Stephen Heintz, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Rey Ramsey, Nathan Cummings Foundation
A Fourth Industrial Revolution is well underway, but philanthropy is not poised to fully benefit from the opportunities it has to offer. Innovations like generative AI are highly dependent on the collection, analysis, and sharing of high-quality data — and that’s an area where our sector lags badly.
Many foundations collect a wealth of information, but almost all of it lives in internal documents collecting dust. That means missing out on innovations in learning and improvement and squandering one of our sector’s biggest natural advantages: ...
Marina Severinovsky, Schroders
Mission-aligned investments have undergone an unprecedented expansion over the past decade. I’ve kept close tabs on this, as Schroders’ Head of Sustainability in North America — representing both Schroders’ and BlueOrchard’s impact investing efforts — and over the course of my 15-year career in the investment industry. Over the years, from the vantage point of the impact investing professionals I work with, one principle has emerged as a cornerstone for ensuring integrity, accountability, and progress for values-aligned investing. That ...
Dana Lanza, Confluence Philanthropy
Just before world leaders met for COP28, the Biden-Harris Administration hosted the first-ever White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities. A national framework for investing in climate resilience was released, and The Kresge Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Walton Family Foundation made an unprecedented commitment to building more resilient communities, centering those most adversely impacted by climate change.
I recently had the great pleasure of leading a ...
Helen Mountford, ClimateWorks Foundation
2023 was blisteringly hot and earned the distinction of the hottest year on record. Yet, we know last year was not an outlier but rather a trend in the wrong direction, as the intensifying impacts of climate change create devastating consequences for people, communities, and ecosystems worldwide.
We are nearly halfway through the decisive decade for climate action, and we are off track in meeting global targets. The good news is there’s never been more progress to build on as we work to course correct. The backlash from the fossil fuel ...
Leslie Johnston, Laudes Foundation
As we prepare for the whirlwind that is the World Economic Forum in Davos, COP28 feels like ancient history. Its underwhelming outcome may not seem memorable. Critics were also quick to point out the dissonance of COP28 being hosted by one of the top ten oil producers in the world and with the attendance of at least 2,456 oil and gas lobbyists.
Yet for me, as the CEO of a private foundation working toward a green, fair, and inclusive economy, COP28 was an important inflection point. Over this past year, we at Laudes Foundation have ...
Thalia Carroll-Cachimuel, NDN Collective
Indigenous Peoples account for 5% of the global population yet safeguard 80% of the world's biodiversity through traditional ecological knowledge. Meanwhile, the percentage of philanthropic funding we receive is less than 1%, undermining our pivotal role in the climate justice movement. Although the final COP28 agreement was disappointing, the NDN Collective’s delegation to Dubai, which I was a part of, leveraged this opportunity to organize with other Indigenous people, build Indigenous power, and ensure that knowledge is shared between our ...
Heather Grady, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
COP28 in Dubai, upon entrance, was reminiscent of a world expo, which was unsurprising since it was on the grounds of the Dubai 2020 Expo. But despite the heat and enormous distances between the ends of the official Blue Zone and the less restricted Green Zone – which fortunately were adjacent this year – a phenomenal amount of collaboration and deal-making took place.
The meeting’s top takeaway was the conclusion of the first-ever international agreement to tackle fossil fuels as the main driver of climate change. This is the first time ...
Dana Lanza and Stacey Faella
In support of goal five of our mission and strategic plan, “[to] provide our members with a strong organization, with the capacity to effectively advance Confluence Philanthropy’s mission and goals,” we are pleased to share that Confluence’s Board of Directors crafted its first investment policy statement in Fall 2023. Stacey Faella, our Treasurer and Executive Director of the Woodcock Foundation, led the process.
We’re glad to have a policy in place that will guide Confluence’s investment decision-making, which prioritizes the ongoing ...
Dana Lanza, Confluence Philanthropy
Corporations are not merely economic entities; they are intricately woven into the fabric of society. They hold substantial influence, molding our surroundings, livelihoods, and well-being, especially as the world grapples with escalating environmental and social issues. It is increasingly clear that progress hinges on a fundamental shift in our interactions with these entities.
This year, the global communications firm Edelman discovered that public trust in businesses remains relatively high. Two-thirds of respondents perceive businesses ...
Roraj Pradhananga, Veris Wealth Partners
Last month, I participated in a Climate Week NYC event co-organized by Confluence Philanthropy and Carbon Tracker focused on the need for transparency within capital markets to help address the climate crisis.
We are nowhere close to aligning our economy to a 1.5-degree warming scenario."Why aren't investors more outraged?” asked Dana Lanza in her closing remarks at Confluence Philanthropy’s Climate Week event “Policymakers and the Value of Data and Transparency.”
