Greetings, Agents of Impact!
Welcome to this week’s ImpactAlpha LP/GP, where we take you inside the real business of impact investing and the dynamic relationships between owners, managers and intermediaries of impact capital.
In this week’s newsletter:
- The Russell Family Foundation’s catalytic climate investments
- Growth-stage equity for African businesses
- Debt-for-nature swaps in emerging markets
- Outperformance by managers of smaller funds
Featured: Impact LP
This family foundation is trying to ‘meet the moment’ with all of its $100 million in assets (podcast). The Russell Family Foundation is a regional small fry among the giant global pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds in the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, which represents more than $9 trillion in assets. Russell, based in Gig Harbor, Wash., accounts for only about $100 million of that total. “We can move a little bit faster,” TRFF’s Kathleen Simpson says on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact podcast. “We can be doing some of the modeling that can then, for more regulated funds, smooth the path.” The foundation is the legacy of Jane and George Russell, who sold their investment firm – famous for the Russell 2000 index – to Northwestern Mutual Life in 1999. With many corporations and asset managers, not to mention policy makers, in retreat from climate commitments, TRFF is strengthening its 2021 commitment to climate as its “north star.” “We are honest that the temperature rise will exceed two degrees Celsius, and that’s a clear signal that we need to keep pushing,” says Simpson. “Addressing climate as a key component of our work is really where we need to stay the course, and now is not the time to be shifting.”
- Catalytic climate finance. “We are activating every tool at our disposal – investments, grants, convenings and advocacy – to advance climate solutions that are both impactful and just,” Simpson writes with Sarah Cleveland, chair of Russell’s investment committee, in a progress report on the foundation’s climate journey. The foundation hopes to inspire other foundations and asset owners to take more risk and lean into climate commitments. Already TRFF has shifted 95% of its investment portfolio to mission-aligned investments. It has channeled investment capital to companies addressing its twin themes of decarbonization and nature-based solutions, alongside grants to local and community-based groups. And it has convened other asset owners around setting and achieving net-zero goals. “Philanthropy has tended to lead with grant making, particularly for climate, where grant allocations are directed toward driving solutions,” Simpson says. “We are flipping the script with Catalytic Climate Finance, leading with our investments and then supporting that with grant making.” Read Amy Cortese’s full piece.
- Carbon value of time. For the three years through 2027, the foundation is spending at 10% of the size of the assets, or roughly double the legal minimum. “It’s the carbon value of time,” she says. “If we invest now, versus waiting until later, will we have a better return on those dollars in terms of the climate impacts that we’re trying to have?” To further strengthen its climate commitments, TRFF moved $19.3 million a year ago to Breckinridge Capital, Xponance and Terra Alpha Investments, which are among the first investment managers with portfolios aligned with the Science Based Target Initiative. The foundation has committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its own portfolio to net zero by 2035, and has enlisted the assessment firm Carbon Direct to establish a baseline, and the impact monitoring firm Clarity AI to identify opportunities for improvement. The foundation works with shareholder advocacy organization As You Sow to take a more active role in corporate stewardship; it manages its votes on shareholder resolutions and elections of corporate directors through Iconik, a proxy voting service that helps asset owners tailor their voting to their investment policies and mission statements.
- Impact LP. The Russell Family Foundation is a founding partner of Impact LP, ImpactAlpha’s platform for asset owners for whom LP stands for “leadership potential.” Simply investing in funds aligned with Russell’s mission is not enough, Simpson says. “I want us to take a step up and think about, ‘What is the system? Who are the partners? How can we all be investing in transparency and in partnership for real solutions, versus just looking at our specific portfolio?’” she says. “And as we’re thinking about our portfolio and the LPs that we’re working with,” she says, “that we are all rowing together.”
- Keep reading and listen to, “This family foundation is trying to ‘meet the moment’ with all of its $100 million in assets,” by David Bank. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.
Dealflow: Growth Equity
Development Partners International reaches first close on fourth Africa fund. The London-based private equity firm is in the market with its fourth fund and a fundraising goal of $1 billion for growth-stage African businesses. Development Partners International, or DPI, has reached a first close for African Development Partners IV, with backing from the International Finance Corp., and French and German development banks. The IFC committed up to $75 million, along with a co-investment commitment of $50 million. France’s Proparco committed $42 million and Germany’s DEG committed $50 million. DPI launched the fund, one of the largest single Africa-focused private equity funds, last year. The firm aims to invest in about a dozen mid- and large-sized companies in education, health, financial services, consumer goods and other sectors. It aligns its investment strategy with gender-inclusion targets from 2X Global, and also tracks impact metrics around job quality, job growth and climate.
- Generalist and specialist. DPI launched its first African Development Partners fund in 2009, raising $400 million. Its second fund closed in 2015 at $725 million, and its third closed in 2021 during peak private equity fundraising at $900 million. Last year, DPI launched a venture capital strategy, acquiring a $105 million Egypt-based fintech fund, Nclude, to anchor the strategy (see Signal below). DPI completed its $190 million investment in Egyptian healthcare company Alameda Healthcare last week.
- Keep reading.
