The United States Impact Investing Alliance is a left-of-center coalition that advocates for environmental, social, governance activism (ESG) with funding from major left-leaning foundations. The alliance is a project of the New Venture Fund (NVF), a major pass-through funder and fiscal sponsor in the multi-billion-dollar “dark money” network run by the consulting firm Arabella Advisors. ¹ It was originally incubated in 2016 by the Ford Foundation, one of the organization’s largest donors. ²

Advocacy

The alliance advocates for inclusion of climate change as a factor in financial institutions and lenders’ risk assessment. In June 2022, the alliance submitted comments in support of a proposed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) regulation establishing “principles for management of climate-related financial risks” affecting capital markets and “low- to moderate-income communities” in the United States. ³

In June 2021, the alliance submitted a comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) supporting proposed “mandatory climate and environmental, social[,] and governance (“ESG”) disclosures” by publicly traded companies. It added: ⁴

. . . the Alliance urges the commission to institute a comprehensive ESG disclosure framework that reflects the intersectionality of issues like climate change, wealth inequality, environmental racism and other major threats to the U.S. economy.

. . . The Commission should move to adopt rules-based mandatory disclosures of key ESG factors for all corporations subject to reporting requirements.

The alliance also supports creation of a Sustainability Standards Board to create a “climate-first” approach to investment disclosure through the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS Foundation), a U.K.-based nonprofit that helps to establish international financial reporting standards. ⁵

The alliance publishes ESG policy recommendations in high-profile outlets tailored to investors such as Forbes, Barron’s, and ImpactAlpha. In 2020 it boasted that the alliance “shared [its] policy recommendations directly with the Biden Administration, federal regulators and members of Congress to help build and shape an agenda for the next two years of policymaking.” ⁶

In December 2020 the alliance posted a list of recommendations to the Biden-Harris Transition entitled, “Build Back Better: A Proposal for a White House Initiative on Inclusive Economic Growth, Staffed at the NEC, to Advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities on Economic Recovery, Climate, and Racial Equity.” The alliance sought President Biden to enact investment disclosure rules focused on “worker voice, pay, safety, and racial and gender inclusion” in the Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Small Business Association. ⁷

Leadership

President and Advisory Board

Fran Seegull has been president of the Impact Investing Alliance since 2016, when the organization was incubated by the Ford Foundation. Prior to that, she was chief investment officer for ImpactAssets, a donor-advised fund provider focused on left-of-center causes that was created in conjunction with the Rockefeller Foundation, and an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at the USC Marshall School of Business. ⁸

The Impact Investing Alliance’s advisory board consists of a number of left-of-center activists representing foundations and investment companies.

Darren Walker (board chair) is president of the Ford Foundation, one of the Left’s largest grantmaking foundations.

Tracy Palandjian (vice chair) is CEO and co-founder of Social Finance, which promotes investment in left-of-center causes.

Afsaneh Beschloss is CEO of the investment firm RockCreek.

Audrey Choi is chief sustainability officer and chief marketing officer for Morgan Stanley.

Mike Kubzansky is CEO of the Omidyar Network, one of the grantmaking nonprofits Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Nexus.

Clara Miller is president emerita of the Heron Foundation.

John Palfrey is president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a major left-of-center grantmaking foundation.

Nancy Pfund is founder of the investment firm DBL Partners.

Jacob Pruitt is president of Fidelity Charitable, one of the largest donor-advised providers in the world.

Rip Rapson is president of the left-of-center Kresge Foundation.

Ian Simmons is co-founder of the investment firm Blue Haven Initiative.

James Lee “Jim” Sorenson is CEO of Sorenson Media, a company known for developing video compression formats.

Funding

Because the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance is a project of the New Venture Fund, it does not file Form 990 disclosures with the IRS. Instead, the group operates under New Venture Fund’s 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.

Known grants and donors to New Venture Fund for the alliance include:

• $262,594 from the Rockefeller Foundation in 2020-2021 ⁹
• $75,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 2018 ¹⁰
• $50,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in 2022 ¹¹
• $600,000 from the MacArthur Foundation in 2021-2024 ¹²
• $50,000 from the Sorenson Foundation in 2017 ¹³
• $70,000 from the Surdna Foundation in 2018 ¹⁴

1. MacArthur Foundation Grants to New Venture Fund Through 2022. Original URL: https://www.macfound.org/grantee/new-venture-fund-43535/. Archived: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2022/11/macarthur-foundation-grants-to-new-venture-fund-through-2022.pdf

   See 2021 grant to NVF for $600,000 to support the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance.

2. “Webinar: Introduction to Impact Investing.” Intentional Endowments Network. June 29, 2017. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. https://www.intentionalendowments.org/webinar_introduction_to_impact_investing
3. Comments submitted in support of FDIC proposed rule RIN 3064-ZA32. U.S. Impact Investing Alliance. June 1, 2022. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. https://www.fdic.gov/resources/regulations/federal-register-publications/2022/2022-statement-principles-climate-related-financial-risk-management-3064-za32-c-019.pdf
4. Comments submitted in support of SEC proposed rules on climate change disclosure. U.S. Impact Investing Alliance. June 14, 2021. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. https://www.sec.gov/comments/climate-disclosure/cll12-8916186-244978.pdf
5. Letter to IFRS Foundation Trustees on Sustainability Standards Board. Dec. 30, 2020. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/comment_letters/570/570_27707_FranSeegullUSImpactInvestingAlliance_0_USIIACommenttoIFRSFoundation.pdf
6. “2020 Impact Report: U.S. Impact Investing Alliance.” 17 Communications. 2020. P. 12. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. https://17c.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/17-Communications-2020-Impact-Report.pdf
7. “Build Back Better: A Proposal for a White House Initiative on Inclusive Economic Growth, Staffed at the NEC, to Advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities on Economic Recovery, Climate, and Racial Equity.” U.S. Impact Investing Alliance. Dec. 9, 2020. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. https://www.bettermarkets.org/sites/default/files/White%20House%20Initiative%20on%20Inclusive%20Economic%20Growth%20for%20Biden-Harris.pdf
8. LinkedIn Profile: Fran Seegull. Accessed Nov. 29, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/franseegull/
9. Grant to New Venture Fund. Rockefeller Foundation. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/grant/grant-new-venture-fund-2020-14/
10. Grant to New Venture Fund / U.S. Impact Investing Alliance. W.K. Kellogg Foundation. 2018. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. https://www.wkkf.org/grants/grant/2018/03/united-states-impact-investing-alliance-p0130986
11. Grant to New Venture Fund. Rockefeller Brothers Fund. 2022. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022. https://www.rbf.org/grantees/new-venture-fund
12. MacArthur Foundation Grants to New Venture Fund Through 2022. Original URL: https://www.macfound.org/grantee/new-venture-fund-43535/. Archived: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2022/11/macarthur-foundation-grants-to-new-venture-fund-through-2022.pdf
13. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Sorenson Foundation. 2017. Schedule I. https://www.grantmakers.io/profiles/v0/453203840-sorenson-impact-foundation/
14. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Surdna Foundation. 2017. Schedule I. https://surdna.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Surdna-2018-Form-990PF-signed-by-preparer.pdf