Elly Brown

Columbia Social Enterprise Conference Preview: Investing in Social Innovation

“You, as the asset holder, have to challenge the status quo and provide the leadership necessary to co-create the world you want to see. It is that simple,” Lisa Kleissner, Co-Founder of KL Felicitas Foundation.

After successful careers in Silicon Valley, Charly and Lisa Kleissner founded KL Felicitas Foundation in 2000 with a vision to scale social innovation through impact investing. The foundation supports social enterprises everywhere along the spectrum from the seed stage to startups that are rapidly expanding. Led by visionary social entrepreneurs, these companies are addressing some of the most challenging issues in society including climate change and environmental destruction.

Along with capacity building assistance, KL Felicitas Foundation offers a wide range of investment vehicles including grants, social loans, loan guarantees and private equity. The foundation has committed to allocate 92% of its portfolio to impact investing vehicles by 2013. Placing a strong emphasis on knowledge-sharing and partnerships, Charly and Lisa are committed to building the field of impact investing. Along with Morgan Simon and Sean Foote, they co-founded Toniic, a global network of impact investors. Complementing GIIN, which oversees the IRIS industry standards and framework for impact investment performance reporting, Toniic provides a forum for members to learn how to be effective impact investors and to aggregate capital for investing (Click here for past NextBillion coverage on GIIN and TONIIC).

You can meet Charly and Lisa Kleissner from KL Felicitas Foundation and learn more about impact investing at the Columbia Social Enterprise Conference panel session titled “Impact Investors Spreading Social Innovation” on Friday October 7th between 9:45 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

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Categories
Social Enterprise
Tags
impact investing, social enterprise