L&G commits up to $1 billion for debt-for-nature swaps in emerging markets. UK-based Enosis Capital launched in 2024 to develop debt-for-nature swaps in emerging markets. Legal & General, one of the UK’s largest asset managers, committed up to $1 billion over the next five years to support such deals. “By pairing our structuring expertise and guarantee facility with L&G’s scale, we can accelerate transactions that matter to sovereign issuers and local communities,” said Enosis’ Ramzi Issa, who structured early debt-for-nature swaps for Credit Suisse, now part of UBS.
- Conservation finance. Debt-for-nature swaps help countries restructure their sovereign debt in exchange for commitments to climate and conservation efforts. Such transactions have generated $1.4 billion in funding for the conservation of ecosystems of more than one million square miles. In 2024, for example, $1.5 billion of Ecuador’s sovereign bonds were refinanced to secure $460 million for Amazon conservation.
Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:
- Ariel Investments, a Black woman-led investment firm, raised $250 million for Project Level, an investment fund “built to capitalize on a generational shift in women’s sports and raise it to its rightful place in the major leagues.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- AP7, an ESG-focused private investment group within Sweden’s pension fund management system, launched a “social real estate” strategy with an investment in nine properties whose tenants are all public agencies and services providers. (AP7)
- Australia-based Queensland Investment Corp. and Wollemi Capital invested A$80 million (US$56.5 million) in fresh foods grower Kalfresh as the first commitment in a planned circular food and energy “precinct” in Queensland. (IPE)
- The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan will double “climate transition aligned” private investments to $70 billion by 2030. The pension said the clean energy shift represents “a generational investment opportunity that stands to reshape economies.” (OTPP)
Signals: Emerging Managers
Aruwa Capital has the data to make the case for small investment funds. African business ecosystems need a lot of small checks. Investors often want to write a few big checks. This mismatch between capital needs and availability makes it difficult to bridge longstanding financing gaps. Fund manager Aruwa Capital argues that small checks can deliver better returns. “Larger vehicles create structural pressure to deploy into bigger deals, often requiring fewer but significantly larger exits to generate target returns,” says Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, founder of the Lagos-based growth equity fund (see, “More of the right kind of capital for growth firms in Africa”). “A smaller fund, by contrast, expands optionality, more viable exit routes, faster capital deployment, and tighter portfolio concentration.” The argument favors fund managers like Aruwa, which is in the process of raising its second fund with a target of $40 million. Many emerging managers on the continent have funds of $50 million or below, including Chui Ventures, based in Nigeria and Kenya, which closed its first fund last year at just over $17 million. Other examples: Inua Capital, which invests in small businesses in Uganda; Keyo Ventures, a first-time fund manager for early-stage green companies in Southern Africa; and Morocco-based First Circle Capital, an inclusive fintech fund manager.
- Small but mighty. In “Why smaller funds outperform,” Aruwa reviewed data from Cambridge Associates, Pitchbook and Carta, and found that small funds of up to $25 million, and mid-sized funds of up to $100 million, achieve rates of return nearly double that of $100 million-plus funds (see, “Emerging impact fund managers represent an emerging source of impact alpha“). About 40% of venture funds that closed in 2024 and 2025 raised $10 million or less, compared to 25% in 2020, according to Carta. “In part, this shift in the market is due to the growing presence of solo GPs and other emerging managers, who are more likely than established managers to raise smaller funds,” Carta found. Newer funds are also responding to LP pressure to return capital more quickly.
- Downsizing. Some larger fund managers have taken note and are designing smaller, often thematic fund strategies. Africa-focused private equity firm Adenia Partners, which has about $1 billion in assets under management, is in the market with its Entrepreneurial Fund, a planned vehicle of $150 million to invest in roughly a dozen companies. London-based firm Development Partners International is trying to raise $1 billion for its fourth flagship fund while managing a $105 million fintech-focused fund in Egypt (see Dealflow). “Strategically, smaller funds enable disciplined pricing because they operate in less crowded segments, allowing managers to enter at more efficient valuations, while cherry-picking investments,” Okunbo Rhodes says. “The combination of disciplined entry pricing, speed of execution, and operational intensity is what consistently drives superior risk-adjusted returns.”
- Keep reading, “Aruwa Capital has the data to make the case for small investment funds,” by Lucy Ngige.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Begoña Leiva is promoted to associate vice president at Enabling Qapital… Elemental Impact promotes Corina Standiford to chief communications officer, Kim Karris to chief growth officer, and Melissa Uhl to chief strategy officer… The Rockefeller Foundation promotes Carli Roth to director… National Cooperative Bank welcomes Marniece Doss as treasury analyst… The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice is on the hunt for a development fellow in Austin, Texas… Ceres is recruiting a senior manager for its investor network and policy engagement in Boston.
The ImPact has an opening for a communications manager… Laird Norton Wetherby is hiring an impact management and communications specialist and an impact investment analyst in Seattle… UK pension fund Nest seeks a new manager for ethical equities, in response to member demand… The Urban Future Prize Competition is accepting applicants from climate tech startups for non-dilutive grants of up to $50,000. The deadline to apply is Monday, April 27.
👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.
Thank you for your impact!
– Feb. 25, 2026