A free curated library of innovations in impact investing terms and investment structures, available to entrepreneurs, investors and impact professionals
Impact Terms offers:
- a platform for newcomers to impact enterprises to learn and evaluate structures;
- a forum to build investor/investee consensus around “neutral” terms; and
- a platform for experts to share their innovations, best practices and experience.
Latest Content
CASE STUDY – Carried Interest by Verified Impact Calculations (CIVIC)
Introduction In a standard venture capital or private equity fund, the fund manager is entitled to 20% of the fund’s profits. This is known as the “carried interest.” The innovation…
Emergence of New Capital Providers – Exploring Alternatives to Traditional Expectations and Structures
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Capital Access Lab (CAL) is a national pilot initiative that aims to find, promote, and scale innovative investment managers who are providing new kinds of capital to…
Purposes, Priorities, and Accountability in Social Enterprises
This article is a summary based primarily on a chapter in Hybrid Ventures: Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth, Volume 19 titled “Purposes, Priorities, and Accountability Under Social Business…
Video: Alternative Term Sheets
Social Venture Circle hosted this interactive webinar on Alternative Term Sheets featuring Drew Tulchin (Upspring Associates), Lauren Grattan (Mission Driven Finance), and John Berger (Toniic). This session explores term sheets…
Why should US Foundations consider PRIs and Equity PRIs?
Authored by: John E. Tyler III; General Counsel, Secretary, and Chief Ethics Officer; Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Robert A. Wexler; Principal; Adler & Colvin Program Related Investments (PRIs) are a…
Program Related Investments (PRIs) for United States Foundations Overview
More and more wealthy families are interested in using their family assets, their private family foundations, and their donor-advised funds to do more than traditional grant making. They are looking instead…
Stakeholders vs. Shareholders
The terms shareholder and stakeholder can oftentimes be confused or improperly used interchangeably. Every business has shareholders and stakeholders, both of which are essential to the success of a business,…
Is ‘Place-based’ investing a crisis response strategy for Impact Investors?
From the Covid-19 public health crisis to its subsequent economic downturn and rising protests against racial inequality in the US, the past few months have ignited impact investors to review…
Catalytic Capital
In essence, catalytic capital is investment capital (debt, equity, guarantees, etc) with which the investor accepts reduced financial expectations in order to bring about a greater social or environmental impact. …
Re-Thinking Corporate Governance in the context of COVID-19 and crisis bailouts
This article and all the articles tagged Tactics or Ideas are opinion articles and therefore only reflect the view of the author. Corporate governance is the framework of rules and…
Covid 19 is a lesson in why alternative investment structures are needed
This article and all the articles tagged Tactics or Ideas are opinion articles and therefore only reflect the view of the author. Covid-19 is teaching us many lessons that take…
Social Enterprise
A social enterprise is typically understood to be a for-profit business or a business within a non-profit organization that has a specific social or environmental mission included in the business…
Stock Transfer Restrictions
Investors and founders may agree to restrictions preventing the transfer of shares to buyers deemed not to be aligned with the company’s mission. This provision goes beyond the traditional right…
Impact Oversight
The company’s board of directors can empower a committee or director to oversee mission-related decisions. But there are limits to a board’s ability to delegate its authority, so oversight clauses…
Protecting Voting Rights
Investor preferred stock generally requires that the company secure the approval of the preferred stockholders to take certain actions. The parties could agree to expand the traditional list of approval…
Including “Use of Proceeds” Language
When the company and investors agree that the investment serves a defined social or environmental purpose and earmarks proceeds, in whole or in part, for that purpose, including in a…
Drag-Along Rights
Conventionally, drag-along rights are used to facilitate the sale of companies. With conventional drag-along provisions, shareholders agree in advance that they will vote in favor of a sale transaction that…
Traditional Exit Strategies for Social Enterprises
An “exit” is one of the methods an equity investor uses to get a return on investment. Companies should consider exit strategies at an early stage of the company lifecycle,…
