The Social Finance Impact First Fund Launches as One-Stop Solution For Individuals, Family Offices, Foundations, and Donor-Advised Funds Seeking to Catalyze Positive Impact

Press Release

November 7, 2023

The Fund, which focuses on social and environmental impact, has made initial investments in Blackstar Stability Distressed Debt Fund and the Afterglow Climate Justice Fund.

Boston—Today, Social Finance, the national nonprofit and registered investment advisor, announced the launch of the Social Finance Impact First Fund. The Impact First Fund aims to create measurable, positive outcomes for people and the planet by making catalytic investments into funds with demonstrated potential for impact.

Communities across the country face a confluence of environmental and social crises—problems too large and complex to address with grant capital alone. Market-based solutions, like impact-first investments, which put impact above financial return, can direct capital to scale promising solutions for change. Impact-first investing seeks to return capital and compound impact.

Individuals (including donor-advised fund account holders), family offices, and private foundations often lack the bandwidth needed to effectively identify and evaluate the many impact investment opportunities available across various asset classes. As a result, roughly $1.5 trillion in philanthropic assets meant for generating positive social change are often channeled into traditional market rate investments. The Impact First Fund is designed to make impact investing more accessible and more cost effective. Ultimately, it aims to channel trillions in philanthropic funding toward positive social and environmental outcomes.

“We’ve been developing market-driven tools to achieve measurable, positive impact for more than a decade, and we have a track record of bringing uncommon partners together to solve tough problems,” Social Finance CEO and Co-Founder Tracy Palandjian said. “With the Impact First Fund, we are excited to unlock catalytic capital to deliver impact at scale.”

“For decades, fund managers and philanthropists have struggled with how to put more philanthropic capital to work to advance their visions for change,” Social Finance President and COO Kirstin Hill said. “They could build a team or hire an advisor to uncover and vet impact-first investments, but now the Impact First Fund provides a fully-integrated, outsourced solution for mobilizing capital toward impact.”

To date, allocations to the open-ended Fund include recoverable grants from donor-advised funds (DAFs) at the Boston Foundation, Fidelity Charitable, and Vanguard Charitable, as well as a direct investment from a DAF at Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Social Finance expects the Fund to be an attractive option for foundations making program-related investments, as the Fund seeks to deliver a low single-digit return on capital.

Read about the Social Finance Impact First Fund in the Financial Times →

Initial investments

The Impact First Fund launched with two separate investments in the Blackstar Stability Distressed Debt Fund and the Afterglow Climate Justice Fund. Blackstar is a national Black-owned and -led real estate investment fund focused on supporting and preserving single-family home ownership and wealth building in low- and moderate-income communities. Afterglow Climate Justice Fund is a private debt fund investing in organizations developing and launching new projects that will benefit marginalized communities who are disproportionately likely to experience the negative impacts of climate change.

“Social Finance has provided us the opportunity to interact with a broader universe of stakeholders that share similar impact objectives,” Blackstar Principal George Scott said. “We look forward to continuing our journey together and watching the broader impact the Fund will achieve.”

“We are excited to welcome the Social Finance Impact First Fund as a senior lender into the first close of the Afterglow Climate Justice Fund,” Candide Founding Partner Aner Ben-Ami said. “While all of our investors are deeply mission-driven, the Social Finance Impact First Fund represents an exciting, new pool of catalytic capital. We look forward to partnering with the Impact First Fund and thoroughly share their commitment towards mobilizing more philanthropic dollars towards meaningful, impact-first investments.”

Commitment to impact

“Our team has a rare combination of expertise in both private fund investing and impact evaluation and measurement,” Vice President Stephen Vicinelli said. “We’ve developed an investment process that seeks to underwrite impact integrity in its approach to manager selection, portfolio construction, and impact measurement and reporting. And by making explicit the impact-first mandate, the team will be able to embed an impact-focused investment philosophy within its investment process.”

“Our approach to pursuing impact is rigorous. It’s also imbued with humility,” Vice President Catherine Dun Rappaport said. “We have created right-sized impact assurance processes to ensure that we get credible data about the type and magnitude of impact associated with our investments and that providing evidence of that impact is not onerous or extractive to the funds, enterprises, and communities in which we invest.”

