What Are Impact-First Investments?

What are impact-first investments? 

Impact-first investments combine the intentionality of philanthropy with the discipline of investing. They allow individuals, families, and foundations to support innovative market-based solutions to pressing social challenges. These investments, which include debt, equity, and other forms of capital, are designed to prioritize social impact. They create returns that can be redeployed, multiplying the impact of philanthropic dollars over time.

What challenges do impact-first investments address?

Impact-first investments back the next generation of entrepreneurs addressing society’s greatest challenges, including solutions that: 

• Increase access to education and economic opportunity 
• Build wealth by enabling home ownership and business ownership  
• Support small businesses creating new jobs in their communities
• Advance climate resilience and regenerative agriculture 

With patient, flexible capital, these enterprises can grow, attract follow-on investment, and scale. 

Why impact-first investing?

Americans donate nearly $600 billion to charitable causes each year, but traditional grantmaking alone is insufficient to address today’s challenges.

Traditional capital markets often overlook these meaningful opportunities, creating a gap that patient investors can help fill.

Impact-first investing opens a new way to amplify the impact of philanthropic capital, especially for donor-advised funds and foundations: scaling solutions while redeploying capital for the next opportunity.