Professional Documents
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SDB Toniic2020 West
SDB Toniic2020 West
SDB Toniic2020 West
“If you want to go fast, go alone. longstanding racial inequities all arose at the
If you want to go far, go together.” same time. A year into the pandemic, even we
— probably not really an African Proverb privileged ones are feeling the longer-term
effects of the social isolation we’ve endured.
But what if you want to go fast and far? Then you While I am proud of how Toniic deftly pivoted
join Toniic! to a fully virtual world, I know I am not alone
in missing the hugs and embodied camaraderie
Because we can accomplish little alone— that only in-person gatherings provide.
that’s why we are here together.
For Toniic members, nonmembers, and the
We are pleased to share Toniic’s 2020 Impact intended beneficiaries of our work who have
Report with you. We have assembled this report experienced loss in any of these dimensions
because we aim to hold ourselves to the same this past year, know that we hold you in our
standards as the enterprises in which we invest: hearts and we aspire to work together with you
to try to account for our impact. until the world reflects the justice, equity and
inclusion we all seek. Adam BENDELL, CEO
Impact accounting is a messy business. Planet
Earth is a big place, and it’s hard to account for Virtual hugs,
our impacts on the planet and its inhabitants.
Some impacts are more direct and easier to Adam S. Bendell
track than others, but we are determined to try. CEO
205 MEMBERSHIPS
AS OF DEC 31, 2020 4%
1% Africa
Middle East Asia/Pacific 10%
8% Classic
Impact Portfolio 23%
42% Europe
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Financial Report Toniic Institute Balance Sheet
As of December 31, 2020
$000s
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS
Last year we wrote, “Toniic has made great progress in stabilizing 2020 Revenue by Activity Area
($000s)
its financial situation over the past four years by increasing earned Cash and Cash Equivalents $1,476
revenue and by building a reserve fund of cash to weather a downturn.”
T100, $399 8% Accounts Receivable $622
We didn’t intend to be prescient, but that downturn was just around the 37% Outreach, $934 Other Current Assets $8
corner with the Covid 19 global pandemic. We initially experienced an
Total Current Assets $2,105
“attrition shock” - a rash of cancellations - that thankfully turned around
in the last quarter of 2020 with a bump in new members. Much like TOTAL ASSETS $2,105
many other non-profits, we experienced a retraction in philanthropic
funding that was temporarily replaced with U.S. government funding LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
in the form of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loan Membership, $1,513 53%
LIABILITIES
and the Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan
(EIDL). But future support for impact investing field building from Current Liabilities $354
traditional supporters looks to be diminished well into the future…
Long Term Liabilities $149
a dark cloud on our horizon.
Total Liabilities $533
2020 Revenue by Type of Funding 2020 Expenses by Activity Area
($000s) ($000s)
EQUITY
9% Impact Terms, $240 Temporarily Restricted Net Assets $783
Grants and Donations, $1,123 39% 3% Outreach, $87
T100, $784 29%
Unrestricted Net Assets $635
Membership-related activities account for the majority Currently total membership revenue covers 90% of
of our revenues (53%) and our expenses (59%). membership related expenses, primarily our human
capital. That ratio has improved over time. In 2017, it
A commonly held misconception is that membership was approximately 75%.
dues subsidize Toniic’s field building efforts.
Generous general operating support grants
To the contrary, member dues combined with other continue to fund the gap until we reach our goal of
earned revenue such as event registration fees and 100% financial sustainability for our work providing
sponsorships, do not yet cover the cost of delivering support to our members on their impact journeys.
member services.
0 20 40 60 80 100
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Our Theory of Change
At Toniic, we envision a world in which all investments honor the planet and its inhabitants.
We work to build that world through two types of activities:
• Facilitating events that create mutual • Impact Terms: Curating and sharing a public
connection and support between members. online library of innovations in impact
See page 10. investing terms and structures.
See page 15.
• Providing educational opportunities and trust-
11-20 members
1-10 members
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Membership
• Asia Pacific region: 21 Virtual connections are ever more important, especially as our
membership grows in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. APAC was
the fastest growing region in 2020, with Singapore in the lead
Intended impacts: (62% growth in APAC, as compared to 25% in EMEA and 5% in
the Americas).
• Widen our global reach to expand the breadth of impact
investing and increase the points of connection between local This growth comes in parallel with rapidly increasing personal
groups of impact investors wealth in Asia. Despite the disruption due to Covid-19, Asia
is projected to have the strongest wealth growth in the world
• Establish a larger global network to share learnings and
opportunities between regions, with the ultimate goal of over the next five years. (Source: CNBC, 2021.) This wealth
significantly increasing the capital deployed toward solving is increasingly being allocated with ESG lenses and to impact
big world problems investments, so Toniic will be there to help our APAC members
and the broader community.
membership
8
Member Spotlight: Asia Pacific Region
“Toniic has been a most valuable resource on my “Elisa and I have only just joined Toniic, and
impact journey, and its community of peers have already we are blown away by the many nurturing
been a great source of knowledge and support on relationships we’ve formed, the rich philosophical
my growth as an impact investor. I am particularly discussions we’ve had, and the sense of always
pleased to see Toniic’s growth in Asia, and its efforts being met where we are. Toniic seems to be one
to coalesce people around impact topics, such as of those rare and precious crossroads where love
climate change, which is very close to my heart. and power come together for a common purpose.”