Vicinelli and Dun Rappaport collectively bring decades of finance and impact assessment experience to the fund. Learn more →

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About The Social Impact First Fund

The Social Finance Impact First Fund aims to make impact-first investing easier, more accessible, and more cost efficient for individuals, family offices, foundations, and donor-advised funds that seek to measurably change lives. The fund primarily makes investments into underlying private, impact-focused investment funds that support enterprises that are led by and support individuals from marginalized communities, and have demonstrated effective strategies for achieving positive social and environmental impact. Learn more at socialfinance.org/impactfirstfund

About Social Finance

Social Finance is a national nonprofit and registered investment advisor (SF Advisors, LLC). We work with the public, private, and social sectors to create partnerships and investments that measurably improve lives. Our Impact Investment team designs, launches, and manages impact-first investments. Our Advisory team partners with government and philanthropy leaders to implement data-driven programs for social impact. And through the Social Finance Institute, we aim to build the field and change systems through actionable research, communities of practice, and educational outreach. Since our founding in 2011, we have mobilized more than $350 million in new investments designed to help people and communities realize improved outcomes in workforce and economic mobility, health, and housing. Learn more at socialfinance.org

Contact
Carrie Benjamin, Director of Media & Communications
(857) 340-6064
cbenjamin@socialfinance.org

Disclaimer

This press release does not constitute an offer to subscribe for or otherwise acquire any of the interests described herein nor should it be interpreted to contain a recommendation for the sale or purchase of any security or investment product.

Social Finance, Inc., SF Advisors, LLC and their employees, subsidiaries and affiliates (including, but not limited to, any general partner or investment manager of any vehicle offering the interests described herein) (collectively, “Social Finance”) make no representations as to the completeness and accuracy of any information contained on this webpage. Information on this webpage is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation of any security or investment product, nor should it be interpreted to contain a recommendation for the sale or purchase of any security or investment product and is considered incomplete without the accompanying oral presentation and commentary. If and when an offering of any of the interests described herein is made, it will only be made pursuant to a confidential private placement memorandum and the governing documents of the entity issuing such interests, each of which will be furnished on a confidential basis only to qualified, “accredited investors,” as defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

This webpage is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice, and Social Finance makes no representation or warranty regarding the legality of any investment by a prospective investor under applicable securities or other laws.

Statements on this webpage are made as of the dates specified on this webpage and Social Finance has no obligation to update the information on this webpage, including any “forward-looking statements” (as described below).

Certain information contained on this webpage has been obtained from published and non-published sources. Such information has not been independently verified by Social Finance, and Social Finance does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of such information (or updating the webpage based on facts learned following its publication).

An investment in any interests described on this webpage would be subject to various risks, including the risk that the underlying funds will not achieve any strategy, objectives or other plans, including with respect to such funds’ impact objectives. If and when an offering of any of the interests described herein is made, potential investors should carefully review the confidential private placement memorandum related thereto for a discussion of the risks involved in making an investment in such interests.

Any projected or targeted returns included on this webpage should not be regarded as a representation or guarantee that any investment strategy will reflect any particular performance or that it will achieve or is likely to achieve any particular result or that investors will be able to avoid losses, including total losses of their investment.

This webpage contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this presentation are forward-looking statements. These statements relate to analyses and other information, which are based on forecasts of future results and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events or results or the actual policies, procedures and processes of the investment managers of the underlying funds and the performance of the underlying funds may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements and no undue reliance should be placed on these forward-looking statements, nor should the inclusion of these statements be regarded as Social Finance’s representation that the proposed fund will achieve any strategy, objectives or other plans. These forward-looking statements are identified by the use of terms and phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “target,” “will” and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. However, these words are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. For example, any projections or other estimates in this presentation, including estimates of returns or performance, are forward-looking statements.

Although Social Finance believes that the plans, intentions, and expectations reflected in or suggested by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there is no assurance such plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that are expected. There is no assurance that the results or developments Social Finance expects or anticipates will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will affect the investments in the way Social Finance expects.

The forward-looking statements included on this webpage are made only as of the date hereof. Social Finance undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. Accordingly, investors and prospective investors should not rely on any projections or forward-looking statements in making any investment decision.

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The Social Finance Impact First Fund Launches as One-Stop Solution For Individuals, Family Offices, Foundations, and Donor-Advised Funds Seeking to Catalyze Positive Impact

Initial investments

Commitment to impact

Disclaimer

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Social Finance in the Financial Times: A New Way to Put Donor-Advised Funds to Work

Stephen Vicinelli and Catherine Dun Rappaport Join Social Finance to Develop a One-Stop Solution for Impact-First Investing