The Week in impact investing: Step ladders

TGIF, Agents of Impact! 

☎️ Agents of Impact Call: Tackling advisor roadblocks. Clients want to do more with their money. Advisors want to do more with their clients. Financial advisors who engage with clients about their values and offer credible impact strategies can deepen their relationships and prepare for generational shifts. Join CapShift’s Liz Sessler, ImpactPHL’s Cory Donovan, Westfuller’s Randall Strickland and Glenmede’s Julia Fish, in conversation with i David Bank, Thursday, Dec. 11, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP here.

• New on Advisors’ Corner: “Deep dive: Solve three common year-end giving challenges for your clients,” by CapShift’s Liz Sessler.

In today’s Brief:

• Moving from strength to strength
• Podcasts: Bruce Brown of New Mexico’s SIC and Steph Stephenson of Cordes Foundation
• Agent of Impact: Epic Angels’ Maaike Doyer
• PluggedIn: Savia Ventures’ Andres Baehr

🗣 Scaffolding. Every few years, a jaded insider feels compelled to unburden themself of the hypocrisy and contradictions of their previous identity. In his seminal 2018 book, “Winners Take All,” Anand Giridharadas unmasked the elite charade of philanthropy and McKinsey consultants, based in part on his experience as a Henry Crown fellow at the Aspen Institute and a McKinsey consultant (and the son of one, as well). In 2021, Tariq Fancy exposed the fecklessness of BlackRock’s ESG investment offerings, which he had previously managed. Now comes Robert Rubinstein, the “visionary chairman” of TBLI Group (for triple bottom line investments) and esteemed OG of the “impact mafia,” to take down… the impact mafia. Subtitled, “How the elite invented a way to feel good while doing nothing,” the adaptation of Rubinstein’s forthcoming book skewers the wealthy networks and the conference-industrial complex, the risk aversion and the metrics mirage, and most damning, the painfully slow process of actually raising capital from rich people for impact.

Rubinstein’s critique, like that of his fellow whistleblowers, is mostly spot on. But being not wrong is not the same as being right for the moment. It’s not just that impact investors make for an odd choice of target in this season of rampant backsliding and advancing autocracy. It’s not just that such good-faith critiques open a hole for bad-faith attacks (cf. ESG). It’s more like, “What else you got?” Toward the end of his 5,500-word screed, Rubinstein redeems family offices quietly making investments in local communities without press releases, and investment managers in the field rather than on panels. “They accept that some problems don’t have market-rate solutions but invest anyway because the impact matters more than the return.” These people, he says, “don’t talk about impact investing – they just do it.”

With the caveat that ImpactAlpha’s business depends on getting people to talk about impact investing (sometimes on panels), that sounds like a lot of Agents of Impact we know. And most of them know, all too well, the contradictions Rubinstein describes. Nevertheless, they persist. Each achievement reveals its own limits and lays down the next challenge. It’s progress that New Mexico’s $67 billion sovereign wealth fund, built on fossil fuel revenues, is pegging its venture capital portfolio to renewable energy, as the State Investment Council’s Bruce Brown told me in a podcast conversation. As governments retreat, Global Climate Finance Forum’s Meghna Parameswaran has solid ideas to empower small businesses to lead on climate action. Erik Stein detailed how Alcasa is boosting farmers’ incomes in Nicaragua. Lucy Ngige detailed Triodos Investment Management’s adoption of a ‘child-lens’ in its investments to deliver better outcomes for all generations. Impact investing has helped demonstrate the possibilities of a different economy. The contradictions just mean there’s more work to be done. – David Bank

More must-reads on ImpactAlpha this week:

• “PosiGen bankruptcy highlights solar industry woes — and puts Brookfield in the hot seat,” by ImpactAlpha’s Amy Cortese.
• “Building durable financing for the energy transition and climate action in local communities,” by HIP Investor’s Nick Gower.
• “Catalytic capital is a surgical tool to fill capital gaps,” by Prime Coalition’s Anna Goldstein and Alban Yau, and “Why catalytic capital matters now,” by Small Foundation’s Karina Wong.

The Week’s Podcasts

🎧 This Week in Impact. Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: The ambitious strategy behind New Mexico’s $67 billion sovereign wealth fund; how cutting “dealer fees” can keep residential solar affordable without tax credits; and, how cities are stacking capital for climate action as federal support evaporates.

• Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

Agents of Impact: Sustainable fashion and New Mexico’s sovereign wealth fund. Roughly 80% of garment workers are women, many in unsafe or low-wage jobs. “The industry runs on women,” Steph Stephenson of the Cordes Foundation says on our Agents of Impact Podcast. “When we invest in ethical fashion and sustainable supply chains, we’re investing in women’s rights, economic mobility and dignity.” Hear our interview.

