New York, United States

Acumen is a venture philanthropy organization that invests in visionary entrepreneurs building transformational companies from seed to scale. They focus on funding bold entrepreneurs who are creating inclusive solutions across sectors like sustainable agriculture, quality education, renewable energy, healthy communities, dignified jobs, and gender equality. Their mission is to break the cycle of poverty through patient capital investments in high-innovation, high-impact enterprises. They operate by deploying philanthropic capital to shape markets and support entrepreneurs who are addressing the world's toughest poverty-related challenges, investing where traditional funders won't. Acumen Ventures has established itself as a significant force in the impact investing ecosystem since 2001, with an A to Z directory of portfolio companies spanning over two decades. They matter because they've reinvented the rules of return, prioritizing impact alongside financial sustainability and helping to demonstrate that venture philanthropy can drive meaningful systemic change in underserved communities globally.

Amalgamated Bank was founded in 1923 by labor organizer Sidney Hillman and leaders of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America with a mission to provide hardworking individuals and their families the same access to quality and affordable banking services that big businesses and wealthy people enjoyed. This founding principle that the financial system should be open and accessible to all remains central to the bank's operations today. The bank aligns finances with values and helps customers create meaningful change for a better world. Amalgamated Bank offers socially responsible investing options, including fossil fuel-free portfolios, and integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainability values as a key component of its culture. The bank serves nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, unions, political organizations, and sustainable organizations, providing commercial lending, social impact lending, and institutional investing services designed to help clients' bottom line while creating lasting change.

Bloomberg Philanthropies is the philanthropic organization of Michael Bloomberg, focused on improving lives at scale across the globe. The foundation works across more than 150 countries, supporting initiatives in public health, climate, education, government innovation, and the arts. Its approach combines data-driven decision-making with deep partnerships across governments, nonprofits, and institutions. Bloomberg Philanthropies is known for backing large-scale, measurable programs that aim to deliver systemic change and improve outcomes for millions of people worldwide.

Climate Collective is a leading innovation network that specializes in putting digital technologies to work for climate and nature at scale. They focus on connecting AI and digital tools with environmental impact, running innovation programs and building AI fluency across climate and nature nonprofits. The organization operates by connecting innovators, nonprofits, and global leaders to turn technology into lasting climate and nature impact. They accomplish this through running innovation programs, building AI fluency across climate and nature organizations, and convening sustainability leaders and technologists to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing. Climate Collective plays a crucial role in the ecosystem by bridging the gap between technology innovation and environmental impact. Their flagship AI Explorers Summit brings together 100 leaders annually and is co-hosted by major organizations like Conservation International, UNDP, and TechChange, demonstrating their significant influence in shaping how AI is responsibly deployed for climate and nature solutions.

Closed Loop Partners is a leading investment firm dedicated to accelerating the transition to a circular economy. The firm innovates, invests, and operates to build the circular economy, focusing on optimizing supply chains, advancing natural resource efficiency, and driving economic value. With over a decade of experience, Closed Loop Partners has kept over $7.5 billion worth of materials in circulation through their investments and engaged with more than 50 corporations across the firm. The firm is comprised of three key business segments: Closed Loop Capital Management (their investment group managing venture capital, private equity, and catalytic capital & private credit strategies), the Closed Loop Center for the Circular Economy (an innovation center helping businesses solve material challenges), and Closed Loop Builders (an operating group that incubates, builds, and scales circular economy infrastructure and solutions across the U.S.). Based in New York, their team includes former industry CEOs, CFOs, senior executives of government agencies, and fund managers with an average of 20+ years of operational and investment experience.

Collaborative Fund is a leading venture capital firm established in 2010 that backs entrepreneurs pushing the world forward. The fund operates at the intersection of for-profit and for-good, supporting companies across five main sectors: Consumer, AI, Money, Health, and Energy. Their portfolio includes notable companies like Lyft, Reddit, Sweetgreen, Impossible Foods, and Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The firm focuses on identifying and supporting businesses that combine financial returns with positive social and environmental impact, investing in category-defining brands and transformative technologies that address major challenges facing society.

Corbin Capital Partners is a client-centric hedge fund that was founded with the vision of creating a better alternative to traditional hedge fund options. The firm takes an active and opportunistic investment approach that differs from primary competitors by focusing on delivering unrivaled results rather than simply serving as a diversification tool or following distribution trends. The company structures concentrated portfolios of managers to deliver idiosyncratic risk and consistently stronger returns than most competitors. Led by CEO Tracy Stuart, CFA, Corbin Capital Partners maintains that if they cannot deliver consistently superior performance, they shouldn't be in business, reflecting their commitment to meaningful client impact through results-driven investment management.

Energy Impact Partners is a global investment platform that brings together entrepreneurs, institutional investors, and leading energy, industrial, and infrastructure companies to accelerate the transition toward a cleaner, more resilient economy. The firm invests in innovative companies developing technologies across energy, climate, electrification, infrastructure, cybersecurity, mobility, and industrial transformation. Energy Impact Partners leverages its extensive network of strategic corporate partners to help portfolio companies scale faster, secure customers, validate products, and drive real-world deployment of transformative technologies.

