Applications Open for Regenerative Impact Grant Program

Deadline: 1-Jun-23

The Sorenson Impact Foundation has launched the Regenerative Impact Grant Program that will continue the theme for systems change by zeroing in on the need to push the field of impact investing beyond sustainability and towards embracing a “regenerative” paradigm.

The goal is to support the foundation of an impact investing ecosystem where financial returns are driven by outsized social and environmental impact outcomes. As a foundation that values scalable innovation, they are eager to see proposals for systems-level, game-changing solutions where the limited capital can serve as a catalyst to drive impact.

Projects Areas

SIF is seeking proposals for projects addressing the following areas, with the intention to release between 4-6 grants, totaling up to $1.5m:

• Regenerative Impact – What they mean by this term is sustainable approaches which seek to stop or reverse the exploitation of inequities which are often inherent in the social systems, through solutions that incorporate impact investing as a means to restore and/or build self-reinforcing ways that reduce or eliminate these inequities. The Sorenson Impact Foundation seeks to support such approaches, initiatives, research, and organizations that are pushing the field of impact investing beyond sustainability and into the realm of regenerative impact.
  • Example proposals could include:
    • Initiatives or projects that expand capacity to build and reinvest wealth locally through innovations like worker ownership support models, cooperative ownership of real estate to address gentrification, and community-empowered development at scale (ie: not just within one community).
    • Research projects or initiatives that seek to define, popularize, and organize powerful ideas and leaders around regenerative development as a concept in order to push the field of impact investing to its next level of development.
    • Tools, platforms, or technologies that can capture, facilitate and quantify the impact of business activities on the equitable development of economic, social, and environmental systems that shape the communities and livelihoods.
• Innovative Finance – The outcomes that impact investing seek to support are often driven by companies that face significant capital challenges, including a lack of flexible capital for VC or early-stage companies because they lack traditional exit opportunities for the investor, a dearth of impact-focused growth-stage capital, and fewer opportunities for public markets to align their investments with their values. The Sorenson Impact Foundation seeks to support approaches, products, and organizations that help to address key gaps in the capital stack to provide financing to impact companies at all stages of their development.
  • Example proposals could include:
    • Supporting the development of funds, networks, initiatives, and processes that address solutions for companies with growth profiles or in geographies that aren’t a good fit for traditional equity-based investments to attract capital in a sustainable way;
    • Supporting research of innovative new financial structures or investment vehicles that enable multiple sources of capital and/or financial resources to blend together to facilitate common goals for impact and return.
    • Education for the field of innovative finance.
• The Wealth Gap – Millions of people in the society have fewer opportunities to generate wealth during their lifetime. Wealth inequality is escalating tensions between the “haves’ and “have-nots”. The foundation seeks to support innovative programs, policy initiatives, or ground-breaking research in which market solutions and impact investing could play a catalytic role in reducing the wealth gap.
  • Example proposals could include:
    • Solutions that might involve socio-economic research, public policy, or new economic models to help remove barriers or increase opportunities for:
      • more inclusive wealth building for the lower and middle class who have been left behind;
      • improved access to life-long wealth building opportunities that systemically remove barriers to wealth creation;
      • owning wealth-building assets like home ownership for existing and new generations that find home ownership out of reach; or
      • building and reinvesting wealth locally — through innovations like worker ownership, cooperative ownership, minority-focused investment, community-empowered development.
• Elevating the Narrative – The terms “Impact Investing” and “ESG investing” are often misunderstood. Despite significant growth in the field of impact investing, there is a pervasive myth in the broader field of finance that impact investing always compromises financial return, and or the field is merely impact washing to promote it’s investments. The Sorenson Impact Foundation seeks to support organizations contributing to the narrative that impact investing and ESG or sustainable investing can drive outsized financial returns while generating social and environmental positive impact.
  • Example proposals could include:
    • Research, data, publications or case studies that facilitate a better understanding of the long-term societal benefit that impact investing can have for society at large. Success stories of impact investing that canimpact investing more widely, contributing to a larger shift in the investment landscape.
    • Research, data, publications, cases studies and initiatives that help educate the general public by providing an accurate portrayal ESG (sustainable) investing and address misconceptions and skepticism surrounding sustainable investing.

Funding Information

• The anticipates final awards to be made starting October, 2023. Awards will range in size from $100,000 to $250,000.

What they are looking for?

• Innovative and potentially disruptive
• Have measurable social impact outcomes that are essential to the business model
• Directly meet the needs of or solve a critical issue for an underserved population
• Have strong leadership and a well-thought-out plan
• Scalable
• Early-stage but post-proof of concept: Seed – Series A+

Eligibility Criteria

• Submissions can be focused on the United States or globally and will be read by staff and board members over four rounds of analysis (initial evaluation, semi-finalists, finalists, awardees) and will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
  • Alignment of the proposed project with the foundation’s stated grant priorities
  • Potential to be a sustainable solution after grant funding has been used
  • Scale and reach potential including potential number of people impacted over the next five and ten years. The Foundation does consider pilots that could be a model for scale as long as those pilots include stated plans to disseminate lessons learned to the field.
  • Innovation and incorporation of lessons from the attempts of others to tackle similar problems in the past
  • Strength of partnerships and network within the industry to grow and expand
  • Strength and readiness of applicant organization and team
• Please note that the organization expects reporting on specific lines of work, but will provide funding in a format that empowers nonprofit leaders to allocate their funding as necessary to achieve desired outcomes.

For more information, visit Sorenson Impact Foundation.