Part 1: US Domestic Ventures 

Raising funds is hard for any startup – and often harder for social impact startups that deliver both an economic and a social return.  

The landscape of impact investors is broad and often fragmented – some offer grants and focus primarily on the social return, while others look for market-rate returns with a social return on top.  Some funders require their portfolio companies to measure and report on the social returns while others only consider the social impact at the time of their investment decision.  Many funds specialize in particular social issues and/or particular geographies, making it difficult to know which investors to approach to fund your venture.

This workshop will help you understand the different funding options available for social entrepreneurs and give you guidelines to determine the best funders for your venture. 

Moderator:  

Heidi Krauel Patel ‘97, Rethink Impact, Stanford GSB

Heidi Krauel Patel '97 is Managing Partner at Rethink Impact, LP, a venture capital firm investing in women leaders using technology to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges in digital healthcare, edtech, economic empowerment , sustainability. Former President of New Island Capital Management, an institutional-scale and 100% mission-focused investment advisor to a single ultra high net worth family. Previously, Heidi worked with D.light Design India as an Acumen Fund Fellow and was a Director at Pacific Community Ventures, an impact-focused private equity investor focused on local economic development. Previously, she was a founding member of AOL Time Warner Ventures and worked in Investment Banking at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Heidi earned an AB from Princeton and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Heidi Patel co-teaches (and co-created) “Investing for Good” at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and she serves on the Investment Committee for the Stanford GSB Student Impact Fund. Heidi is an advisor to Better Ventures (a seed-stage impact fund) and an active member of All Raise, co-leading their Community efforts. Heidi’s work has been featured in the Wall St Journal, NPR’s Marketplace, Fox Business News, Huffington Post, Forbes and TechCrunch. She serves on the board of Spring Health and Ketos and is a board observer for Full Harvest, Angaza, Juntos Global, and Univfy.

Panelists:

Annarie Lyles *90, Social Venture Circle

Annarie Lyles *90 is driven to protect and restore healthy living systems. Her work spans the fields of impact investing, board service and developing early technology businesses. Annarie's current impact investing roles include: Managing Director of her Bio-Gist Ventures angel portfolio; board member of non-profit As You Sow,which empowers shareholder to change corporations for good; Past-President of Social Venture Circle's Philadelphia investor group; co-founder of algae-to-biofuel robot start-up Solaris Cybernetics.

During prior careers, she negotiated biotechnology deals, helped run zoos, advised endangered species breeding programs, and enjoyed ecology adventures in the tropics. She speaks frequently and has over thirty publications. Annarie earned her Princeton Ph.D. in Biology and is also associated with Princeton as a parent of a '19 grad, spouse of professor Andy Dobson, past service on the APGA and Graduate College Leadership Council, and as an advisor to start-ups, Arable Labs, Solstice and Box Power.

Eliza Golden Roady ‘05, Acumen America

Eliza Golden Roady '05 joined the Acumen America team in 2017 and focuses on driving portfolio growth and supporting Acumen America’s innovative companies serving low-income Americans in the areas of financial inclusion, workforce development and healthcare. Eliza was previously a member of Acumen’s global legal team following five years as a corporate attorney at the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, where she specialized in venture and M&A transactions and led the development of an impact finance practice working with social enterprise companies and impact investors. Prior to her legal career, Eliza worked in a variety of capacities with international development, health and human rights organizations in Africa and Southeast Asia. Eliza holds a BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Elizabeth Washburn Surti ‘08, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

Elizabeth Washburn Surti '08 works with the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation team to identify and support innovative early stage nonprofits and social enterprises. Elizabeth's role focuses on spearheading DRK's sourcing and diligence efforts, and she spends much of her time on climate and environmental issues.

Prior to joining DRK, Elizabeth spent five years at consulting firm Bain & Company, based in San Francisco, with stints in New Delhi, Madrid and London. She worked across a range of functions and industries that included enterprise and consumer technology, eCommerce, hospitality, and private equity due diligence. Midway through her tenure at Bain, Elizabeth took a sabbatical to pursue a Princeton in Latin America fellowship at Endeavor, the global entrepreneurship development nonprofit, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Elizabeth received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She is a proud Tiger from the Class of 2008 with a Spanish and Portuguese major and a Latin American Studies certificate. During her time on campus, she served as a volunteer Spanish interpreter in the outpatient clinic at the University Medical Center down Witherspoon Street, and was a member of Tower Club.

Moses Icyishaka ’13, Access Ventures

Moses Icyishaka '13 is passionate about business models that trap financial success and social impact in a positively correlated relationship.

He is fortunate to be tasked with identifying and supporting companies that have captured this correlation. Prior to joining Access Ventures, Moses was part of the investment team at Chrysalis Ventures, an early to growth stage venture capital firm, and led the business strategy efforts of Edj Analytics, a company within the Chrysalis portfolio.

This is the first in a series of workshops for social entrepreneurs.  

REGISTER NOW

Wednesday September 22nd: The Funding Landscape for Impact Investors Part 2: International Ventures

Pitching to Impact Funders

Impact Measurement – setting up your social venture to deliver and measure impact

Impact Entrepreneur Funding Resource List