Money alone might improve extreme poverty; economic justice requires more. When Upaya looks for companies that create dignified jobs for the poor, we evaluate questions of reliability, safety, and fundamental respect in addition to the economic benefits.
Upaya CEO, Kate Cochran, joined Oikocredit CEO, Matt Eldridge and COO, Sara Shoff, to discuss how to use your values to invest in social change. Kate shared how she got into the impact investing space and what she believes is the secret to Upaya’s success since its founding 10 years ago.
The webinar premiered on Wednesday, July 28 and is available to watch on YouTube.
Ten years ago this month, we were three founders of a fledgling non-profit organization. None of us had ever started nor run a non-profit. None of us had formal fundraising experience, nor were we independently wealthy. But what we did have was deep, lived experience in building programs for extremely poor communities.
Kate Cochran, hosted a webinar, Impact Investing for Philanthropists, with Aunnie Patton Power, author of Adventure Finance, Caroline Bressan of Open Road Alliance, and University Impact’s Joellen Nicholson.
Upaya to partner with University Impact to raise $3 million to fund impact investments.
Seattle, May 10, 2021 — Upaya Social Ventures (Upaya) announced the launch of its second pool of recoverable grants, in partnership with University Impact (UI), an impact investment firm directing capital through the UI donor-advised fund to organizations and companies solving social and environmental problems. The $3 million Pool of Recoverable Grants II will fund Upaya’s investments in early-stage Indian companies that create jobs for people in extreme poverty.
Upaya pioneered the idea of bringing together philanthropic funds to create a pool of capital similar to a for-profit investment fund. The initiative combines grants from foundations and donor-advised funds to invest in a diverse portfolio of impact-driven companies. In addition to creating life-changing jobs for people living in extreme poverty, the donors to this pool can recover their philanthropic contributions along with a sliver of upside if the portfolio has positive returns.
Nugu Handmade is one of 12 companies that received investment from Upaya’s first pool of recoverable grants. Photo: Nugu Handmade
Upaya raised its first $1 million pool of recoverable grants in 2019. It has so far successfully deployed investments from the first pool into 12 companies in India. Nine of the investments were finalized in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, a stark increase over Upaya’s average of two investments per year. The first pool of recoverable grants was recently recognized by Fast Company as a finalist for the 2021 World Changing Ideas Award.
Upaya is now raising a second pool of recoverable grants, three times the size, to meet demand for “missing middle” investments in small and growing businesses and create new jobs in poor communities hit hard by the pandemic.
“This facility is a natural bridge between traditional philanthropy and the growing industry of impact investing,” said Kate Cochran, CEO of Upaya. “When we raised our first pool of recoverable grants, we were gratified by the amount of interest we found from philanthropists looking to recycle their philanthropy. They can provide a grant that creates jobs in India, have it returned to them, and later make another grant to support clean energy in Africa.”
Upaya is partnering with UI to fund the $3 million pool. UI’s unique Triple Donor Advised Fund allows individuals to make a charitable contribution with an immediate tax deduction and then recommend grants and impact investments from the donor-advised fund over time.
“Partnering with University Impact in this second pool allows us to extend this opportunity to individual donors who don’t have a family foundation or donor advised fund,” said Cochran. “UI makes it easy for donors to engage in exciting projects and for organizations like Upaya to expand our work.”
Upaya is aiming to close the $3 million Pool of Recoverable Grants II by December 2021. Grants will be drawn down from the pool over a five-year period, and 100% of the funds will be used for investment capital. The pool will fund Upaya’s investments in India as well as a potential geographic expansion. Grants will be repayable to donors based on overall portfolio performance, up to a return of 5% over the original amount.
Cochran will join Joellen Nicholson of University Impact for the DAF Salon on May 11, 2021 at 1pm PST to discuss how philanthropists can use a DAF for impact investments.
More information about Upaya and how to participate in the pool is available at www.upayasv.org/prg.
ABOUT UPAYA SOCIAL VENTURES
Upaya Social Ventures is fighting extreme poverty through dignified jobs. Founded in 2011, Upaya provides investment and consulting support to early-stage businesses aimed at creating jobs for the poorest of the poor. Upaya’s continually growing portfolio of impact investments has created over 21,000 lasting, dignified jobs. Endorsed by ImpactMatters as a high-impact, cost-effective nonprofit, Upaya’s teams in Seattle and Bangalore are committed to a goal of helping entrepreneurs create reliable jobs for 50,000 people in India. Please visit www.upayasv.org for more information.
