Invest New England

2025 Invest in New England Conference Summary

Invest in New England’s Communities Conference was hosted at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston across two days (April 10th and 11th) to convene place-based investors across the following three themes:

Explore - understand how philanthropic impact investing is done, and ways in which it is currently happening in New England.
Unlock - look at the steps foundations and intermediaries can take to jump into impact investing when opportunities arise.
Deploy - learn from examples where investments have happened through a collaboration of ecosystem partners, and who should be engaged.

The event was convened by the Community Investment Project, New England Impact Investing Iniatitive, and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Scroll down for a description for each of the sessions and the speakers.

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Explore Theme

Explore: Welcome and Opening Framing

The opening session of the Invest in New England conference highlighted the importance of place-based impact investing as a powerful tool for community development. The event emphasized the need for collaboration across sectors to address complex regional challenges and foster economic growth. The conference underscored that while grant dollars are essential, they are not sufficient on their own to meet the region’s needs, so foundations and impact investors must take on risks and leverage capital in ways that can attract additional resources to underserved communities. By engaging in place-based impact investing, New England can unlock new opportunities, create stronger communities, and build a more equitable future through strategic, collaborative efforts.

Explore: It’s Happening Here

As we started to get into the purpose of being together, we hosted a session to spotlight how foundations across New England are boldly reinvesting in their communities through place-based impact investing. From Vermont to Rhode Island to Connecticut, funders are deploying flexible capital, blending grants and investments, and building entrepreneurial ecosystems—always rooted in local needs and community potential. We’re grateful that a number of organizations are making change happen in their local communities. Check them out to learn about their examples.

Explore: Greater New Haven Case Study Deep Dive

As part of the Explore theme we hosted a concurrent session for those really interested in diving deep into a specific example of how place-based investing is taking shape already. This session showcased the Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (E3) model in Greater New Haven as a replicable roadmap for building inclusive, responsive entrepreneurial systems. By centering the 4 Cs—Capital, Capacity, Connectivity, and Cultural Competency—partners are breaking silos and scaling impact across Connecticut and beyond.

Unlock Theme

Unlock: Practical Steps to Moving Foundation Money

As we moved into the 2nd theme of the conference we hosted concurrent sessions to understand the different steps that practitioers can take to get their organization to start place-based impact investing. This session shared how foundations are moving from traditional grantmaking to bold, mission-aligned investing rooted in community trust. Speakers highlighted practical steps like piloting microlending, deploying catalytic capital, and aligning entire portfolios with justice-focused values—always guided by a deeper purpose beyond the transaction.

Unlock: Governance for Place-Based Impact Investing

This session tackled the governance foundations need to put in place to be able to support place-based impact investing. This should include aligning boards and investment committees to rethinking fiduciary duty. Our speakers emphasized that this work is a journey requiring strategy, shared language, inclusive staffing, and community voice. Success lies in building trust, shifting power, and embracing flexible structures that put mission first.

Unlock: Resourcing Impact Investing: Talking With Staff About What’s Required

This session unpacked what it truly takes to operationalize impact investing, highlighting that writing the check is just the beginning. To resource and sustain effective impact investing within community foundations, practitioners must consider staffing as well as, the support strategy post-investment. Speakers shared hard-won lessons on balancing internal capacity with external partnerships. This session stressed that success depends on investing in internal capacity, using flexible resourcing models, and building strong post-investment support systems—all rooted in collaboration, clarity, and a willingness to share and learn.

Deploy Theme

Deploy: New England’s Deployment Ecosystem

As we moved into the last theme of our conference, we heard the personal stores of how we can learn from examples where investments have happened through a collaboration of ecosystem partners. Our speakers shared how they have helped to transform New England’s capital landscape by aligning investment strategies with lived experience, equity, and community resilience. Their stories revealed a shared commitment to deconstruct traditional definitions of risk, fund the infrastructure behind small community funds, and ensure capital stays connected to the people it aims to serve.

Deploy: Accepting Risk to Achieve Impact

This session reframed risk as a necessary ingredient for transformational impact. Rather than avoid it, participants were urged to embrace risk as a source of learning, innovation, and systemic change. To make this happen relationships need to be backed by trust, be for the long-term, and have a clear commitment to mission over metrics.

