Check Out the Chosen SOCAP Sessions With the Most Votes!
Guided by the Moments to Movements themes, the SOCAP22 agenda includes new solutions and different voices to deepen understanding and interconnectedness. The SOCAP22 agenda and schedule are designed to help more people in the impact community connect with others working to solve our most pressing social and environmental problems. This year, more than a third of the agenda is made up of sessions submitted by the SOCAP community through our SOCAP Open process. Sessions were accepted from anyone with an idea, at any level in their organization, from anywhere in the world — SOCAP Open is one of the key ways we democratize the playing field for solution-sharing and idea generation. This year, we are welcoming dozens of new speakers to the SOCAP stage through the Open process so far— we are excited to bring you a mix of familiar and new faces in our list of SOCAP speakers (check back as we keep adding more!).
We’re excited to reveal the 15 most popular sessions from SOCAP Open voting — featuring initiatives and innovators that will help propel the impact community when we gather for SOCAP22 in October at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. And stay tuned as we add more sessions every week to the agenda! Take a look below and save your spot at SOCAP22 (if you haven’t already)!
15 Top-Ranked Sessions from SOCAP Open
Make It So! Put Your Money to Work NOW to Create the Change You Seek
Session organizer: Julianne Zimmerman, Managing Director, GP of Reinventure Capital
Participate in a collective working session for SOCAP community members actively shifting capital away from extractive, repressive, destructive “best practices” that perpetuate a false distinction between financial and other outcomes, and into reparative, just, beneficial endeavors that apply a fact-based perspective to stewarding financial returns.
Greenwashers Beware: Using ESG for Good, Not Evil
Session organizer: Rehana Nathoo, Founder & CEO of Spectrum Impact
This panel of asset managers, sustainability experts, and advisors will dive deep on the many ways that ESG and impact are used in practice, how to keep that commitment rigorous while still pushing boundaries, and where they see this field going.
The Evolution of Impact Measurement in Investing
Session organizer: Kyle Lukianuk, Managing Director, Impact Investing of UpMetrics
Despite a growing number of tools, frameworks, and resources, key challenges remain in measuring the impact of investments in more meaningful and accountable ways. This discussion will focus on what’s driving key challenges in the sector and how collaboration among ecosystem participants can help overcome them.
Fair Chance Hiring: Good for Justice, Good for Business
Session organizer: Lucrecia Murphy, Director of Center for Justice and Economic Advancement of Jobs for the Future
Fair chance hiring is about justice, but it is also about good business. After taking this first step, corporations can play a more dynamic role in advancing economic mobility for people with records. This hybrid fireside chat/workshop will outline ways for employers to expand fair chance hiring and how they can benefit from developing equitable practices for people with records.
Radical Collaboration and Building Better Systems Inside Impact Investing
Session organizer: Jason Palmer, GP of New Markets Venture Partners
To reimagine systems, entities need to work together to push on “the way things have always been done” to re-allocate power and capital. This session will bring together people pushing on the boundaries of standard practices and discuss unique collaborations by impact investors.
Financing Strategies for Sustainable, Equitable, and Secure Food Systems
Session organizer: Rex Raimond, Director of Transformational Investing in Food Systems
Many food-focused initiatives have incorporated unique investment strategies to deliver sustainable, equitable, and secure food systems. Learn about some inspiring examples of business models and investing approaches that are needed to build a new economy.
Human-Kind: How the Better Angels of Our Nature Can Drive Philanthropy
Session organizer: Carol Tan, Director, Policy & Coalition of The Rockefeller Foundation
We are in a moment when it is particularly important that philanthropists heed their better angels and make good decisions to deploy limited capital. While recognizing the historical shortcomings of philanthropy, this session looks to empower those who seek to move the field in a better direction.
How Startup Innovation Can Drive Economic Recovery and Resilience
Session organizer: Tahira Dosani, Managing Partner of ResilienceVC
What future role can startups play in building greater resilience to economic shock? Early-stage startups working on post-COVID-19 recovery — specifically in the employment, housing, or fintech/financial health space — will be pre-selected to pitch to a panel of impact VC judges and receive feedback during this session.
Climate-Smart Futures: How Emerging Fintech and Web3 Startups Are Building a New Paradigm for Climate Resilience
Session organizer: Tim Rann, Managing Partner of Mercy Corps Ventures
We’re already seeing how blockchain can enable supply chain traceability and digital property rights, how decentralized autonomous organizations can de-incentivize carbon use and incentivize climate action, and how investors can play a crucial role in regenerative finance structures. Join this discussion to learn what this means for emerging markets and how we might break through the hype of the Web3 movement to provide tangible results for the planet and people most affected by climate change.
How to Stop Financing Prison Growth: Workshopping Case Studies in Unprecedented Wins
Session organizer: Christina Hollenback, CEO of Justice Capital
Investors have been organizing themselves to stand with calls from grassroots communities to stop the financing of mass incarceration. This interactive workshop will feature shining examples that enable communities to not just stop the growth of mass incarceration but reimagine how finance can be in service to both justice and community.
Reimagining Reparations to Advance Justice: Building a Culture of Repair
Session organizer: Aria Florant, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Liberation Ventures
Reparations for slavery and its legacy are not just about money, or policy; reparations involve comprehensive repair, and require shifting narratives and ultimately culture. Join this session to workshop Liberation Ventures’ living framework for racial repair, share your feedback, and learn how to apply it to your organization and the change you are seeking in the world.
Orange Bonds: A New Asset Class for Investing in Gender Equality
Session organizer: Natasha Garcha, Senior Director, Innovative Finance and Gender-Lens Investing Specialist of Capital Markets at Impact Investment Exchange
The COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflicts worldwide, and the impending climate crisis have jointly exacerbated the regressive effects on gender equality. Learn more about the Orange Bond Initiative’s commitment to mobilize $10 billion for gender bonds, the multi-stakeholder approach that includes the voices of the Global South and the 99%, and how to get involved in building a gender-empowered financial system.
Centering Community Perspective and Narratives: An Approach to Inclusive Capital and Long-Term DEI
Session organizer: Olabayo Allen-Taylor, COO of Impact Experience Institute
Impact Experience and Illumen Capital have partnered to work in communities across the U.S. to reduce bias and spark capital investment benefiting communities of color. This interactive workshop will explore a place-based approach and how to ground DEI learning in history and truth-telling from the communities that have often been underestimated and overlooked.
Checks; Imbalances: Can Donors and Investors Save Democracy?
Session organizer: Kristine Michie, Managing Partner of ImpactFull Inc.
With our institutions, people, and planet under attack, no sector is unaffected — and no players can remain on the sidelines. Join Hispanics in Philanthropy for an unsparing look at the crises we’re facing, especially around civil society and climate, and how philanthropy and impact investing can lead the way to new solutions.
Making the Future of Business Impact-Driven
Session organizer: Daniel Barker, Managing Director of Halcyon
As established players seek to incorporate impact into their business models, billions of dollars are flowing into ESG investments and impact venture capital. This interactive session will focus on how traditional corporates and social enterprise ecosystem builders can work together to ensure that impact is at the heart of doing business.