Ford Foundation is one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations, focused on advancing social justice, reducing inequality, strengthening democratic values, and expanding human dignity globally. Founded in 1936, the foundation supports nonprofits, movements, institutions, artists, researchers, and community leaders working to address systemic social, political, and economic challenges. The Ford Foundation operates across multiple regions worldwide and funds initiatives spanning democracy, racial justice, economic inclusion, technology and society, gender equity, arts and culture, journalism, and human rights.

The KPMG Foundation is a US education-focused philanthropic organization that invests in programs expanding access to learning, skills, and opportunity. It supports nonprofit partners working on education equity and workforce readiness, aligning corporate philanthropy with long-term human-capital outcomes.

LISC — Local Initiatives Support Corporation — is a national nonprofit community development financial institution that finances affordable housing and broader neighborhood revitalization. It was created in December 1979 from a Ford Foundation initiative and formally announced in May 1980 with a $10 million pool from Ford and corporate partners including Aetna, Atlantic Richfield, Continental Illinois Bank, International Harvester, Levi Strauss, and Prudential. National headquarters are at 28 Liberty Street, Floor 34, New York, NY 10005. Michael T. Pugh became president and chief executive in October 2023 after leading Carver Federal Savings Bank and holding senior roles at Capital One and Citizens. LISC’s public results board reports $1.8 billion in grants, $7 billion in loans, and $29 billion in equity, for $38 billion total investment since 1979 that it says has leveraged about $102 billion in total development. The organization works through local offices in dozens of cities and across more than 2,000 rural counties. Program areas sit on a housing foundation and extend into small business, health, education, public safety, and community facilities. Lending covers predevelopment through permanent financing for multifamily rental, affordable for-sale, and mixed-use projects. Corporate and philanthropic partnership inquiries go to development@lisc.org. Press contacts use press@lisc.org. Affiliates extend the capital stack. National Equity Fund (NEF) is LISC’s LIHTC syndication affiliate. LISC Fund Management runs city and regional housing opportunity funds, including structures in Charlotte and Cleveland that blend public subsidy, bank capital, and mission debt. Broadstreet and other affiliates appear on the national site as part of the investor bridge into under-resourced markets. LISC is both a direct lender and grantmaker and a platform that brings national capital to local community development corporations and mission developers. For Causeartist’s affordable-housing shortlist, LISC is the national CDFI with the deepest local-office network and the parent of NEF’s tax-credit platform. It is not a venture firm. Capital is debt, grants, and tax-credit equity aimed at real estate and community projects.

The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) is a nonprofit community development financial institution that raises and structures capital for projects mainstream banks will not fully serve. It began in 1984 as the Low Income Housing Fund. Headquarters are at 49 Stevenson Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94105, with regional offices in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Daniel A. Nissenbaum is chief executive officer. Kimberly Latimer-Nelligan is president. Maygen Moore is senior vice president and chief lending officer. Reymundo Ocañas of PNC Bank chairs the board. LIIF’s public impact scorecard, from the 2025 impact report, is $3.9 billion invested and 2.6 million people served. Affordable housing has been the core book since founding, with more than 108,000 units produced or preserved. The organization also finances early care and education and community facilities such as charter schools, nonprofit space, and health centers. It has set a 2020–2030 goal of $5 billion in community investments and reported 77 percent of that goal as of 30 June 2025. Fiscal 2025 audited figures show total assets of $797 million, notes receivable of $616 million, and total net assets of $222 million. The year closed 65 loans. Lending tools include acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, and green retrofit financing for affordable homeownership and multifamily rental, plus New Markets Tax Credits and Low Income Housing Tax Credit activity through related channels. An FY25 project spotlight describes a $2.75 million, eight-year Brighter Futures Fund loan paired with NMTC for a New Orleans early care center co-located with affordable housing, supported with Goldman Sachs. ECE work includes more than $660 million invested and about 430,000 child care program spaces created, preserved, or enhanced. LIIF presents itself as catalytic and higher-risk than banks, willing to do smaller or earlier loans and to work in markets banks skip. Supporters named in the 2025 report include banks, foundations, and public agencies such as Goldman Sachs Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, MacKenzie Scott, the CDFI Fund, and Wells Fargo. The organization is a lender and fund manager for mission sponsors, not a venture equity firm.