Deploy: Yes, You Can Invest Next Door

A compelling case was made for impact investors to think beyond geographic boundaries in place-based investing. By approaching New England as an integrated region, participants saw how capital can be more effectively mobilized and risk more equitably shared, while still honoring local relationships and priorities. Taking a regional lens creates opportunities to aggregate capital, mitigate risk, and drive impact across broader, yet deeply connected, communities.

Deploy: Good Impact Investing Needs Grants Too

This session highlighted the critical role grants play in launching and scaling impactful investments. By offering flexibility and serving as a de-risking tool, grants can unlock much larger investments, creating a domino effect of capital deployment that can address both immediate and long-term community needs. The session called on participants to rethink how grantmaking and investing can work hand-in-hand to amplify place-based outcomes, especially in underinvested communities.

Deploy: Let’s Collaborate to Invest in New England

In our closing session of the conference we workshopped with participants how to put into place the topics we discussed together. Participants broke out into four different themes to think of specific ways we can work together to:

Make it easier for intermediaries to raise capital
Help foundations get started in impact investing
Coordinate our place-based network
Build capacity and resources while measuring impact

Over the next few years, success in New England’s impact investing ecosystem would mean expanded participation, easier entry points for new investors, and a shift toward collaboration and mission alignment across sectors. Key actions include building shared infrastructure—such as educational resources, regional maps, and centralized investment platforms—and fostering connections between foundations, intermediaries, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. To sustain momentum, the field must also clarify the meaning of impact, strengthen measurement capacity, and support shared learning through working groups, storytelling, and technical assistance.

Thank You’s and a Special Recognition

Thank you to the Boston Federal Reserve for hosting the conference. And to the New England Impact Investing Initiative (NEIII) and the Community Investing Project for collaborating on this event. Conference Organizing Committee: Pierre Joseph, Janice St. Onge, Stephen Snider, Lubna Elia, and Travis Green.

The event would not have been possible without the many speakers who gave their time and energy to build out our conference agenda during the event and across many preparatory calls.

A special thank you goes to the NEIII Fellows & Volunteers who helped take notes for each session. And a special note in thanks to the BU students who shared their research posters with us.

Conference Speakers

Betsy Biemann, Coastal Enterprises, Inc.

Betsy works to build a just, vibrant and climate-resilient future for people and communities in Maine and rural regions nationally. CEI does this by integrating finance, business expertise and policy solutions to make the economy work more equitably. Betsy serves on the board of the New Innovation Growth. Prior to joining CEI, Betsy led the Maine Food Cluster Project of Harvard University’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, served as President of the Maine Technology Institute, and as Associate Director at The Rockefeller Foundation, where she managed national grant and impact investment portfolios aiming to increase employment and economic mobility in low-income communities.

Betty Francisco, Boston Impact Initiative Fund

Betty Francisco is a seasoned business executive and impact investor with over 25 years of experience in the areas of business strategy, legal, compliance, risk management, development, operations, and human resources. Betty is currently the CEO of Boston Impact Initiative, an impact investment fund that invests in social enterprises and community-governed real estate to close the racial wealth divide in Massachusetts. She is the co-founder of Amplify Latinx, a social venture that is building Latinx economic and political power through Latino leadership representation and economic opportunity in Massachusetts. She was the General Counsel at Compass Working Capital where she oversaw the organization’s legal affairs, compliance, and risk management. Before that, she served as EVP, General Counsel for Sports Club/LA and Reebok Sports Club/NY, a fitness brand acquired by Equinox Fitness. She serves on the Boards of Directors of The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Beth Israel Lahey Health, The Boston Foundation, and Nellie Mae Education Foundation.

Geeta Pradhan, Cambridge Community Foundation

Geeta draws on her deep experience in philanthropy, urban planning, and community development to address the needs of Cambridge. She has led the Foundation’s transformation from a local grantmaker to a data-informed, strategic civic leader that tackles the city’s most intractable problems in deep partnership with nonprofits, local changemakers, and donors. In 2021, Geeta co-authored the Foundation’s Equity & Innovation Cities report, highlighting the widening income disparities amidst Cambridge’s growing prosperity. She helped envision and structure the City’s $22- million Rise Up Cambridge program, the only non-lottery cash assistance program of its kind in the country. Previously, at the Boston Foundation, she served as the associate vice president for programs and co-founded the Boston Indicators Project. Geeta completed her Bachelor of Architecture degree in India and holds a Master of Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Janice St. Onge, Flexible Capital Fund

