Overview
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Every year, global investors channel over $1 trillion into enterprises tackling urgent challenges in health, education, poverty, climate, and more. These organizations—impact enterprises—often seek capital from investors aligned with their mission. But raising impact capital isn’t the same as traditional fundraising: it requires navigating unique expectations, tools, and relationships.
How Is Impact Capital Different?
Financial Complexity: Investors use specialized tools and deal terms. Double Duty: Entrepreneurs must prove both business viability and measurable impact. Diverse Goals: Some expect market-rate returns; others accept flexible returns for deeper impact. Blended Capital: Many deals involve multiple investors sharing risk.
Impact capital is powerful and increasingly available—but finding the right investors and negotiating the right deal can be daunting. That’s where the Raising Impact Investment Capital Specialization comes in.
This five-course series bridges your vision and your next investment. It takes entrepreneurs, investors, and learners step-by-step from “Where do I start?” to “Here’s the best deal for my venture.” Each course builds on the last, guiding you through understanding the marketplace, strengthening your ask, and creating practical tools—financial models, pitch decks, outreach strategies, and contract terms—you can put to work immediately.
Syllabus
- Course 1: Impact Investment Finance
- Course 2: Creating an Impact Investment Ask
- Course 3: Building Financial Models for Entrepreneurs
- Course 4: Financing for Impact Entrepreneurs
- Course 5: Negotiating with Impact Investors
Courses
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What are impact investors looking for? This course offers a practical introduction to the impact investing marketplace. You’ll learn how the market is structured, including the roles of asset owners and asset managers, and how capital flows between them. The course explores how impact investors pursue both financial and social or environmental returns, and the different types of investors involved along with their motivations, constraints, and preferred investment vehicles. You’ll hear directly from impact enterprise leaders about their experiences raising capital, and from investors about what they look for when evaluating opportunities. The course also highlights common mistakes enterprises make when seeking funding and offers strategies to attract aligned capital. By the end of this course you’ll be able to identify an effective impact investing strategy, and be prepared to start your journey in the impact marketplace. This course requires no prior knowledge and is designed for anyone interested in impact investing: whether you're an aspiring investor, an enterprise leader, or exploring a career in the field. We break down key concepts, explain investor types in accessible language, and define essential financial terms.
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How does an impact entrepreneur make a compelling case for investment? This course teaches you how to assess a venture’s readiness for impact capital by examining two essential dimensions: business growth and impact. On the business side, you’ll use a diagnostic tool to evaluate seven key elements that drive growth and understand how investors assess profitability through unit economics. On the impact side, you’ll learn a four-step framework for building strong impact management practices that meet investor expectations. By the end of the course, you’ll know how to integrate these insights to clearly articulate and justify your capital ask confidently and credibly. This course is designed for aspiring and current impact entrepreneurs or managers, aspiring impact investors learning how to evaluate impact ventures, and any learner interested in how businesses can generate a positive impact. This course requires no prior experience. We break down complex ideas into accessible language, define key terms, and provide practical tools and templates to support your learning and application.
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What is the best kind of capital for an impact venture? This course helps you answer that question by exploring the wide range of capital types available to impact-driven enterprises and how to choose the right fit based on your venture’s goals and stage of growth. You’ll begin by learning how the impact investing marketplace has evolved to meet the unique needs of impact entrepreneurs, including the creation of innovative capital structures. Through short, accessible primers, you’ll explore 12 types of impact capital: each with its own benefits, trade-offs, and ideal use cases. By the end of the course, you’ll not only understand the landscape of impact capital, but also gain the tools to evaluate which type best aligns with your venture’s mission, growth stage, and financial strategy. This course is ideal for aspiring and current impact entrepreneurs, managers seeking capital, emerging impact investors, and anyone curious about the growing field of impact investing. No prior experience is required—we break down complex ideas into clear language and provide practical tools and templates to support your learning and application.
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How much capital does an impact enterprise really need – and how do you figure that out? This self-paced, mini-MBA-style course walks any entrepreneur step-by-step through building a financial model using our Excel template. You will undertake a process to define your funding gap, test investment scenarios, and plan your future financing needs with confidence. You’ll learn how to input financial data, generate investor-ready projections, and calculate the funding gap—how much capital is needed to reach financial break-even. You’ll also learn how to pressure-test your projections to withstand investor scrutiny and model different types of investment offers, such as equity and debt. By experimenting with various scenarios, you’ll gain the skills to assess how new capital affects your financial outlook and how to negotiate terms that support your enterprise’s success. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to confidently interpret and explain financial projections, evaluate investment offers, and make informed decisions about raising capital. This course is ideal for anyone looking to understand entrepreneurial finance, financial projections, and modeling investment offers, regardless of background. No prior experience is required, as we break down complex concepts into clear, accessible language and provide practical tools and templates to support your learning.
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How do you close a successful financing deal with impact investors? This course guides you through a step-by-step approach to effectively engage, pitch, and negotiate with impact investors. You’ll learn how to craft a cohesive investment narrative and align your emails, executive summary, and pitch deck around a clear investment story that balances financial return with social or environmental impact. You'll gain insight into the due diligence process, including what investors are looking for and where you have leverage. Finally, you'll explore common investment terms in impact deals and learn how to identify areas for negotiation to ensure a strong, long-term partnership. By the end of this course, you’ll be equipped to approach investors with confidence, communicate your value clearly, navigate due diligence efficiently, and negotiate terms that support your venture’s success. This course is ideal for aspiring and current impact entrepreneurs preparing to raise capital, advisors supporting impact ventures, and anyone interested in the mechanics of impact investing. No prior experience is required; we simplify complex concepts, define key terms, and provide practical tools and templates to support your learning and application.
Taught by
Cathy Clark