• Plus: Bruce Brown, head of the New Mexico State Investment Council’s new office of strategic climate initiatives, joins the podcast to share how the sovereign wealth fund is wielding its climate clout. Listen in.

The Week’s Agent of Impact

Maaike Doyer, Epic Angels: Mobilizing female angels. Maaike Doyer remembers walking into her university’s math program in the Netherlands as one of only four women. It was an experience repeated throughout her career at major accounting firms and later as an angel investor – and led her four years ago to launch Epic Angels, one the world’s largest female-only investor networks. “If we want to get more money to female founders, we simply need to change who the investor is,” she tells ImpactAlpha. Members can start investing with $1,000. The network curates monthly deal flow, runs joint due diligence where members pool expertise, and teaches women to get comfortable with early-stage uncertainty.

• Old school. After stepping off the partner trajectory – “it wasn’t my thing,” she says – Doyer joined a colleague to start Business Models, a consulting firm that helped entrepreneurs turn rough ideas into companies. The two co-authored “Business Model Generation,” a handbook that has sold over four million copies. That put Doyer at the center of Europe’s emerging startup ecosystem and one of its first accelerator programs. She was soon on the move, to San Francisco, where she began angel investing, and then to Singapore. The differences: The Bay Area offered accessible deal flow and opportunities for small checks. In Asia, “everything was extremely old school,” she says. Minimum tickets were $50,000. Instead of white men dominating the angel ecosystem, it was Chinese men. Singapore has one of the world’s highest percentages of female CEOs; none of the executive women Doyer met were angel investors.
  
• New markets. Doyer asked three friends to co-invest alongside her. Six weeks later, the women made their first deal. More women asked to join. Startups began reaching out. Today, Epic Angels counts more than 750 members in the Asia Pacific and Latin America, where it recently expanded. The portfolio includes Singapore-based She Loves Data, a women-focused data literacy platform, and Komunal, which digitizes rural banks in Indonesia. Since moving to Latin America, Doyer has trained more than 220 women and closed five investments, including Mexico-based BioPlaster Research, a women-led startup turning invasive sargassum seaweed into biodegradable packaging materials. “I always say to women, ‘It’s cheaper to put $10,000 in startups each year than to get an MBA,’” Doyer says, “‘and I guarantee you’ll learn more.’”
  
• Keep reading, “Maaike Doyer, Epic Angels: Mobilizing female angels,” by Erik Stein.

The Week’s Call

PluggedIn: Savia Ventures’ Andres Baehr on Latin America’s climate moment. Latin America is the one of the largest untapped climate markets in the world, says Savia Ventures’ Andres Baehr. Investors who get in early stand to benefit. Baehr joined PluggedIn host Sherrell Dorsey this week to discuss how the region is becoming a proving ground for climate innovation, from bio-based materials to urban mining to distributed energy. “Founders here are experts at managing inflation, regulation and scarcity,” he said. “They’re building solutions that can scale globally because they’ve been battle-tested at home.”

• Investors wanted. Baehr pointed to a surge of interest from US and European investment funds, such as Breakthrough Energy Ventures and SOSV, that are exploring regional hubs and co-investment opportunities. “It’s the fintech story all over again,” he said. “Those who came in early captured the upside. Climate will be the same. The market is ready to leapfrog.” Baehr’s advice to US impact investors seeking diversification and real-world climate impact: “Co-invest. Partner with regional funds. Learn the ecosystem. There’s no competition for deals here – just an oversupply of great startups waiting for capital.”
  
• Keep reading and watch the episode. 

The Week’s Talent and Jobs

💼 See and share more than a dozen new impact jobs posted this week on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub and view hundreds of more jobs in impact investing and sustainable finance. Have a job listing to post? Submit it here. And catch up on all of this week’s dealflow reporting.

IMPACT Community Capital appointed Michael Lohmeier as CEO, replacing Jeff Brenner, who is retiring at the end of this year… Green Impact Exchange welcomed Marie Mähl, previously with ESG Book, as chief product officer and executive vice president… European Women in VC added Kärt Klein, previously with the European Business Angel Network, as chief operating officer… Accenture promoted Helen Elizabeth Old to strategy manager.

The Minneapolis Foundation appointed Nathan Wade, former investment officer at the McKnight Foundation, a chief investment officer… Adam Smith joined Zeal Capital Partners as a full-time investment associate… Renaissance Philanthropy welcomed Jason Palmer as a part-time senior advisor… Michelle Okere returned to Indigenous Prosperity Foundation as executive director.

The Homeownership Council of America added Living Cities’ Joe Scantlebury and Guild Mortgage’s Nora Guerra to its national advisory council… ROC USA Capital welcomed Nick Zotto, formerly with New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, as a loan underwriter… The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development added Cadena International’s Sally Schuster to its board of directors.

That’s a wrap. Have a wonderful weekend. 

– Dec. 5, 2025