Janice is President of the Flexible Capital Fund, an impact-focused, CDFI fund, providing flexible risk capital (revenue-based financing, subordinated debt and equity) to New England's food system, forestry and climate solutions businesses. As President, Janice manages all facets of the Flex Fund’s operations, including raising capital, deal flow, due diligence, and portfolio / financial management. Janice brings economic and business development, as well as financial expertise to the organization, having served in the technology, financial services, higher education and state government sectors during her 25+ year career. She is a founding member of the Vermont and Northern New England Women’s Investors Network, and Slow Money Vermont and serves on the Vermont Small Business Development Center Advisory Board. Janice is a graduate of the University of Utah with a B.A. in Marketing and is an alumnus of the Snelling Center for Government’s Vermont Leadership Institute. Janice is a 2018 Fellow of the Just Economy Institute, whose mission is to support financial activists who are shifting the flow of capital and power to solve social and environmental problems.

Jeffrey Rosen, Tufts University

Jeff is the Jason and Chloe Epstein Term Professor of the Practice and the Director Certificate in Impact and Sustainable Investing housed at Tufts University’s Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Jeff currently teaches graduate level courses in Catalytic Capital and Blended Value. Jeff began his professional life in ice cream trucks and spent many years growing and selling food service businesses and serving in senior financial roles for national chains striving to go public. A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the University of Maine’s School of Resource Economics, Jeff spent 20 years serving as the CFO for the Solidago Foundation. During his time in Philanthropy, Jeff provided board service to several philanthropic affinity groups, including Confluence Philanthropy and Sustainable Food and Ag System Funders. He also collaborated with field partners to design and launch several community investment funds including PVGrows and the Real People’s Fund.

Joseph Williams Jr., The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

As part of his work with TCF MIC's New Haven Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (NHE3), Joe focuses on building, leading and coordinating the day-to-day activities related to the establishment of an inclusive, integrated and equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem in New Haven. Before coming to The Foundation, Joe worked as a Trusted Connecticut Small Business Development Advisor at the University of Connecticut School of Business for 9 years. His position involved assisting small business owners and entrepreneurs start, expand and grow their businesses. Joe also brings a wealth of experience from work prior to that position including a role as an Insurance Consultant at Key Insurance Solutions in Hartford, serving as President of Williams Capital Partners in New Haven, employment at the Urban League of Greater Hartford as VP for Development and Marketing and a role as Regional Director for the Center for Business and Industry Services at Middlesex Community College.

Lawrence Miller, Vermont Community Foundation

In 2001 the Vermont Community Foundation set aside 5% of contributions to invest directly in Vermont. Lawrence manages this place-based mission investment portfolio, as well as maintaining an independent strategic consulting practice. He started his career as an entrepreneur in the then new craft brewing sector, is a longtime Director of the National Bank of Middlebury, and is a former Secretary of Vermont's Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

Len Bartel, Community Investment Project

Len has spent his entire career influencing the flow of capital (in its many forms) as a field-builder, funder, and fundraiser cultivating communities where all can thrive and lead self-determined lives. For the past sixteen years, he has had the privilege of working in philanthropy at the local, regional, and national levels as a justice-driven strategist, systems thinker, capacity-builder, coach, and facilitator to amplify the impact of community leaders. Len led the execution of a conversation foundation's first loan fund program, participated in national webinars on the role of impact investing in community leadership for community foundations, and supported community foundation senior leaders in their work to use impact investing as a tool.

Lisa Hayles, Trillium Asset Management

Lisa Hayles is Director of Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement at Trillium Asset Management, responsible for integrating sustainable practices across the organization and ensuring effective communication with stakeholders. Lisa joined Trillium in the summer of 2020 and has held roles in the private client and advocacy teams. She has more than 20 years’ experience working across research, advisory, client service and stewardship functions within the sustainable finance industry in North America and Europe. A frequent speaker on gender equality and racial justice, she is co-founder of the Racial justice Investing Coalition and sits on the board of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility.

Lisa Owens, Hyams Foundation

Lisa Owens is the Executive Director of the Hyams Foundation, which funds organizations and networks working toward racial and economic justice in Greater Boston and Massachusetts. Lisa brings over 25 years of experience building local grassroots organizations and supporting national movements. She previously served as the Executive Director of City Life/Vida Urbana, a prominent housing justice group that is nationally recognized for organizing communities against displacement and building collective power for systemic change. She has taught courses on community organizing and nonprofit management in local universities and has served on the boards of many Boston-based and national organizations committed to fighting for social, racial, and economic justice.

