of evaluation and profile submissions, and finally, a public marketplace of profiles that can help initiate funding discussions between potential donors and investors.
While Givkwik has helped companies like PwC, Vodafone and Amalgamated Bank with their corporate grant-making, this partnership is an initial foray in impact investing with its proprietary profile and donor advised fund-based system. Of the partnership, Givkwik’s Founder and CEO, Jason Rosado says, ���We’re thrilled to work with Impact Finance Center and to have an opportunity to apply what we’ve learned as a social venture ourselves to help others.”
Meanwhile, Stephanie Gripne, CEO of the Impact Finance Center, says “This is the beginning of a great, productive relationship, the future of which includes utilizing giving circles as a method for promoting even more impact investing.”
About the Impact Finance Center
The Impact Finance Center is dedicated to catalyzing investments that produce enduring value for the investor, society, and our environment. For more information visit http://impactfinancecenter.org
About Givkwik
Givkwik is a software and services company with a mission to connect companies, causes and communities for social impact. For more information visit https://givkwik.com
0 notes
Photo
Announcing (in alphabetical order) our selected social ventures in the Environment, Water & Transportation Track for the 2017 CO Impact Days Social Venture Marketplace!
Butterfly Pavilion Byke Lynk Public Benefit Corporation GreenWorld Investments Marine Permaculture Momentum Recycling R3 Returns RenewWest Southern Plains Land Trust/Bigger than Boulder Project The Conservation Fund - Conservation Loans Program Triple Bottom Line Foundation (TBL Fund) UrBike Vartega
GET YOUR TICKETS TO THE MARKETPLACE TODAY!!
0 notes
Photo
Announcing (in alphabetical order) our selected social ventures in the Health, Wellness & Food Track for the 2017 CO Impact Days Social Venture Marketplace!
Abarrotes Bondadosa AidLogic PBC Altius Farms, Inc. Animal Assisted Therapy Programs Colorado Any Street Grocery Aunt Bertha, a Public Benefit Corporation ayzh Better Drinking Culture Brewability Lab eLivelihood Family Tree Market Hygge Birth and Baby Infinitely Simple/Windhorse Guild, Inc Makeena Maria's Place LLC Music is Caring (M.i.C.) Next Wave US Impact Fund Nymbl Science Play-it Health Poudre Valley Community Farms, A Land Cooperative, Ltd. Radish Systems, LLC (Project: From Start-Up to Sustainability) Rocky Mountain Micro Ranch Safe Rx LLC SharingFood SmartCare Connect Snap2Save The Edible (R)Evolution The Up Beet Kitchen, Inc theFarmBoard, Public Benefit Corporation UpDIG Farm + Grocery Village Exchange Center Win-Win Corporate Citizenship ZNA Health
GET YOUR TICKETS TO THE MARKETPLACE TODAY!!
0 notes
Photo
Announcing (in alphabetical order) our selected social ventures in the Energy Track for the 2017 CO Impact Days Social Venture Marketplace!
Alt-E Fund Alumina Energy Apollo Hybrid Clean Energy Credit Union Nikola Power Nokero Prieto Battery, Inc Radiant Labs REVEL GEAR, LLC.
GET YOUR TICKETS TO THE MARKETPLACE TODAY!!
0 notes
Text
Announcing (in alphabetical order) our selected social ventures in the Education/Early Childhood Track for the 2017 CO Impact Days Social Venture Marketplace!
Boogaloo Beds Brainitz Class Composer Colorado Early Colleges Parker CSMlearn Dream Tank Flyer School App GlobalMindED Girls Athletic Leadership Schools Inc. iLearn Collaborative Kitables Music Play Land: Low Cost Musical Cognitive Education and Therapy Nanno PCs For People Penji ReCreative Denver Ricardo Flores Magón Academy Rocky Mountain Theatre for Kids / New Youth Performing Arts Center Safe Ride 4 Kids, LLC Science Fair Fun The Bridge Effect
GET YOUR TICKETS TO THE MARKETPLACE TODAY!!
0 notes
Photo
Announcing (in alphabetical order) our selected social ventures in the Economic Development & Social Justice Track for the 2017 CO Impact Days Social Venture Marketplace!
AgHelp LLC Angelica Village Art Restart (A social enterprise of The Gathering Place) Artspace/Colorado Working Capital Fund BeVisible Capital Sisters International Change Finance Colorado Enterprise Fund Colorado Lending Source Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF USA) / Patient Capital Loan Program Equili GrandView Technology Green Alpha Advisors, LLC Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver G1VE Latino Cultural Arts Center Loretto Heights Adaptive Re-Use Project Metro Denver Impact Fund Our Front Porch, L3C Pikes Peak Capital Holdings Fund I Pipeline The Other Side Academy: Denver xBuzz Yippiekiyay Systems Inc.
GET YOUR TICKETS TO THE MARKETPLACE TODAY!!
0 notes
Photo
We are so grateful for the early support from The Anschutz Foundation in the form of a 3:1 $100,000 challenge grant. Thank you for believing in our work -- and helping us to catalyze more funding!
