Impact Capital Managers (ICM) is an investment advisory firm that advises its member funds on “impact investing” in environmental and other left-of-center projects. It is a project of the left-of-center Crane Institute of Sustainability (CIS). ^{1 2}

ICM is part of the Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) along with more than 200 endowments, foundations, investment managers, and nonprofits that support environmentalist initiatives and other left-progressive economic and racial causes. ³

Background

Impact Capital Managers connects its member funds to highlight and promote investment opportunities and share best practices, advocates for members via policy initiatives, and conducts research and education designed to advance environmental and social investment. ⁴

ICM is a project of the Crane Institute of Sustainability (CIS), a left-of-center organization that promotes the Environment, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) agenda, designed to allocate private capital and reform corporate activities in ways that support left-of-center causes. CIS was an associate partner of left-wing group Global Citizen, which supports left-progressive environmental and racial causes, in creating the “Time to Just Vote” campaign. Crane also coordinates the Intentional Endowments Network, a group of college and university endowments focused on social impact investing. ^{5 6}

Activities

Impact Capital Managers published Legal Innovation in Impact Investing, which examines how investors have responded to COVID-19 and how that response impacted the effort to advance racially equal outcomes. ⁷

ICM launched a nonprofit in 2019 under that administers ICM’s Mosaic Fellowship program, research and education programs, and the promotion of collaborations and relationships designed to build a larger community of investors in social impact organizations. The organization reported revenue of $293,468, expenses of $153,658 and net assets of $139,810 in 2020. ^{8 9}

ICM’s 2022 annual meeting focused on the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) movement, removing obstacles to creating impact from investments, and the effect of the Inflation Reduction Act on investing. ¹⁰

Members and Partners

Impact Capital Managers’ members include organizations such as Bain Capital Double Impact, Citi Group, KKR Global Impact, RETHINK Food, Social Impact Capital, Investco, Clean Energy Ventures, and the Avesta Fund. ¹¹

Partners of ICM include the Ford Foundation, Surdna Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Harvard Business School, Liquidnet, Duke Fuqua’s Case i3 Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, and the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. ¹²

Collaborations

Impact Capital Managers is a part of the Intentional Endowments Network (IEN), another fiscally sponsored project of Crane Institute of Sustainability (CIS), along with over 200 other endowments, foundations, investment consultants and mangers, nonprofits advancing environmentalist initiatives and racially and economic equal outcomes. Partners of the network include Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, a United Nations-backed organization that seeks net-zero greenhouse gas emissions; Principles for Responsible Investment, which joined with the United Nations to form NZOA; and CERES, a nonprofit seeking man-made solutions to climate change. ¹³

Leadership

Marieke Spence is Impact Capital Managers’ executive director and is the former director of the Global Philanthropist Circle, a peer-learning group of more than 400 philanthropists, and social investors and a senior consultant at TCC Group, a social impact consulting firm. ¹⁴

Brian Trelstad, a partner at Bridges Fund Management, is ICM board chair and chief investment officer of Acumen, a founding board member of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, and senior lecturer in business administration at Harvard Business School. ¹⁵

1. “About.” Impact Capital Managers. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://www.impactcapitalmanagers.com/about-us.
2. “What We Do.” Crane Institute of Sustainability, October 26, 2018. https://cranesustainability.wordpress.com/what-we-do/.
3. “Ien’s Partners.” Intentional Endowments Network. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.intentionalendowments.org/partners.
4. “About.” Impact Capital Managers. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://www.impactcapitalmanagers.com/about-us.
5. “What We Do.” The Crane Institute of Sustainability, October 26, 2018. https://cranesustainability.wordpress.com/what-we-do/.
6. “We Take Action To.” Global Citizen. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/.
7. “ICM Research.” Impact Capital Managers. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.impactcapitalmanagers.com/research.
8. “Impact Capital Managers.” Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, Form 990, Part I, Lines 12, 18, 21
9. “Impact Capital Managers Institute Inc.” Impact Capital Managers Institute Inc – GuideStar Profile. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/83-2945292.
10. “Events.” Impact Capital Managers. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.impactcapitalmanagers.com/events-icm.
11. “Impact Capital Managers.” Impact Capital Managers. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://www.impactcapitalmanagers.com/.
12. “Impact Capital Managers.” Impact Capital Managers. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.impactcapitalmanagers.com/.
13. “IEN’s Partners.” Intentional Endowments Network. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.intentionalendowments.org/partners.
14. “Marieke Bio.” Impact Capital Managers. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.impactcapitalmanagers.com/marieke-bio.
15. “Brian L. Trelstad.” Harvard Business School. Accessed November 9, 2022. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=1132519.