A Money + Meaning Podcast with Astrid Scholz of Armillaria, Allegra Stennett of New Majority Capital, Vanessa Roanhorse of Roanhorse Consulting, Jaime Gloshay of Common Future, and Chris Johnson of Wells Fargo Foundation
Collaborators who launched the Inclusive Capital Exchange (ICX) at SOCAP24 are preparing for its second year of enhancing the flow of capital between impact funders and founders at this year’s event. As they incorporate lessons from the initial experience at SOCAP24, the ICX team sees broader opportunities to drive effective deal-making and “help investors get off their assets” at SOCAP25. These opportunities include a new Capital Connections Day planned for SOCAP25, designed to connect attendees with one another to tap into the power of shared purpose and create authentic relationships that drive shared action, innovation, and funding opportunities.
In a new Money + Meaning episode, the experienced impact leaders who conceptualized and developed ICX share the strategies and sentiments that shaped the first experience and how they are shaping plans for ICX at SOCAP25:
- Astrid Scholz, Co-Founder, CFO, Armillaria
- Allegra Stennett, Co-Founder, Managing Partner, New Majority Capital
- Vanessa Roanhorse, CEO, Roanhorse Consulting, LLC
- Jaime Gloshay, Managing Director of Impact Investments, Common Future
- Chris Johnson, Product and Innovation Lead, Small Business Growth Philanthropy, Wells Fargo Foundation
As part of the ICX team, Stennett pulls from her work at New Majority Capital to provide training and capital for entrepreneurs to acquire and scale existing small businesses. Amid federal funding cuts centered around DEI and ESG initiatives, she said it’s especially important for impact investors to back up their commitments. “We need more organizations to meet the moment, not only on the philanthropic side, but also on the investment side,” Stennett said.
By design, ICX removes some of the “window-shopping” involved in funder-founder conversations, she said. “In order to attend the ICX experience at SOCAP, all of the LPs had to commit to investing in funds that passed their diligence by the end of March 2025. That helped GPs avoid conversations with those who weren’t serious about taking action,” she said.
The ICX team also provides a matching process to identify alignment between GP and LP preferences. “Doing that work on the front end allowed for the LPs that were in attendance to meet with individuals that already match their targets and preferences,” Stennett said.
While some investors may see greater risk in the current landscape, Gloshay said they could instead consider the viewpoint of founders, who have traditionally been excluded and underserved in financial markets, like the clients she serves at Common Future. Gloshay said it’s time for investors to show up in a way that helps create safety for the founders and the communities they serve. “What is the risk of not moving this money, especially now in this time? What does that create in the future?” she asked. “If what we’re looking at now … is not a reason to move this money, I don’t know what else we can say.”
Gloshay sees ICX as another way to advance her goal of bringing transparency, trust, and support to values-aligned capital partnerships. In addition to seeing what partnership models work, ICX provides “a space to innovate, to dream, to design, and to come together in relationship as people to meet the moment,” she said.
As part of the ICX team, Roanhorse draws from her personal journey from being an entrepreneur 10 years ago to now working to connect Indigenous women founders with impact capital. “It has been winding, this journey to understand why money isn’t moving,” she said.
SOCAP and ICX together provide an opportunity to spark new connections and overcome concerns about risk and trust. “We don’t understand that a major risk mitigation strategy is acknowledging our interdependence on one another,” Roanhorse said. “In this current situation we’re living in the United States, now is the time to move that capital.”
At Wells Fargo Foundation, Johnson aims to increase access to capital, knowledge, and networks by leveraging philanthropic funds to help partners. As part of ICX, he aims to help investors see the value in the opportunity instead of perceived risk, which he said is “front and center and on everyone’s mind.”
By pre-vetting participants with third-party validation, ICX helps ease the path toward commitments and encourages capital flow. “The need is not going anywhere,” Johnson said.
Scholz said last year’s interest in ICX reflects that need and interest. “We could have had twice the number of LPs, but 50% of them would have been window shoppers. And that’s no longer OK,” she said.
Scholz said ICX’s level of due diligence and required commitment sets it apart. SOCAP25’s offering will also include global LPs. “Let’s all go to San Francisco later this year to see how much more money we can move, building on our experience last year,” she said.
Claim your spot at SOCAP25 to participate in this year’s Capital Connections day and more — and listen to the full Money + Meaning conversation below:
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