Keep up the world-changing work, Toniic!”
— Unsu LEE, Singapore
— Annie CHEN, Founder and Chair: RS Group,
Hong Kong
“Toniic is my tribe. The path of aligning capital with “As a farmer and impact investor, I work to
values can be frustrating and lonely, but having revolutionize our connection with this earth through
Toniic has made it joyful, collaborative, and even how we grow our food. Toniic has expanded my
more impactful. I just love it.” networks and knowledge in the regenerative
agriculture space. It’s great to be with a community
— Danny ALMAGOR, Co-Founder and Chair: doing so much to save the planet.”
Small Giants, Australia
— Junning WEE, Founder: A Little Wild, Malaysia
membership
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Events are the foundation for our Working Groups, led by members,
Events
Toniic community to come together, were created to provide specific
learn, connect, and share investment content, community building, and
opportunities. Like most organizations, investment opportunities for five
we faced a significant change in our key themes:
event strategy in 2020. We canceled
• Climate
our Annual Global Gathering a few
days before its date (late March 2020) • Oceans
Gatherings around the globe: and pivoted to fully virtual events.
• Gender & Racial Equity
• Regional events (pre-COVID): 1 To respond to the seismic shifts of the
• Regenerative Agriculture
year and better serve our members, we
• Total number of events, webinars, also created a few new types of events. • Family Offices
and educational programs: 107
Campfires were launched on the eve
• Attendance at online events of what would have been our Annual
and gatherings: 2,154 Global Gathering. These were designed
(a 286% increase from 2019!) to be cozy, less formal gatherings,
bringing together our community to
support one another and respond to
Intended impacts: the global issues at hand.
• Create an intimate community of trust and connection for
IGNITE, a new Toniic format for virtual
members to provide a safe learning environment, peer
support, relationship building, and the honing of impact in online events, took the place of our in-
all areas of their lives person regional events. These online
events, while requiring a significant
• Encourage members to share their experience and amount of rethinking and planning, also
approach to impact investing, including portfolio deep enabled us to better connect our global
dives, inspiring deeper positive net impact across portfolios community and more often include
members living in more remote areas.
membership
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In 2020, we launched our first course We closed 2020 with high demand
Impact Education
and cohort of the Activator Program, a for our 2021 Activator Program.
systematic deep-dive overview of the We will offer two courses, Impact
portfolio approach to impact investing. 101: Fundamentals (offered again)
The goal of the series is to give those and Impact 201: Impact Portfolio
who are new to impact investing, or Construction. The second year shows
investing in general, a comprehensive much promise for scale: from one
overview of the tools needed to deploy cohort of 13 members in 2020 we
Learning in action: their capital toward positive net impact have registrations for 8 cohorts with
aligned with their values. close to 84 participants for the 2021
• Official launch of the Activator Program program, many of whom are new
The unique cohort model allows members to Toniic.
• Courses taught: Impact 101: Fundamentals participants to deepen their learning
with like-minded peers. Cohorts
• Cohort members: 13 benefit from a blend of live webinars
and cohort meetings and interactive
• Overall attendance in Activator Program courses: 274
virtual spaces, made possible by our
new member engagement platform,
Intended impacts: Toniic Connect. The Activator Program
has become a key reason for new
• Provide educational materials and opportunities to our members to join Toniic and for current
members to create smarter investors who will deploy more members to learn and share together.
capital into deeper impact
membership
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Toniic continues to help our members Example Invested companies:
Investments
make impact investments. In 2020,
Toniic shared 68 investment impact
funds and direct deals. More than
70% had at least one investor initiating
due diligence, and more than 25%
received investments ranging $100K
for direct deals to multimillion-dollar
Helping investors deploy capital investments for impact funds.
where it’s needed most In 2020, following worldwide protests
against racial inequality and with an
increased interest from investors in
Outputs:
deploying capital to address systemic Example Invested impact funds:
• Impact funds featured: 44 racism, Toniic partnered with VC
Include and Alpaca VC to help source
• At least 25% of funds featured in 2020 have received more diverse asset managers who
investments from an investor of the Toniic community invest in diverse entrepreneurs. At
after being featured in one of our fund’s programs. least two of these funds have received
commitments from Toniic members.
