Published: 15 Jan 2026

Dear IFI Community

How are you holding up today? As an American it's been a hard couple of weeks for me. Even though I'm literally thousands of miles away from everything that is happening, I feel the sadness and anger deep in my soul. I know many of you are feeling the same way. 

 

A quote that came to mind this morning as I was writing this was:

 

 

You know why? Across IFI (and well beyond it) people are quietly doing the work.

Testing ideas. Building tools. Writing things that challenge assumptions. Trying to make capital show up in ways that actually help, rather than harm.

 

Because our community spans geographies, roles, and approaches, this work doesn’t always surface loudly or neatly. Much of it happens in conversation, in draft documents, in early experiments, and in thoughtful collaborations that don’t always seek the spotlight - but deserve it.

 

This monthly Community Showcase is a small pause in the middle of all that motion. A moment to surface what’s emerging, to learn from one another, and to make visible the peer-driven experimentation that IFI exists to support.

 

Below are a few pieces currently circulating across the ecosystem - from essays and reports to frameworks, initiatives, and collaborations - that are shaping how people are thinking about catalytic capital, ownership, systems change, and impact design.

 

And as always: if you’re publishing something new, piloting a model, or pushing forward a conversation you think others would benefit from, please share it with us. We love helping this work travel - and it may show up in a future Community Showcase.

 

Read on for a snapshot of what’s moving across the IFI community this month ↓

 

1. Capital Design, Policy & Systems Leverage: Tools from Regeneration.VC, LISI and ResilienceVC 

2. Ownership, Stewardship & Creative Risk: Different sectors, shared question: how do we fund work meant to last? Contributions from Deloitte Private, Creative Capital and Purpose Foundation 

3. Dialogue from the Field: Where the field is questioning its assumptions - and sharpening its thinking. Conversations led by me & our members Katie and Brian in ImpactAlpha and reflections by Steve Wadell (in a cool video!)

4. Opportunities & Convenings: Where the community is opening doors

1. Capital Design, Policy & Systems Leverage

Regeneration.VC has released Consumption Within Planetary Boundaries, its first comprehensive thesis on how Consumer Climate Tech venture capital can accelerate a shift toward an economy that thrives by design. Grounded in systems thinking and informed by Oxford economist Cameron Hepburn’s concept of “Sensitive Intervention Points,” the thesis outlines how targeted innovation can trigger durable change across global supply chains. It focuses on two complementary strategies: improving how materials are designed and recovered across their lifecycle, and reducing overall material consumption by shifting toward higher-quality, lower-input solutions. Read the full position paper here.

We’re excited to be a public supporter of the upcoming Funds Impact Term Sheet (Funds ITS) that LISI is developing- an open-source legal framework designed to help fund managers and investors embed impact into fund design and governance, where capital allocation decisions are actually made. Building on their original Impact Term Sheet, which helps founders and investors align around impact at the individual deal level, Funds ITS responds to a growing call from the field: impact should be hardwired into fund governance, incentives, and decision-making from day one. The tool is currently in active development, with LISI gathering input from diverse stakeholders, hosting working sessions, and sharing milestone updates and public drafts. Grounded in transparency, iteration, and community feedback, Funds ITS is expected to launch at the end of 2026 and will be freely available upon release. Sign up for LISI’s newsletter on their website (bottom of the page) to keep abreast of this and other initiatives.  

ResilienceVC, in partnership with Blue Haven Initiative and LAVA Strategies has published a thoughtful case study exploring how investors can engage public policy not as a compliance risk, but as a deliberate strategy for market creation and impact. Grounded in a hands-on inquiry with portfolio companies, the fund examines where regulation, public benefits systems, and state-level policy dynamics directly shape business outcomes across fintech, housing, healthcare, and the real economy. The piece offers practical lessons for GPs interested in moving beyond ad hoc advocacy toward more intentional, portfolio-aligned engagement, while remaining disciplined about focus, feasibility, and founder appetite. For those thinking about capital design beyond the balance sheet, this is a compelling example of how policy, partnerships, and investment strategy can reinforce one another.

2. Ownership, Stewardship & Creative Risk

The 9th Deloitte Private and ArtTactic Art & Finance Report explores how the art and cultural sectors are evolving amid changing market dynamics, wealth management practices, and expectations around stewardship. Along with IFI Member Florencia Giulio, Founder of Pulso, I (Aunnie) contributed an article on innovative finance for the cultural and creative industries, highlighting how tools such as blended finance, repayable grants, and outcome-linked mechanisms can support more resilient, fit-for-purpose funding models beyond traditional philanthropy. 
 

Creative Capital has announced its 2026 Awardees, continuing its long-standing approach to funding artists through unrestricted capital, national open calls, and peer-led selection. This year also marks the launch of the State of the Art Prize, extending small, flexible grants to individual artists in every U.S. state and territory. Together, the awards support the creation of ambitious new work across disciplines while pairing funding with professional development and community-building. For those thinking about capital design, Creative Capital remains a compelling example of how unrestricted funding, broad access, and process design can enable experimentation, resilience, and creative risk without over-prescribing outcomes; more fitting than ever for times like these.

 

Purpose Foundation continues to advance practical tools and learning journeys around steward-ownership and aligned financing. Their recent video offers an accessible introduction to how steward-ownership principles translate into real financing choices and governance design.

3. Dialogue from the Field

Following Kevin Starr’s SSIR piece “There is No Such Thing as Impact Investing”, the conversation continues. In a recent ImpactAlpha response, Brian Boland, Katie Boland (Delta Fund) and I engage the critique and explore what rigor, accountability, and ambition could - and should - mean for impact-oriented capital today.

 

In an introductory FEST video and a recent book review, Steve Waddell explores a shift from narrow financial accountability toward broader value creation - reframing how evaluation, learning, and systems change intersect.

4. Opportunities & Convenings

A number of awards, grants, and collaboration opportunities are circulating across the ecosystem. Impact Shakers curates an impressive set of opportunities for impact startups to take note of. You can see them all here.

Thank you for continuing to share your thinking, your experiments, and your openness with the community. It feels hard now, but we have to continue to hope (and do the work!).

Chat soon,

Aunnie & The IFI Team