The Convening: Charting the Next Wave of Equitable Finance Proceedings Document
Andrea Levere ’83 is President Emerita of Prosperity Now, a private nonprofit organization with the mission of ensuring that everyone can gain financial stability, build wealth and achieve prosperity. Andrea is also an ICF Executive Fellow, spending the year at Yale SOM sharing her expertise and knowledge of nonprofit organizations and working with several students on a special project.
On October 4, 2019, the Yale School of Management International Center for Finance (ICF) and the Program on Social Enterprise, Innovation, and Impact (PSEII) jointly hosted a convening that included philanthropists, impact investors, nonprofit and social venture leaders, and academics to share their perspectives and recommend capital and policy strategies to expand access to philanthropic equity and equitable finance. Participants collaboratively explored how we might “chart the next wave of equitable finance” to support strategies to advance social, economic and environmental equity.
The leaders of the one-day convening included Andrea Levere, ICF Faculty Director William Goetzmann, and PSE Executive Director Tony Sheldon. Participants were invited to reflect on diversity in practice, commitment to equitable finance, demonstrated innovation in their careers, willingness to share ideas and availability. They represented a range of institutions and sectors, including nonprofit social ventures, foundations, community development financial institutions (CDFIs), corporate philanthropy, banking, consulting, impact investing, and academia.
The leaders of the convening sought to accomplish several goals on this day including: crafting a shared narrative to advance the case for equitable finance, framing organizing principles and assumptions to define the role of finance in advancing a more equitable economy, assessing the current state of the marketplace for philanthropic equity and equitable finance and how these can be a force for constructive change and developing a collective vision to move forward through working groups focused on systems change at various levels.
After the convening, Andrea Levere frequently met with four Yale MBA students who also attended the event to compose a very important proceedings document. This document shares the insights from the participants at the convening with the goal of promoting understanding and action. It offers a robust set of next steps believed to expand access to equitable finance.
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Charting The Next Wave of Equitable Finance: Proceedings Document