• Social enterprises featured: 25
Another community initiative that
• At least 28% of companies featured in 2020 have supported investments in 2020 has
received investments after the company was included been our Working Groups. Major
in our direct deal program. investment themes include: climate
change mitigation, ocean health,
gender lens investing, regenerative
Outcomes:
agriculture, access to renewable
• Mobilize capital and promote deeper-impact investments energy, healthcare, poverty
to address complex and challenging issues. alleviation, and strong governments
and institutions.
membership
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Example investments with collaborative due diligence
Atlas Impact Partners LP is a hedge fund investing only in companies The Perennial Fund by Mad Agriculture is an organic transition
whose product or service solves one of the world’s pressing challenges, operating loan program that helps US midwestern organic farmers
and short companies whose products or services create those expand their acreage. It integrates whole farm and business
problems. Its impact definition is wholly aligned with the UN SDGs, and planning into every loan distributed to help farmers access low-
it seeks “pure play” impact companies with no impact ambiguity. cost capital, create an individualized farm plan, and connect them
with robust market offtake.
“Our partnership with Toniic has been a true success. The
Toniic team was exceptionally helpful on boarding our “From the very beginning, members of the Toniic community
fund and continues to be supportive, while the individual have been core to the Perennial Fund’s successful fundraise
members have been some of our most engaged and and launch. Toniic’s dedicated and global community
enthusiastic investors. We just enjoy working with them.” will be an integral partner as we continue to help more
farmers transition to regenerative organic agriculture.”
– Robert BROWN, Senior Partner at Atlas Impact Partners
– Brandon WELCH, Director of Radical Capital at the Perennial Fund
The AiiM Partners Fund invests in technology-enabled companies Astia Fund I is a $100M venture fund to invest in impact companies
that solve critical ocean health and climate change problems (e.g, that have at least one woman in an executive, equity-holding
pollution, overfishing, sea level rise, data monetization). 50% of position and that are pursuing a high-growth strategy. Astia Fund
the CEOs/founders are women or people of color. employs the proven, documented and repeatable processes of
Astia’s Expert Sift™ in a traditional venture capital structure.
“The Toniic community was one of the earliest supporters of
AiiM Partners Fund as we honed our initial investment strategy “We are delighted to have such values aligned partners in the
focused on technology companies addressing climate change Astia Fund. The Toniic investors value women as leaders and
membership
through the opportunities around ocean health and social equity.” embrace investment as a force for change. The Toniic team and
process were thoughtful and clear at every step. Thank you all.”
– Shally SHANKER, Founder & Managing Partner at AiiM
– Sharon VOSMEK, CEO of Astia
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In 2020, we launched Toniic Tracer, our new interactive
platform that enables investors, entrepreneurs, and funds to
share and compare data about impact investments, along with
corresponding goals, performance, and outcomes.
• Investor stories shared: 4 In our first year, we moved from beta testing to a full launch
of both the Investor Portal (for asset owners) and the Issuer
• Number of investor users on Toniic Tracer: 143 Portal (for funds and enterprises), refining, adding features,
and improving the user experience.
Intended impacts: Learn more about Toniic Tracer at www.toniic.com/toniic-tracer
• Publish our evidence and findings to inspire new people
to start impact investing and open investors’ minds to a
portfolio approach
field building
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Through ImpactTerms.org, Toniic pays the carried interest to a
offers a curated library of innovations fund manager only to the extent
in impact investing terms and that the fund achieves quantified,
structures, freely available to verifiable impact metrics. This
entrepreneurs, investors, and impact structure was a finalist of the
professionals. In 2020, we added 2020 NYU Law Grunin Prize for
significant new content: Law and Social Entrepreneurship.
field building
Impact Calculations (CIVIC)” is
a case study on CIVIC, a legal
innovation of Buckhill Capital
and Morrison & Foerster, that
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Story: COVID Response Member-led DAF
In addition to our impact investments, the Toniic community The two final recipients who each received over $50,000 were:
often uses philanthropy to address unmet needs. When the
pandemic struck, Toniic members Rebekah Helzel, Jennifer
McFarlane, and Sayuri Sharper led a rapid response Covid-19
philanthropic initiative to provide meaningful grants to up to
two Bay Area nonprofits focused on addressing the greatest LifeMoves is dedicated to finding solutions to homelessness in
needs of the most vulnerable arising from Covid-19. The Donor Silicon Valley by giving neighbors experiencing homelessness
Advised Fund, which was held at ImpactAssets, was seeded a temporary place to call home, while providing intensive,
with a $50,000 matching grant and raised over $100,000 from customized case management through both shelter programs
20 Toniic community members. and community outreach. LifeMoves will use the Toniic funds
to acquire PPE for both staff and clients, food for clients and
12 non profits were nominated by the Fund participants for hazard pay for staff.
consideration. These organizations were chosen for their
emphasis on supporting the immediate needs of the most
vulnerable, namely food security, housing, basic expenses,
health, and educational support.
Like so many others, we at Toniic were deeply moved by the So far, we have revised the Toniic Code of Conduct to be more
events in 2020 that renewed the conversation about systemic explicit about diversity and tolerance, prioritized diversity
racism. We know that racism is both systemic and personal. for future Board seats, reshaped our investment vetting to
Although we have different backgrounds and experiences, we counteract unconscious bias, and established an internal DEI
all have work to do, and sometimes the most important place Task Force to carry this work forward.
to start is with ourselves. Especially those with privilege must
start with the uncomfortable understanding that if we aren’t
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Thank you to our funders and supporters