It is a question that impact investors have been asking for decades....
Tom Ferguson, Burnt Island Ventures
It’s always odd to hear the water sector referred to as “niche.” This is a substance that underpins all economic activity and all life on earth, and accounts for well over $1 trillion in annual capital and operating expenditure. Unfortunately, in climate financing, it is a niche. Since 2021, almost $100 billion has been invested in climate tech, of which less than 2% has gone to water. Investors have focused their attention elsewhere—storage, generation, hydrogen, mobility, fusion, CDR—because water isn’t in their circle of competence. It ...
Fridah Kiboori, Dalberg Advisors
The effects of climate have become the lived reality of many Africans; in my home country, Kenya, we are expecting heavy rains due to El Niño. Undoubtedly, climate change poses a significant threat to Africa’s development, as funds and resources that could have gone to development are increasingly diverted to mitigate climate-related issues and emergencies. The impacts are further compounded by other challenges such as unemployment, financing gaps, and the increasing debt burden.
But there is a silver lining, which is that Africa has the ...
Aimée Christensen, Christensen Family Foundation
As we head into Climate Week NYC, held each year alongside the United Nations General Assembly, the climate community is preparing to host hundreds of gatherings across New York City to accelerate climate action. Confluence Philanthropy will bring its members and friends together at its own Climate Week events designed to share information, spark new efforts, and build community. As a Confluence member, I look forward to every time I can gather with fellow members, people seeking to deploy their resources for ever greater impact. This Climate ...
Mari Schwartzer, NorthStar Asset Management, Inc.
Take a moment to remember the worst mistake you’ve ever made in your life. Now imagine being forced to describe that moment to strangers who can use it against you in hiring or firing. For the 77 million Americans that hold a criminal record, the worst mistake of their lives often becomes an insurmountable barrier to getting a good job, building self-respect, and pursuing a family-sustaining career. For Black and Brown people who have been impacted by the criminal legal system, racial discrimination further limits the likelihood of achieving ...
Alberto Gómez-Obregón, CO_Capital
Latin America is one of the main “breadbaskets” of the world, primarily for the US. It produces roughly 13% of global agri-food production, which represents 25% of its total production. Additionally, it is the most biodiverse region on the planet with five of the world’s megadiverse countries being there – Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. In contrast, it is also the most unequal region in the world, where roughly 40% of the population (about 270 million people) live under food insecurity, and one in four adults suffers from ...
Stacey Faella, The Woodcock Foundation
Our planet is losing its biodiversity at an alarming rate. In the 2020 Living Planet Report, The World Wildlife Fund estimates that regional biodiversity loss ranged from an alarming 33% in North America to a whopping 94% in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1970. Unsustainable agriculture and logging were key drivers. The report emphasizes the relationship between people and biodiversity:
“…humanity’s increasing destruction of nature is having catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all ...
Omar Blayton, Sunwealth Power
We are in a period of unprecedented tailwinds for renewable energy. Federal incentives created under the new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provide material opportunities not just for an accelerated energy transition, but a more equitable one as well. Items such as tax credits and funds that target underserved communities will no doubt significantly contribute to supercharging the energy transition. But will they be enough?
While participating on a panel at the recent Confluence Climate Solutions Summit, I had the opportunity to discuss with ...
The Racial Equity Investing Collaborative Partners
Six investor networks join forces to advance industry innovation during their first Racial Equity Investing Leadership Summit
New York, New York – May 11, 2023 – American Sustainable Business Network, Confluence Philanthropy, The ImPact, Impact Capital Managers, Intentional Endowments Network, and Toniic convened a group of 60 members and board leadership from across their networks to discuss racial equity lens investing. The six networks together represent a global community of private, public, and community foundations, family offices, ...
Amy Brakeman, Catherine Burnett, and Smitha Das
This blog is part of a series stemming from the Racial Equity Investing Collaborative’s Leadership Summit, which was co-organized by six investor networks in May 2023: American Sustainable Business Network, Confluence Philanthropy, The ImPact, Impact Capital Managers, Intentional Endowments Network, and Toniic.
At the Racial Equity Investing Summit, Toniic led a session about putting racial equity investing into action. Three co-leaders of Toniic’s Gender and Racial Equity Working Group – Amy Brakeman, regenerative investor, Catherine ...
Enith Williams, Reparations Finance Lab
This blog is part of a series stemming from the Racial Equity Investing Collaborative’s Leadership Summit, which was co-organized by six investor networks in May 2023: American Sustainable Business Network, Confluence Philanthropy, The ImPact, Impact Capital Managers, Intentional Endowments Network, and Toniic.
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, private foundations and companies pledged more than $200 billion to support racial justice initiatives. However, a Washington Post analysis found over 90 percent of that amount was ...