Lisa Richter, Avivar Capital

Lisa Richter is a co-founder and managing partner of Avivar Capital, an SEC-registered investment advisor focused exclusively on the design and execution of impact investing strategies and funds. Lisa brings three decades of fund management and impact investing experience spanning asset classes, return expectations, geographies and issue areas, typically incorporating place-based or sector focus to increase equitable access to opportunity in thriving and sustainable communities. Clients range from small to the nation's largest independent and community foundations, banks, institutional investors and families, with interests ranging from place-based or thematic impact investing outcomes to values alignment for traditional portfolios targeting market-rate expected returns. Lisa authored the Grantmakers In Health Guide to Impact Investing and Grantmakers in Aging Guide to Impact investing, co-authored several guides to community foundation and donor impact investing, and is a contributing author in What’s Possible, a collection of essays on climate investing published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She co-created the Mission Investors Exchange Impact Investing Institute and continues as a lead trainer nationally. Lisa holds a BA and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Lourdes Germán, The Public Finance Initiative

Lourdes Germán, J.D., began her career after graduating from Boston College and the Boston University School of Law as a public finance attorney at the law firm Palmer & Dodge LLP (now Locke Lord LLP) and then led investment banking efforts in the Northeast and New York Tri-State region as Vice President of Municipal Finance at Fidelity Investments. She then served as Vice President and General Counsel at Breckinridge Capital Advisors, founded a small financial services start-up, and then served as a Director at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy where she helped launch and lead a global program of work on municipal fiscal health, which included activities in partnership with the United Nations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, and engagement with members of congress via the first Congressional Briefing focused on the fiscal health of cities. At Lincoln, Lourdes served on the team of expert advisors for the municipal finance policy unit who developed the frameworks in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Lubna Elia, New England Impact Investing Initiative

Lubna founded the New England Impact Investing Initiative, a nonprofit striving to democratize access to education about impact investing and diversify the talent pipeline for the sector. At BlueHub, Lubna oversees human resources, talent management, inclusive excellence initiatives and administration in support of the organization’s various business lines and plans for future growth and innovation. Lubna has 20 years of experience in impact investing and social enterprise. Before joining BlueHub, Lubna served in a variety of fundraising and operational leadership positions at social enterprise organizations.

Maggie Sandoval, The Capital Good Fund

Maggie works directly with investors who are looking to earn a return on their investments while making an impact, socially or environmentally. She leads Capital Good Fund's overall strategy in regards to fundraising across grants and investments, ensuring alignment with the organization's operations while helping funders achieve their goals. Before joining the team at Capital Good Fund, Maggie worked for five years supporting an international community development organization addressing solutions for rural communities across Latin America, Europe, and Africa.

Mark Hayles, Better Local Capital

Mark F. Hayles, MBA, is the owner and founder of Better Local Capital and Better Local Ecosystems. Mr. Hayles has more than 25 years’ experience in accounting, education, and business technology systems, and is an SAP Certified Solutions Architect. In 2014, he created Better Local Business Agency, a New York based small business support agency, that is now a vendor partner with NYC Department of Small Business Services, managing the City's prestigious Fasttrac business training program. In 2023, Mr. Hayles partnered with the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, to help them deliver on their stated aims of reducing inequalities through creative and innovative financial instruments and engagement strategies customized to meet the needs of the local environment. To that end, Mr. Hayles formed Better Local Ecosystems (BLE) and Better Local Capital (BLC). Better Local Capital is now a State-licensed Business and Industrial Development Corporation (BIDCO), mandated to provide improved access to capital and technical assistance to small businesses. To date, Better Local Capital has made $1.75MM in loans and projects up to $30MM over the next three years.

Mark Paley, Hyams Foundation

Mark Paley joined the Hyams Foundation in 2001. Before coming to Hyams, he was the CFO at YouthBuild USA where he helped to build the national youth servicing non-profit to a nationally recognized network of groups working with out of school youth. His first position in Boston was with Boston Neighborhood Housing, which financed affordable housing rehab projects in three Boston neighborhoods. Mark was part of the initial steering committee of the Non-Profit Financial Managers Group, which continues to meet monthly. Mark earned his B.A. at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Masters of Management at the University of California, Davis.

