Report: Venture Philanthropists and Impact Investors

"Venture Philanthropists and Impact Investors"
Toniic

As CFFP seeks to work with local entrepreneurs in the food system, issues like impact assurance, financial returns, and appropriate placement of capital have been recurring themes in our discussions. In this timely report, Toniic confronts these and other hesitancies head on and suggests realistic solutions to facilitate relationship between venture philanthropists and impact investors seeking change in their communities.

There are a growing number of entrepreneurs who are meeting needs in their communities through business, providing sustainable & regenerative transformation for a variety of socioeconomic and environmental issues. However, there is a significant “collaboration gap” between these entrepreneurs looking to scale and investors "due to a variety of economic return hurdles, risk tolerance, preferred investment structures, liquidity requirements and desired impact outcomes”. Toniic has partnered with The Shell Foundation to research relationships between venture philanthropists and impact investment, two sectors engaged in developing social enterprises but with different motivations. This report outlines a variety of actionable solutions to increase collaboration between philanthropists (impact first) and investors (finance first) in global entrepreneurship including blended funding, structural enhancement, impact accelerators, technical assistance, information & knowledge sharing, and innovation.