ABOUT UNIVERSITY IMPACT
University Impact (UI) is an impact investing firm that funds early-stage organizations solving pressing social and environmental problems, while creating the next generation of social impact leaders. UI hosts the unique Triple DAF, a donor-advised fund that helps donors fund nonprofits and social ventures by targeting their charitable giving towards outcome focused organizations around the world. UI’s DAF is supported by a global team of trained undergraduate and graduate student associates from the U.S., South Africa, U.K., and India who are immersed in hands-on learning experience in impact investing and philanthropy that they can use to do social good throughout their careers. Please visit www.uitripledaf.org for more information.
AB Chakravarthy, India Country Director
Bangalore, India - 6 May, 2021 — Upaya Social Ventures is pleased to announce that AB Chakravarthy has joined the team as Upaya’s new India Country Director. “Chakra” brings over a decade of experience working with early-stage businesses in emerging markets, with particularly deep expertise in ag-tech and agribusiness.
“The Upaya team is thrilled to welcome AB Chakravarthy to lead our India team and investment efforts,” said Kate Cochran, CEO of Upaya. “Chakra has been a longtime friend, co-investor, and speaker at our accelerators. We know having him join us on staff will accelerate our own work and impact.”
Chakravathary will oversee Upaya’s India team, headquartered in Bangalore. He will lead Upaya’s portfolio of 19 active investments into a post-Covid recovery, helping them grow to create more jobs for people who lost their livelihoods during the pandemic. Upaya aims to add at least five new companies into the active portfolio in 2021.
“Upaya has been at the forefront of creating dignified jobs through early-stage investing,” Chakravarthy said. “It is a pleasure to join a wonderful team who are mission aligned. Look forward to contributing to growing investment and impact.”
Chakravarthy is a seasoned impact investment professional with a history of investing in AgriTech, CleanTech, EdTech, and HealthTech, among others industries. He brings experience from previous roles at Agri Newgen Ventures, Menterra and Villgro. He was part of the team that conceptualized and launched Menterra Fund, an early-stage impact investment fund. As a Principal at Menterra, he led the agriculture investments and managed Menterra’s investment partnership with Artha Initiatives Inc., Zurich. Prior to Menterra, he was a Senior Investment Manager at Villgro, India’s oldest and foremost social enterprise incubator.
Upaya Social Ventures is fighting extreme poverty through dignified jobs. Founded in 2011, Upaya provides investment and consulting support to early-stage businesses aimed at creating jobs for the poorest of the poor. Upaya’s continually growing portfolio of impact investments has created over 17,000 lasting, dignified jobs. Endorsed by ImpactMatters as a high-impact, cost-effective nonprofit, Upaya’s teams in Seattle and Bangalore are working toward a goal of helping entrepreneurs create jobs for 50,000 people in India. Please visit www.upayasv.org for more information.
Seattle, May 4, 2021 — The winners of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced today, honoring the businesses, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving economic equality, health and climate crises, or social justice.
Upaya Social Ventures was selected as a finalist in the Impact Investing category for our Recycling Philanthropy initiative, centered around Upaya’s innovative Pool of Recoverable Grants. We are humbled to be recognized for this project alongside so many inspiring and impactful organizations.
We developed our Pool of Recoverable Grants to activate and deploy philanthropic dollars into businesses with the greatest impact potential. While recoverable grants aren’t new, pooling them is. Pooling the grants together enables Upaya to fund a diverse portfolio of investments, increasing the likelihood of a positive return. Structuring the grants as recoverable enables philanthropists to deploy their funds with the potential to recover and redeploy them for multiplied impact if the investments are successful.
Upaya’s first $1 million Pool of Recoverable Grants was raised in 2019. So far, 12 investments have been successfully deployed from the pool into early-stage companies in India to create jobs for people living in extreme poverty.
World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
Upaya Social Ventures is fighting extreme poverty through dignified jobs. Founded in 2011, Upaya provides investment and consulting support to early-stage businesses aimed at creating jobs for the poorest of the poor. Upaya’s continually growing portfolio of impact investments has created over 15,000 lasting, dignified jobs. Endorsed by ImpactMatters as a high-impact, cost-effective nonprofit, Upaya’s teams in Seattle and Bangalore are committed to a goal of helping entrepreneurs create jobs for 50,000 people in India by 2023. Please visit www.upayasv.org for more information.
Upaya Social Ventures is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
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