RSF Social Finance Selects Inaugural Cohort of Integrated Capital Fellows

A diverse group of financial activists will lead and learn in kicking off new program teaching powerful strategies to leverage capital as a tool for long-term change.

San Francisco—RSF Social Finance has selected 24 insightful, highly accomplished financial professionals for its inaugural Integrated Capital Fellowship, an intensive program designed to provide the education and strategies practitioners need to help values-driven philanthropists and investors deploy capital for lasting social and environmental benefit.

“We’re very excited about our first cohort of fellows. It’s an extraordinary group of financial activists,” said Deb Nelson, RSF’s vice president, client and community engagement. “RSF initially planned to accept only 15 fellows,” she added, “but the number and quality of applications were so strong, we stretched to accommodate more.”

Program builds new skills, strategies, networks

Fellows will learn to apply RSF’s integrated capital approach: the coordinated use of diverse forms of capital (including loans, loan guarantees, investments, and grants), network connections and advisory services to support enterprises that are solving complex social and environmental problems. They will also build a network of people who are fundamentally rethinking the purpose of wealth.

“There is an urgent need to bring values, meaning and purpose to the forefront in the use of wealth,” said faculty member Joel Solomon, chair and co-founder of Renewal Funds and author of The Clean Money Revolution. “The purpose of accumulated money must be the long-term well-being of the world. New models are essential. New skills must be developed. Most of all, a new ethic, with new leadership, is crucial—and these first fellows are an outstanding mix of established and emerging leaders who have the potential to move billions of dollars toward high-leverage social change.”

Fellowship is the first to teach integrated capital

The fellowship is the first program for financial practitioners who want to focus on integrated capital. RSF has modeled this approach for over 30 years and recently expanded its tool kit with a new series of collaboratives—themed philanthropic funds supporting innovative social enterprises. Active funds include the Biodynamics Capital Collaborative, Fair Trade Capital Collaborative, Local Food Capital Collaborative, Soil Health Capital Collaborative, and Women’s Capital Collaborative.

The program begins October 1st with a three-day intensive session at Essex Woods Retreat Center near Boston. Other intensives will take place at Paicines Ranch in Paicines, California, and Hollyhock Centre on Cortes Island, British Columbia.

“The purpose of accumulated money must be the long-term well-being of the world. New models are essential. New skills must be developed.”

In addition to Solomon, faculty members include Marian Moore, producer and lead facilitator of Play BIG and Lead with Land; and Akaya Windwood, president of the Rockwood Leadership Institute. Fellows also will receive one-on-one advising from Dana Bezerra of the Heron Foundation, Dawn McGee of Good Works Ventures, and Esther Park of Cienega Capital.

Faculty members will be working with a group that is both personally and professionally diverse. More than two-thirds of the fellows are women and 42 percent are people of color. They live in communities across the U.S., have expertise in a variety of financial sectors, and currently work at impact investment firms, foundations, and other organizations working at the intersection of finance and social change

2017–2018 RSF Integrated Capital Fellows

Ann Whittemore, Highlands Associates
Anthony Jewett, Movement Strategy Center
Bill Stoddart, NorthFork Financial
Celina Adams, Celina Adams Consulting
Chris Kabel, The Kresge Foundation
Ingrid Benedict, Daphne Foundation
Jennifer Astone, Swift Foundation
Jessica Norwood, The Runway Project
Joshua Peterson, USAA
Kate Danaher, RSF Social Finance
Kate Poole, Regenerative Finance
Lora Smith, PhilCap Fund (Philanthropic Capital Fund for Southeast Kentucky)
Lynne Hoey, RSF Social Finance
Mary Abad, Living Economy Advisors and Pacific Premier Bank
Nina Robinson, ICA Fund Good Jobs
Nita Shah, Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon
Nwamaka Agbo, Movement Strategy Center
Rini Banerjee, formerly with Foundation for a Just Society
Robin Bot-Miller, Center for Land-Based Learning
Ryan Marie Decker, New Mexico Impact Investing Collaborative and Santa Fe Community Foundation
Sharon Olson, Olson Wealth Group
Stephanie Randolph, Cassiopeia Foundation
Tiffany Brown, Fresh Pond Capital
Y. Elaine Rasmussen, Social Impact Strategies Group

Press contact

Sarah Grolnic-McClurg, Thinkshift Communications
sarah@thinkshiftcom.com
510.898.1837