My Experience
This summer I worked with an organization, Confluence Philanthropy, to spearhead an impact investing initiative. The organization, which was formed by the Rockefeller Foundation, aims to increase awareness about mission-related investing in the philanthropic space. The goal of confluence philanthropy is to realign the ample assets many foundations have with their mission statements, or in Confluence’s words “We build capacity and provide technical assistance to enhance the ability of foundations to align the management of assets with organizational mission to promote environmental sustainability and social justice.”
I was brought on to lead a project to build awareness around sustainable fisheries and food systems among foundations. The fisheries and food space is particularly underfunded due to market imperfections, including highly fragmented markets and asymmetric information. However, the problem of sustaining the growing worlds’ population on a limited amount of resources is incredibly crucial to address as the world moves forward. Using impact investing to fund projects trying to address this issue can make a sizable impact and begin the conversation for addressing this issue.
I used many of the project management skills that I learned and developed over the course of my MBA experience. In my previous job experiences I really was able to hone my analytical and quantitative skills. While I certainly had client interactions, it was nothing compared to the experience I had this summer. I had complete ownership of the entire project, and any failure fell on my shoulders. This aided in developing my professionalism, ability to interface with many clients (funders) at once, and to present my ideas in a succinct in efficient way.
On a side note, I used my highly developed excel skill set to reorganize parts of Confluence’s Human Resources documents.
The challenges I faced were ample. I was thrown into a completely new and intense environment where I was expected to manage a project that I knew little about. Furthermore, I was responsible for building and maintaining relationships with key representatives from some of the most important foundations operating in the world today. Lastly, I was given the problem of trying to educate and entice foundations to move funds to CDFI’s and other organizations that invest in sustainable food and fisheries programs with no clear way to achieve that goal. I had to design an action plan to accomplish this task. This involved many steps, including conducting research to understand the problem, as well as the way foundations typically work. Then based on the extensive research, I set out concrete steps to attain the lofty goal set forth for me by the institution.
I had many take always from this experience. First, I learned the importance of flexibility and adaptability when dealing with a project that involved many stakeholders with varying goals. On a daily basis I was coordinating and organizing representatives from countless foundations. I learned to pay meticulous attention to detail so as to avoid any problems that might arise from oversight on my mistakes. Finally, I really learned the importance of framing your idea, product or concept in different ways for different audience. Each funder wants to gain something different from an investment, and understanding your audience is crucial for success.
