Impact Frontiers has launched its sixth investor cohort this year in partnership with Impact Capital Managers (ICM) – our largest cohort to-date with 30 leading venture capital, private equity, debt and real estate fund managers. The considerable number of participating investors and the diversity of their asset classes, investing stages, and impact themes will enable cohort members to compare practices and standards among trusted peers and discuss the best approach for each investor – while collaborating to identify good practices for impact-financial integration that can be shared with private capital fund managers more broadly. The partnership is being supported by a project grant to ICM from the Tipping Point Fund on Impact Investing.
Mike McCreless, Executive Director of Impact Frontiers, commented on the launch of the program with ICM: “There is increasing consensus among investors about the elements of a robust impact management practice in general, but less clarity about what aspects of impact management need to be adapted or customized to fit distinct asset classes such as venture capital and private equity. This is a great opportunity to dig deeper on that question with a group of fund managers that are committed to building the field of impact management further.”
Impact Capital Managers is a rapidly growing trade association that today includes 75 private market funds representing more than $15B in impact-focused capital. The mission of the organization and its affiliated field building institute are to advance the performance of its members – best in class fund managers investing for superior returns and meaningful impact – and to scale the field with integrity and authenticity. Membership is by invitation only, and fund managers must meet ICM’s criteria including expectations on impact management and measurement.
Marieke Spence, Executive Director of Impact Capital Managers, said of the collaboration: “We are thrilled to partner with Mike and his team at Impact Frontiers. The Impact Frontiers experience is uniquely equipped to give our members a deeper understanding of the relationship between impact and financial return and a forum to identify, and cultivate, best practices in impact management and measurement that apply to a variety of fund sizes and strategies.” She added, “The curriculum is particularly appealing because it is interactive and practical. It enables managers to sort through the alphabet soup of impact management frameworks and adopt and adapt what is useful for them with an eye toward best practices. It moves us, and by extension the field, from just talking about impact management to learning by doing.”
The collaboration between the two organizations will ultimately result in a set of open-access materials including videos and written resources. All the curated online content will be informed by the cohort experience and will point the way for other private capital fund managers who want to share in the lessons learned and make tangible improvements in their own impact management and measurement practice.
If you are interested in learning more about Impact Frontiers cohorts and how it works, please fill out the contact form with your information.
