Financial Activists Shift the Flow of Capital

Integrated Capital Institute seeds a growing movement to create an inclusive, climate-smart economy.

“What would you do with $100 million?”

That is the question — or challenge, really — posed to Integrated Capital Institute fellows embarking on their Creative Capital Project.

A few of them are already directing the impact of $100 million, and some of them will leverage more than $100 million one day. They all know there is no lack of solutions to the systemic problems confronting us — but there is a lack of financial and social capital flowing to the best ideas and the greatest needs.

Seeking to turn that deficit into abundance, RSF Social Finance launched the Integrated Capital Institute in 2017. We put out a call for advisors, investors, and community leaders who wanted to be at the forefront of fundamentally rethinking the purpose of wealth. We created a program that teaches fellows how to apply an integrated capital approach (the coordinated use of diverse financial and social capital) to solve complex problems, confront myths about money, and collaborate across a diverse network of leaders. And we invited them to join us in pursuing a simple yet radical goal: creating an economy that works for all people and the planet.

Two years later, it’s clear that the fellows — 46 so far, and another 28 starting the program this fall — are active participants in moving capital to solve systemic problems. Their answers to the $100 million question are varied but universally ambitious and creative, with a strong focus on environmental justice and climate solutions, bringing resources to underserved communities, and addressing the racial wealth divide.

The fellows, two-thirds of them women and diverse in age, ethnicity, geography, and economic background, are learning from each other across divides and collaborating in ways they haven’t before. They’re quickly putting ideas into action. And we’re already seeing the ripple effects.

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