insights

Philanthropy Now podcast: Multiplying grantmaking power with impact investing

Philanthropy Now podcast: Multiplying grantmaking power with impact investing

Hear how impact investing differs from traditional grantmaking, and how this philanthropic tool leverages financial capital and human resources to get important community projects off the ground. Learn how Mission Driven Finance, Social Finance, and Silicon Valley Community Foundation use this model to support especially underserved communities and address inequities in affordable housing, education, and more.

read more
Financing alternatives for social impact companies

Financing alternatives for social impact companies

Our Senior Portfolio Advisor David Cooper joined co-founder and CEO of Sown to Grow, Rupa Gupta, to share their knowledge of financing alternatives for social impact companies from both the investor’s and entrepreneur’s perspectives.

read more
Why invest with a racial or gender equity lens?

Why invest with a racial or gender equity lens?

We need more individuals thinking and acting in ways that take into account the dynamics of intersectionality—a framework that civil rights activist and lawyer Kimberlé Crenshaw coined—to provide a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects.

read more
Why I invest: Rachel Lozano Castro

Why I invest: Rachel Lozano Castro

One of the youngest people to support Mission Driven Finance portfolio companies, Rachel Lozano Castro leaned into her passion and know-how to organize a shared donor-advised fund (DAF) with her family that supports our flagship place-based strategy Advance. 

read more
How Lauren Grattan thinks about risk

How Lauren Grattan thinks about risk

Shoutout Socal recently checked in with our Co-founder and Chief Community Officer Lauren Grattan in its local stories series and asked her how she thinks about risk.

read more
Now is the time to try philanthropic investing

Now is the time to try philanthropic investing

In a nutshell, the federal government built temporary tax incentives into the CARES Act to urge Americans to make charitable contributions in 2020 and support our neighbors. For those who are in a position to give or do impact investing, there’s no time like the present.

read more
Community Finance Fellowship showcase

Community Finance Fellowship showcase

Hear directly from the 2020 cohort fellows— Andrew Moncada, Essence Rodriguez, Louise Jordan, Crystal Sevilla, and Benson Ochira—about their career goals and their experiences thus far changing the face and flow of finance.

read more
Real estate for early care & education: A promising venture

Real estate for early care & education: A promising venture

We’re honored to share that David—along with early care and education expert Laura Kohn and community finance fellow Essence Rodriguez—has joined the 2020 cohort of the Promising Ventures Fellowship to explore using real estate and finance to improve access to quality early child care.

read more