Making impact investing easy, rewarding, and possible for everyone

Impact investing is complicated. How do you balance impact and investment returns, local vs. global impact, 17 Sustainable Development Goals, debt, equity, and revenue-sharing? All while deciding whether to invest from your savings, your family office, or your foundation or donor-advised fund?

Realize Impact is here to help make impact investing easy. We know how to make impact investments, create impact, and then harvest the investment returns. What we are looking for are your recommendations for impactful investments, and the capital to make those investments.

All it takes are three simple steps:

1.

Make a grant from your donor-advised fund, foundation, or your own funds, recommending an impact investment

2.

Realize Impact does the diligence, reviews the terms, and makes the debt, equity or revenue-based investment.

3.

We donate 99% of the investment returns to your recommended DAF, foundation or other 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Or in other words, you do the easy parts and we’ll do the complicated parts. When you find a good impact investment, tell us about it. We’ll spread the word so that others can join in too, helping catalyze your capital into yet more impact. Later, if the investment turns out to be fruitful, we’ll put almost all of those returns into a donor-advised fund, foundation, or charity, so it can do even more good for the world,–or give us a new suggestion and we’ll invest that capital again and again and again.

We do this for one low flat fee:

$500

$500 for investments
of $10,000 or more.

$0

* There is no fee for investments under $10,000, but the investment returns will not be re-donated.

Philanthropic Investment Grant

See the details on the Philanthropic Investment Grant or fill out our PHIG Recommendation form to get started.

See the FAQ to answer the most frequently asked questions about this service.

And yes, the service is as simple as it sounds, by design.

Latest stories

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We’re delighted to share that award-winning actor Liev Schreiber is narrating the forthcoming documentary film, The Quiet Village, that Realize Impact invested in last year with investor-donor support. Not only is this film highly relevant and impactful, but Liev’s involvement has personal significance for me. The Quiet Village, the latest of numerous films by Ashton Gleckman, is a...

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With investor-donor support from the Echo Fund, Realize Impact invested $1 million in February 2023 in The Nook at Northaven, a workforce housing development in North Seattle. Yesterday, our Executive Director Matt Eldridge (second from left) had the opportunity to visit the opening of this 89-unit apartment building along with Ben Klasky of Seismic Philanthropy, and Greg, Emma and Val Gorder...

Can a for-profit entity be fiscally sponsored?

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We’re often asked if the IRS allows for-profit companies to be fiscally sponsored. The short answer is: “Yes, under certain conditions.” The slightly longer answer is that the IRS allows a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to fiscally sponsor specific activities carried out even by a for-profit entity, provided that they are sufficiently charitable in nature and align with the 501(c)(3)...

Welcome new IC and board members!

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We at Realize Impact could hardly be more thrilled to welcome no fewer than eight new Investment Committee members and two new members of our board of directors. These exceptional humans bring an extraordinary depth and breadth of relevant expertise, passion and commitment to our mission. Welcome aboard: Dean Blackman, Ellen Fish, Anya Freedman, Magda Guillen Swanson, Jim Huston, Elizabeth...

Realize Impact featured in the “Investing in Impact” podcast

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We are grateful to Grant Trahant of Causeartist for the opportunity to chat in this latest episode of the “Investing in Impact” podcast. It’s always a delight to share how we at Realize Impact are working to accelerate the movement of capital from donor-advised funds (#DAFs) into impactful startups and funds.

Audited financials 2022-2023

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We’re delighted to share the results of our audit: at this link. This clean audit report represents our first external financial audit, covering 2022-2023. While auditors routinely identify areas for focused examination during their planning (in our case: revenue recognition and disbursement processes), their review found no issues. The audit confirms our strong financial position and...

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We are excited to announce that Realize Impact is fiscally sponsoring two Musa Capital projects: The Musa Impact project is a mission-driven initiative dedicated to providing venture capital, mentorship, and resources to BIPOC and women entrepreneurs who face systemic barriers to funding. By empowering these founders, the project aims to promote diversity, drive economic empowerment, and generate...

Fiscally Sponsoring: Cecil’s Place Sober Living

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Cecil’s Place Sober Living runs on the mission to provide a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment for individuals in recovery from Substance Use Disorder (SUD), particularly Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), in northern New England. The organization is committed to empowering their residents on their journey to lasting sobriety and personal growth. The Recovery Housing Scholarship Program will...

Fiscally Sponsoring: Inkludo Impact Foundation

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Inkludo seeks to support social enterprises in underserved communities by providing two services: 1) access to financing and 2) non-financial support and ecosystem building. The organization’s goal is to help impact-focused enterprises that are solving social and environmental challenges access capital easily and grow sustainably. Inkludo seeks to serve marginalized communities, specifically...

Circe Bioscience

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Circe Bioscience is focused on developing a manufacturing platform that utilizes carbon dioxide, water, and electricity. Circe’s initial focus is on making triglycerides (fats, butters, and oils essential in foods, chemicals, and fuels). Their combination of gas fermentation technology and sophisticated genetic engineering produces nature-identical chemicals at scale more cheaply than traditional...