The early money needed to start investing and attract other limited partners, remains in short supply for many for impact-first funds. Boston Impact Initiative is raising a $5 million fund to be the “first-in” capital for these funds, offering catalytic grants to launch operations, as well as access to its network of LPs, experienced fund managers, advisors and mentors.
“We want to be that first institutional investor that could validate their fund’s model, but also catalyze other investors to come in,” BII’s Betty Francisco told ImpactAlpha. “The whole purpose is to be that first mover, the catalytic capital that comes to bring validation to a new emerging fund manager that is trying to get their fund off the ground.”
First Mover’s first
Wells Fargo Foundation is the first backer of the First Mover Fund, allocating $1.5 million in grant funding. “We hope that other foundations and wealth holders will follow by providing philanthropic capital so that we can quickly get to the $5 million,” said Francisco.
The fund’s first investment is in the Moonsoon Fund, an Indigenous women-led fund. “Moonsoon is reimagining capital to better serve and build wealth for Indigenous entrepreneurs,” said Vanessa Roanhorse, who is launching the fund with Justine Correa. “This first-mover capital from BII allows us to prove what we know to be true: when Indigenous matriarchs lead, entire communities thrive.”
Fund pipeline
The First Mover Fund will target managers from Boston Impact Initiative’s ARC Fellowship, an eight-month accelerator for justice-driven fund managers in the US and Canada.
Among 90 managers that have gone through the accelerator since 2020, more than half are women and the majority are people of color; 22 of them are currently raising capital.
The latest ARC cohort includes Memphis Future Fund, a blended capital strategy backing real estate projects and community enterprises in Memphis, and the Resilience Southern LAND Fund, which is looking to address land injustice and climate resilience through the acquisition of farmland in the US south.
The First Mover Fund’s goal is to help move $100 million of investment capital in communities of color by 2030.
