Holiday greetings, Agents of Impact!
It’s that time of year. We’re taking a brief break to recharge for the new year. Not to worry: Our algorithmic elves are preparing a complete set of holiday lists to bring you the best of our podcasts, guest posts, calls, deals and, of course, Agents of Impact like you. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday, January 6. Until then, we wish you and yours a very happy and healthy holiday season.
🎉 A year-end decision that compounds. If you have professional development or research dollars to deploy before year’s end, this is one of the rare investments that keeps paying dividends well into 2026.
- Invest in impact investing intelligence. For a limited time, get a full year of ImpactAlpha for just $99 (that’s 75% off) and turn today’s budget into sharper market signals and better decisions next year.
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In this week’s Open:
- 2026 looks-aheads on shared prosperity and pathways to growth
- Impact LPs on what they’re looking for in 2026
- Podcast: Why LP = Leadership Potential
- The Call: Lowering the cost of capital for smaller cities
Let’s jump in. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
This month we’ve rolled out our series of 2026 look-aheads, where ImpactAlpha editors and reporters preview opportunities to find, and drive, impact alpha in the year ahead. Among them:
- Beyond affordability to ownership, wealth-building and economic security. ImpactAlpha this year has been assembling a “playbook for shared prosperity” with examples of strategies and initiatives that build wealth, support families and restore communities, write ImpactAlpha’s David Bank and Roodgally Senatus. In the first in our series of roundups of ImpactAlpha’s coverage, it’s clear that fair sharing of the prosperity that comes with innovation and economic growth is both an urgent policy priority and a compelling investment opportunity. Check it out.
- In volatile times, some impact investors try to show LP means ‘leadership potential.’ While others are beating a retreat from climate and diversity commitments, some family offices, pension funds, foundations and other asset owners are standing firm, writes ImpactAlpha’s Amy Cortese. To take the pulse of the market as we head into a new year, we reached out to more than a dozen foundations, family offices and institutional investors about their allocations, their portfolios and their strategies. Read more.
- African asset owners and fund managers chart local ‘pathways to growth’. Retreat, retrenchment and recalibration were the three Rs of development finance in 2025, write ImpactAlpha’s Lucy Ngige and Jessica Pothering. If 2026 is to be the year of revival for development growth capital, it will be because local pensions, insurance funds and wealthy families step up to strengthen local financing ecosystems for local needs. See why.
Agents of Impact
🏃 On the move
- Community Reinvestment Fund welcomed Chris Uhl, previously with IFF, as executive vice president of programs and partnerships.
- Ownership Works added Mary Van de Graaf as a senior director.
- US SIF’s Stephanie Rupp joined the Women’s Foundation of Colorado’s investment committee.
The Week’s Podcast
🎧 This Week in Impact
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Takeaways from ImpactAlpha’s lookaheads to 2026, including how LPs and GPs are responding to the dearth of exits and fundraising challenges; ownership strategies to share the pie even before it grows; and how African asset owners and fund managers are going local to create their own pathways to growth.
- Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.
The Week’s Call
☎️ Guarantees for muni bonds to lower the cost of capital for smaller cities (video)
Financial advisors who engage with clients about their values and offer credible impact strategies can deepen their relationships and prepare for the Great Wealth Transfer. Advisors “are the front door to this conversation,” says ImpactPHL’s Cory Donovan. “They already have the relationships, they already have the trust. They’re already managing the money.” Donovan joined CapShift’s Liz Sessler, Westfuller’s Randall Strickland, Glenmede’s Julia Fish and ImpactAlpha’s David Bank on Agents of Impact Call No. 75 to offer practical advice for advisors seeking to meet client demand for impact investment opportunities.
- Keep reading and watch the video replay, “How financial advisors are starting ‘the values conversation’ with their clients.”
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- Capital Dynamics is looking for a senior asset manager in Chicago.
- Impact Capital Managers is searching for a programs and operations analyst in New York.
- Naturevest/The Nature Conversancy is hiring a managing director in New York.
🤝 Meet up
- Feb. 24 – 26: FLII (Merida)
- Feb. 26 – 27: Purpose Trust Ownership (Austin, Texas)
- Mar. 16 – 18: MO Summit (Asheville)
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