Mastercard Impact Fund is the charitable fund Mastercard established in 2018 with an initial $500 million commitment following U.S. tax reform. It finances philanthropic programs that advance inclusive growth. The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth describes and helps activate the portfolio, but the Center is the company's social-impact hub and thought-leadership platform; it is not an interchangeable legal or canonical name for the Fund. The current official Fund page reports $432 million “at work” in 104 countries. That is an organization-reported deployment description, not current AUM, independently audited beneficiary impact or proof that the full original commitment has been disbursed as grants. The portfolio works through large nonprofit, research, financial-inclusion and implementation partners on financial health, small-business resilience, data and technology for good and economic mobility. The Fund does not present a general public grant application or a broadly applicable cheque range. Programs such as Mastercard Strive are delivered through selected global and regional partners and may create downstream opportunities for small businesses or local organizations, but participation in those programs is not the same as receiving a direct Impact Fund grant. This profile therefore leaves application and cheque fields empty.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the largest philanthropic organization in the United States dedicated to supporting the arts, humanities, and higher education. Founded in 1969, the foundation funds institutions, artists, scholars, cultural organizations, and public initiatives that strengthen civic life, preserve cultural memory, and expand access to humanistic knowledge and creative expression. The foundation supports projects that advance social justice, public storytelling, historical understanding, cultural preservation, higher education innovation, and community-centered arts and humanities initiatives.

Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) is a national Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides flexible financing, consulting, advocacy, and financial tools to help nonprofits build long-term financial resilience. Founded in 1980, NFF partners with nonprofit organizations, foundations, government agencies, and impact investors to strengthen communities through mission-aligned capital and financial expertise. NFF combines lending with strategic consulting, research, and sector advocacy to improve how nonprofits are financed. Its work spans affordable housing, education, healthcare, arts and culture, community development, climate resilience, and other mission-driven sectors across the United States.

Praxis is a global venture-building ecosystem supporting entrepreneurs, nonprofits, investors, and culture makers motivated by faith to address major social and cultural challenges. Through accelerators, fellowships, mentorship, and community-building programs, Praxis helps founders build “redemptive ventures” focused on renewal, restoration, and long-term societal impact. The organization supports both for-profit and nonprofit ventures across sectors including education, healthcare, technology, community development, social innovation, and ethical entrepreneurship.

The PwC Charitable Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity driven by the people and values of PwC, striving to build resilient, equitable, and enduring communities. The foundation focuses on unlocking potential and accelerating paths to opportunity through strategic investments and collaborations. Since 2001, the foundation has distributed significant funding across three core focus areas: supporting PwC people ($10 million), education initiatives ($220 million), and humanitarian efforts ($50 million). The foundation invests in innovative work and collaborates with transformative organizations to create more inclusive pathways to education and career opportunities, while also advancing preparedness and recovery capabilities to strengthen communities facing humanitarian crises.

The Rockefeller Foundation is one of the world’s largest and most influential philanthropic organizations, focused on advancing human well-being through large-scale investments in energy access, food systems, health, economic opportunity, climate resilience, and emerging technologies. Founded in 1913, the foundation partners with governments, nonprofits, corporations, and local communities to tackle systemic global challenges through innovative finance, data, and technology-driven solutions. The foundation is known for making ambitious “big bets” aimed at improving the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, particularly in underserved and economically vulnerable communities.

Siegel Family Endowment is a philanthropic foundation focused on understanding and shaping the impact of technology on society. Founded by David Siegel, the organization funds research, nonprofits, civic initiatives, and community-driven innovation at the intersections of learning, work, infrastructure, and emerging technology. Using an inquiry-driven grantmaking approach inspired by the scientific method, Siegel Family Endowment supports organizations and researchers exploring how technology can strengthen equity, opportunity, and public-interest outcomes in rapidly changing social and economic systems.

Third Derivative is a global climate tech ecosystem founded by RMI and New Energy Nexus in December 2020. The organization builds an inclusive, collaborative platform that rapidly finds, funds, and scales climate tech innovation while transforming markets. Through a vast network of deep experts, corporate partners, and investors, Third Derivative accelerates the commercialization path for climate tech startups tackling emissions challenges across all sectors. The organization launched with 46 companies, the largest cohort of climate tech companies in the world at the time. Third Derivative bridges finance and resource gaps through its flexible, highly curated accelerator programs that enable startups to focus on their unique needs and opportunities, helping them go to market faster with breakthrough innovations.

The UNICEF Venture Fund is UNICEF’s innovation investment vehicle that provides equity-free funding and support to early-stage frontier technology startups in emerging markets. The fund invests in open source solutions that have the potential to improve outcomes for children and young people globally. Focused on technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, climate technology, digital public infrastructure, data systems, and emerging technologies, the fund backs entrepreneurs building scalable solutions in countries where UNICEF operates. Beyond funding, portfolio companies receive mentorship, technical assistance, and access to UNICEF’s global network of partners, experts, and country offices. A core differentiator of the UNICEF Venture Fund is its commitment to open source technology and Digital Public Goods, ensuring that innovations can be adapted, reused, and scaled to benefit communities worldwide. Since launching, the fund has supported startups across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and other emerging technology ecosystems.

William T. Grant Foundation is a philanthropic foundation dedicated to supporting research that improves the lives of young people in the United States. The foundation funds rigorous studies focused on reducing inequality in youth outcomes and improving the use of research evidence in public policy, education, social services, and youth-serving systems. Through research grants, scholar programs, institutional partnerships, and capacity-building initiatives, the foundation helps generate evidence that can inform policies and practices affecting young people ages 5 to 25.