0 notes
Photo
NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR @denbizjournal’s first ever “Who’s Who in Impact Investing” special issue. We’ll be announcing how to sponsor ad space and the celebration event later this week -- stay tuned!
0 notes
Photo
Impact investing is considered one of the most promising trends in philanthropy. Impact Investing, which is not strictly tied to philanthropy, has the potential to bring significant capital to help us solve some of the most urgent social and environmental problems of our time. This type of investment approach prioritizes not only financial returns, but also social and environmental returns, and offers both the traditional philanthropic and investment communities additional tools to fund meaningful work.
Colorado has emerged as one of the leading markets for impact investing and Impact Finance Center, and its incubated project CO Impact Days and Initiative (both led by Dr. Stephanie Gripne) are helping to push this movement forward in Colorado providing world-class education to investors, philanthropists, and social ventures (projects, nonprofits, for profits, and funds) at all levels of their impact investing journey.
The cornerstone event representing this growing movement is CO Impact Days, now in its second year. CO Impact Days, November 15-17, 2017, is the anchor event of an ongoing project to develop a statewide marketplace for impact investing. The three day experiential user conference identifies, connects, and celebrates Colorado’s top social ventures and impact investors from the Western Slope to the Front Range. CO Impact Days’ education, symposium, marketplace, awards, and celebration are designed to bring together Colorado’s top 100 social ventures, 400 impact investors, and 400+ community members in a 3-day inspiring event.
CO Impact Days is proud to announce the second annual "Call for Deals", inviting any social ventures seeking capital, including nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, funds, agencies, community partnerships, or independent projects to apply.
If you or your organization are seeking investment capital that also produces a positive impact on Colorado’s communities, economy and natural environment, this is a great opportunity. Submit your investment opportunity by October 5th, 2017. There is a nominal application fee of $25 to cover administrative costs of the call for deals.
Even if you aren't part of a social venture that needs capital here are other ways to get involved:
Register as an impact investor (investor, philanthropist, foundation, etc.)
Volunteer as a judge for the Call for Deals!
0 notes
Photo
A special thank you to Tess Polivka for her wonderful captures at our Launch Party.
0 notes
Photo
More photos from our Launch Party on 8/25! Thank you to all who attended. And a special thank you to http://tesspolivka.com/ Tess Polivka for her gorgeous photos.
0 notes
Photo
Some fantastic photos from our Launch Party on 8/25! Thank you to all who attended. And a special thank you to http://tesspolivka.com/ Tess Polivka for her gorgeous photos.
0 notes
Photo
Impact Finance Center & CO Impact Days and Initiative announce $100,000 grant from Zoma Foundation!
We were thrilled to make the announcement last night at our launch party for CO Impact Days 2017. In addition to this monumental announcement, following two earlier $100,000 grant announcements, IFC also launched the social venture application for CO Impact Days 2017 AND our special guest partner from Denver Business Journal announced that nominations are now live for the first “Who’s Who in Impact Investing” issue to be released on November 10!
We thank all who attended to help us celebrate another great year of working together, in community, to catalyze impact investing in Colorado and beyond.
0 notes
Text
Building the Phonebook
When Impact Finance Center founder and Executive Director Stephanie Gripne explains the hurdles to building the infrastructure to support the impact investing movement she often uses a familiar anecdote. Henry Ford once famously said:
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Instead? He gave them the car and the world was forever changed.
Investors and philanthropists often don’t know what they’re missing if they haven’t yet tried impact investing. They might believe that there is greater value or efficiency in keeping their designated “financial returns” money and their “social/environmental good” money separate. However, in practice this old model of bifurcation is philanthropically inefficient and often leads to advancing businesses that aren’t aligned with an investor or organization’s personal beliefs.
So, how do we teach traditional investors and philanthropists that they can crave more from their capital deployment than simply ‘faster horses’?
One of the most important early steps in infrastructure building is to develop a phone book of key players in the movement and marketplace.
By developing, in collaboration with other organizations and individuals, a centralized phone book of impact investing experts, we can ensure that any individual or institution looking to take their first steps into impact investing has the ability to connect to qualified individuals and businesses quickly and efficiently.
Need an attorney to help with forming a social venture? Need an investment advisor with experience in impact investing? Looking for viable social ventures to invest in? Looking for a CDFI to help you structure a deal? Need a lender for a small business with no credit? Looking for a private equity firm interested in impact?
IFC believes that if would-be impact investors had access to this information quickly, efficiently, and across sectors that they would be more likely to make their first investment sooner and with greater confidence.
Thus - it is with great enthusiasm that Impact Finance Center announces the launch of the first of its kind partnership with Denver Business Journal to curate a “Who’s Who of Impact Investing: Rocky Mountain Region” to begin to build this phone book in the rocky mountain region to help advance the impact investing movement.
Join us in August to find out more.
Written by Kristin Giant for Impact Finance Center
0 notes