Pierre Joseph, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Pierre joined the Boston Fed as Working Cities Manager to support the cross-unit Inclusive Economies Initiative of the Regional & Community Outreach department. Inclusive Economies aims to develop strategic efforts that will shift the drivers of inequity so that all may benefit from economic growth and recovery, with a focus on lower-income smaller cities and rural communities. Prior to joining the Boston Fed, Pierre spent over a decade in various roles across philanthropy, impact investing, and government. As a Grantmaker, Pierre supported integrated capital approaches democratizing finance for small businesses. In government, he served as a policy analyst in the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House Rural Council.

Ricky Bogert, Rhode Island Foundation

Ricky is the Director of Impact Investing & Housing at the Rhode Island Foundation, where he works at the intersection of grantmaking and impact investing. Ricky has over 15 years of experience in the non-profit sector, manages a portfolio of grants made to a variety of sectors throughout the state, and has helped develop the organization's Impact Investing program which has made over $19M in direct investments since 2017. Ricky is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and holds an MBA from the University of Rhode Island.

Rob Riley, Northern Forest Center

Rob has guided the Center since 2008 to become the respected regional innovation and investment partner it is today. Under Rob’s leadership, the Center launched impact-investment funds to catalyze community development in Millinocket, Maine, Lancaster, N.H., and now across four states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York) through the Northern Forest Fund. Prior to joining the Center, Rob served as director of MicroCredit-NH, an award-winning statewide community economic development program. Previously, Rob founded and served as executive director of Main Street Plymouth, Inc., which received New Hampshire’s “Main Street Program of the Year Award” in 2000.

Stephen Snider, New England Impact Investing Initiative

Stephen is a sustainable finance educator and Caribbean environmental advocate. Originally from Jamaica, Stephen has over 10 years of experience in corporate finance & asset management. After pursuing a master’s in sustainable development at Harvard University, he worked with impact investing startups in Boston and Jamaica. Stephen has also managed sustainable finance trainings for global networks through oikos International, International Training for Financial Professionals, and helped develop a successful impact investing fellowship with the New England Impact Investing Initiative, empowering over 150 Fellows across the globe.

Stratton Lloyd, Essex County Community Foundation

Stratton is ECCF’s President and CEO. ECCF, based in northeast Massachusetts, inspires philanthropy that strengthens the communities of Essex County by managing charitable assets, strengthening and supporting nonprofits, and engaging in strategic community leadership initiatives. ECCF oversees $145m in assets across 350 charitable funds and has delivered over $100m in grants in the last 5 years. Prior to ECCF, Stratton worked for 18 years in the technology sector. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President of Strategy, Product Management and Customer Operations at EBSCO Information Services, a fortune 200 Information Services Company, where he worked for 14 years. Stratton was also the founder of First Look, Inc., now known as YouthServe, a nonprofit youth service-education organization that empowers youth through volunteerism and leadership.

Thomas Mitchell, Elmina B. Sewall Foundation

Thomas' work is focused on transitioning the Sewall Foundation's assets to 100% alignment the organization's mission and values. He joined the Foundation in 2020 and has spent his career working at the intersection of finance, equitable development and community investment. Previously, Thomas led economic development lending in New York City for LISC, a nationwide organization that connects communities with financial and technical resources. Prior to LISC, he spent 5 years in Chicago working on financing mission-driven real estate projects in partnership with nonprofits, municipalities, and financial institutions across the country. Thomas attended Binghamton University and graduated with a degree in quantitative finance and economics.

Tory Dietel Hopps, Dietel Pickering & Partners

Tory is a social, environmental, gender and financial activist. In 2007, she joined her father and sister in creating Dietel Pickering & Partners, a shared family philanthropic office working with individuals and multigenerational family philanthropies. Clients credit her with transforming their attitudes about what is possible with philanthropy and their aligned investments. Since 2007, the firm has advised over 30 clients and over $300M in grantmaking. In 2008, Tory began to move her own inherited wealth in alignment with her values. She has been actively engaged in the impact investing space and enjoys sharing her personal story in hope of inspiring others.

Travis Green, Community Investment Project

Travis helps foundations across the United States commit to place-based impact investing. As of 2023, 35 partners have ratified investment policies and programs allocating $175 million for housing, food systems, childcare, and other projects. Previously, Travis served as vice president at Locus and program manager for The Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group. His wealth of experience with community-based nonprofits allows him to assist teams as they tackle complex governance and policy challenges as organizations work to align resources with their values.

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