Education Impact Fund

ECMC Foundation is a national foundation working to improve postsecondary outcomes for students from underserved communities. ECMC Foundation makes investments in two focus areas: college success and career readiness; and uses a spectrum of funding structures, including strategic grantmaking and program-related investments, to invest in both nonprofit and for-profit ventures. Launched in 2018, ECMC Foundation’s Education Innovation Ventures (EIV) program provides catalytic, risk capital to early-stage ventures working to increase postsecondary educational outcomes and economic mobility among learners who face systemic barriers. Through program-related investments, EIV’s capital generates impact alongside financial returns, which are recycled to fund further impact initiatives and drive changes in educational attainment and economic mobility for learners. Investment Strategy and Objectives EIV provides flexible, risk capital to early-stage ventures and entrepreneurs working to seed innovations, prove new models, and enable ventures to scale their impact. Our early-stage investments are designed to support ventures focused on improving postsecondary persistence and completion and/or job attainment at family-sustaining wages, specifically for learners and jobseekers who face systemic barriers to economic mobility. Since launching in 2018, EIV’s investments have allowed the Foundation to tap into the creative power of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors through social enterprises working on college persistence and success, alternative postsecondary education financing, career exploration, upskilling and training, and equitable hiring initiatives. The investment thesis builds upon learnings from the Foundation’s grantmaking portfolios on College Success and Career Readiness. EIV makes several types of investments: Direct Investments: the Foundation invests capital into social enterprises that serve learners and jobseekers Fund Investments: capital is deployed to funds that reinvest capital into social ventures Donor Advised Funds (DAF) Investments: capital is sent through a donor advised fund and invested into social ventures Education Innovation Venture’s Five-Point Model EIV considers ventures that demonstrate a commitment to delivering intentional, sustained and measurable social impact, and align with the Foundation's mission of inspiring and facilitating improvements in postsecondary education for underestimated learners. We look for the following criteria in our investments: Impact: A measurable strategy for driving educational outcomes and economic mobility for students from underserved backgrounds and markets; a commitment to sharing lessons learned with the greater education sector. Risk & Innovation: Early-stage ventures with transformative and disruptive products and services that address an unmet market need. Scalability: Ventures with sustainable business models using market-based approaches that need access to patient capital in order to achieve scale. Leverage: Ventures that test new and bold ideas with the potential to attract additional sources of capital to grow impact. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Intentionality around building a diverse and inclusive body of leadership and practicing strong internal social governance. Special Initiative: Innovative Financing Models Beginning in 2021, ECMC Foundation will invest up to $2.5 million through Education Innovation Ventures into short-term training and education programs that use alternative financing models to accelerate the upskilling and retraining needed for America’s unemployed workforce to find gainful employment and attain family-sustaining wages. Learn more about why we are investing in Innovative Financing Models.

We believe in innovative education to prepare current and future generations for the challenges of the 21st century. We believe that social impact and financial performance are intimately correlated in a virtuous dynamic: for products and services to be used or purchased over and over again, they must bring a meaningful positive impact to their users. We evaluate our funding opportunities using a risk-return-impact model. We believe in diversity to create a more inclusive world: we invest in teams who better reflect the diversity of human beings they serve. How we define impact We are convinced that for Edtech & Future of Work products to succeed in the long term, they must improve learning outcome and be available to the greatest number of learners and workers. We measure the social impact of Edtech start-ups by evaluating how much they benefit our society. We have defined our own proprietary methodology which evaluates Reach, Inclusion and Learning Outcome. These are the three key objectives that we track in order to fund projects that are sustainable and can be widely adopted. Creating a better world We believe that education plays a central role in development and is the bedrock for the realization of other rights. We contribute to 8 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN and are signatory & member of various renowned sustainable organizations.

We are an anti-disciplinary group of thinkers, founders, entrepreneurs, and practitioners who believe that market forces can power great ideas to drastically increase economic opportunity. We believe that market forces can power great ideas to drastically expand economic opportunity. Guided by the best evidence and leading research on what drives economic mobility, we invest in people and ideas that can succeed in and transform those markets. We are active partners to talented, mission-driven entrepreneurs. Our entrepreneurs receive seed funding, space, support, and access to a world-class team of advisors and researchers who provide strategic advice on how to build a highly successful business and maximize social impact. WHY WE DO IT There are stark gaps in opportunity in America. One-third of black men without a high school education are in prison on any given day. The median earnings gap between blacks and whites is the same as it was in 1950s. Life expectancy today for blacks is what is was for whites in the 1980s. The racial achievement gap is the same now as it was in the 1980s. We invest in entrepreneurs and ideas that have the potential to close these gaps and greatly increase opportunity in America.

JFF Ventures is building a future where innovative products and solutions give everyone increased access to learning, employment, and economic advancement opportunities. We do this through: Connections: Our network of forward-thinking corporate leaders is committed to helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses and deepen their impact. Community: Our portfolio companies are part of a community of impact-oriented leaders focused on creating opportunity for learners and workers. Investments: Our investments in early-stage companies and entrepreneurs help build inclusive technology solutions. JFF Ventures marks a major expansion of JFF’s growing focus on technology investing and acceleration, building on the organization’s 2019 acquisition and incubation of the Employment Technology Fund in JFFLabs (ETF@JFFLabs). JFF has already invested in more than 35 high-impact technology startups through ETF@JFFLabs, now JFF Ventures Fund I.

The Notre Dame Pit Road Fund was launched in 2018 with the mission to serve early stage companies associated with the University. By investing in de-risked, promising technologies through the Engine Commercialization Process, the Fund injects capital into Notre Dame led and affiliated companies as they mature. In addition, the Fund connects founders to mentors, strategic partners, sophisticated investors and board members, leveraging their resources to build and scale the Fund’s portfolio companies. Philosophy & Investment Thesis Designed to unlock tremendous value both socially and economically, the Pit Road Fund aims to create the next great company by leveraging the discoveries of technical solutions made by the University and the Notre Dame ecosystem. Industry Agnostic Investing in Faculty Research, Student Founders, Staff, Alumni & the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Community Investing under Catholic Social Guidelines Pre-seed, Seed and Series A Investments

Inclusive Investing™ is a market-backed discipline that allows us to cast a targeted, yet wide net when sourcing companies, while keeping outsized returns and impact front and center in our investment decisions. There’s a lot of talk about demographics and a lack of diversity in venture capital. Inclusive investing is a strategy that proactively addresses this problem. While we’re pioneering this strategy, the data supporting our thesis is on our side: diverse fund managers earn better returns, and companies with diverse leadership outperform their peers. Inclusive Investing™ goes beyond diversity - it’s a new investment discipline that can transform the way we source, invest in, and scale businesses, and in doing so, create new pathways to prosperity for individuals, businesses, and communities at scale. Inclusive Investing™ levels the playing field so the best businesses and most talented teams succeed. A Five-Pronged ApproachImplemented cohesively, these five areas of practice yield an Inclusive Investing™ discipline Zeal is spearheading in the venture world across private markets.Diverse Fund Managers: Fund managers and the broader team are diverse with complementary backgrounds and skill sets. Diverse Management Teams: Companies proactively source diverse management teams with complementary skill sets and backgrounds that help portfolio companies outperform. Geographic Inclusivity: Funds source from a wide range of geographies across the U.S., not just traditional geographic VC “hotbeds”. Investment Focus: Investment allocation is directed to sectors where fund managers expect continued innovation and opportunity for disruption. Impact Lens: Investments seek to achieve top tier financial and social returns that impact low-wealth communities and small businesses.