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Corporate Impact | Imogen Rose-Smith
Better Brew: Josh Gotbaum on what the Starbucks fight means for labor – and impact

Who’s center-stage in this pivotal year for US organized labor? Amtrak Joe Biden, the self-proclaimed labor-friendliest president in history? More like the baristas …

Agents of Impact | Amy Cortese
Trenton Allen, Sustainable Capital Advisors: Bringing green infrastructure to Black and Brown communities (Q&A)
Deploy! | Amy Cortese
Lenders face a steep learning curve in deploying capital for green community infrastructure
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Impact Voices | Cynthia Muller
Lessons from the Kellogg Foundation’s $310 million in mission-driven investments
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Inclusive Economy | Essma Bengabsia
Addressing the broken child care system with impact investments
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Dealflow

Latest impact investments and fundraises

The Brief

Read by thousands of impact pros daily

April 29, 2024 | ImpactAlpha
The Brief: Making labor’s case to shareholders

Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Worker Power Better brew: Josh Gotbaum on what the Starbucks fight means for labor – …

Today’s brief

Featured: Worker Power

Better brew: Josh Gotbaum on what the Starbucks fight means for labor – and impact. Who’s center-stage in this pivotal year for US organized labor? Amtrak Joe Biden, the self-proclaimed labor-friendliest president in history? More like the baristas at your local Starbucks. One of the most watched recent labor battles is at Starbucks, home to burnt coffee and pumpkin spice lattes, where Workers United has tried to organize baristas 2021. The Starbucks fight is different from past labor battles in that it has played out in the boardroom as well as on the picket line. “Unions have learned from their activist hedge fund counterparts, and maybe the climate movement, to make the economic as well as human capital case: blocking workers’ right to organize is bad for shareholders,” contributing editor Imogen Rose-Smith writes in her latest Institutional Impact column. The Strategic Organizing Center, the labor coalition that includes Workers United, put together a slate of three alternative board members, and Starbucks was set for one of the most high profile proxy fights of this year. The board battle was averted in February with an agreement to negotiate. Imogen sat down with Josh Gotbaum, a former banker and member of the Carter, Clinton, and Obama administrations who was among the three candidates proposed by the labor coalition. 

Dealflow: Carbon Markets

Investors re-up in carbon creditor South Pole after a turbulent year. South Pole appears to be steadying the ship after the fallout of an expose on “faulty credits” last March. The episode was a moment of reckoning for the Swiss carbon credit seller and for the voluntary carbon markets more broadly. South Pole cut ties with its founding CEO Renat Heuberger as well as its troublesome Kariba forestation project in Zimbabwe. It reorganized its risk and compliance team, appointed a chief risk officer and, in February, announced a new CEO. Its three largest investors, Temasek’s GenZero, Lightrock and family office Corisol, have rewarded the efforts with new funding. The size of the round was not disclosed.

Short Signals: What We’re Reading

🦋 Private market biodiversity funds. Phenix Capital tallies more than 1,000 impact funds with some focus on biodiversity, a 234% increase from 2015. More than half are open for investment. An estimated $1 trillion in annual investment by 2030 is needed to support critical ecosystems. (Phenix Capital)

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

The Predistribution Initiative names Juan Jardon-Pina, formerly of Deetken Impact, as a senior associate based in Mexico City… World Resources Institute is hiring a chief of staff for its climate, economics and finance program… In New York, Etsy is hiring an impact and sustainability specialist in Brooklyn; the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund seeks an editorial director; and the Global Impact Investing Network seeks a summer associate for event communications… Jobs for the Future is looking for a senior prospect researcher in Boston. 

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Better Brew: Josh Gotbaum on what the Starbucks fight means for labor – and impact
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