What can a few dozen Microsoft alumni do over a weekend to help end the pandemic? They can and did create a website to track where residents of Washington State can schedule their vaccine appointments, www.COVIDWA.com From their FAQ: We are a rapidly-growing volunteer group with over 70 members from WA State and around the world. We were frustrated at how long it took to try each vaccination...
February 2020, just before the pandemic was daily news, Realize Impact launched it’s philanthropic investment service. At the time we had just one signed partner, Seattle Foundation. In February we quietly launched, informing just a few people in the impact investing industry. By June, over $1.1 million of capital had flowed through the service from a few dozen donor/investors into five...
Ada Developers Academy and Community Credit Lab partnered to focus on increasing equity in tech. Ada Developers Academy is a non-profit, tuition-free coding school for women and gender diverse adults. Ada focuses on serving low income people, underrepresented minorities, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community in Seattle and the surrounding region. Community Credit Lab provides community-funded, 0%...
The 86Fund is an emergency fund that aids independent restaurants—with priority given to those owned by women and minorities—facing unprecedented hardship during the global pandemic. Support Restaurants According to Yelp, as reported in ReBusinessonline in September, 61 percent of San Francisco restaurants that closed due to COVID will not reopen. A gift through the 86Fund will provide vital...
In addition to our off-the-shelf service that lets anyone turn philanthropic capital into an impact investment, this year Realize Impact now also operates three philanthropic investment funds for three partners. The Decarbon8-US fund is for those who believe in the power of entrepreneurship and technology and wonder what more they can do to mitigate climate change. Created in partnership...
Back in May, at the start of the pandemic, the U.S. SBA rolled out the Paycheck Protection Program (a.k.a. the PPP). It was big news. What we also learned then was that most of this money wasn’t going into the hands of the small, Main Street businesses due to a host of systemic issues. One unspoken issue was that lenders could only lend the money they had in their reserves. The government...
Denkyem provides access to affordable loans for black-owned businesses in the Puget Sound region (a.k.a. the Seattle Metropolitan Area). The loan terms are simple and unique: This is a black-owned business serving black-owned businesses, started in partnership with one of Seattle’s most active early-stage investors: Realize Impact provided a recoverable grant to Denkyem, providing them some...
Three months ago Realize Impact lent $105,804 to the Colorado Lending Source to provide them capital for the SBA’s Payroll Protection Plan loans (the “PPP”). Late last month, we were paid back, with interest. You’ve most likely read about the PPP loans in the news. This is a fund to make those loans possible to more Main Street businesses. What the news stories...
Realize Impact launched its Philanthropic Investment Grant service in the last few days of February, 2020. The purpose was to make it easy for anyone with a donor advised fund, private foundation, or any donor to turn philanthropic giving into impact investments. $1,100,000+ Donors love that simplicity. In its first three months, over $1,100,000 of new impact investments have been made, into five...
The coronavirus pandemic brings more than a healthcare crisis to Africa, it brings disruptions to the food supply chain that will likely cause widespread hunger and starvation. The food system is already far from ideal, with (at least) 40% of that food never being eaten due to post-harvest losses (Rockefeller Foundation studies). Adding to these issues are the friction of closed borders...