Dear BII Community,
Reflecting on 2024, I am filled with profound gratitude for our collective impact together. To our portfolio companies building our shared future, our investors and donors who have placed their trust in our vision, and our community partners who have collaborated with us every step of the way – thank you for your unwavering commitment to economic and racial justice.
This year has been defined by our commitment to fearlessly funding economic and racial justice, and the results speak to the power of our shared dedication. Building on over a decade of impact investing experience, we focused our 2024 efforts on three critical priorities: raising catalytic capital for local investing, strengthening the impact and resilience of our portfolio companies, and supporting impact fund managers by creating spaces for learning and connection that will amplify our collective impact.
This year, our board and management team engaged Justice Funders in a strategic visioning journey that illuminated BII’s unique position in the ecosystem. As a trust-based impact investor using an integrated capital approach to invest in under-served communities, we intersect with community development finance and solidarity economy movement building.
The impact investing field needs weaver organizations that can forge relationships and partnerships across different ecosystems toward a shared agenda – one that channels catalytic capital to transform our current system into a regenerative, solidarity economy. We proudly embrace our connector and capital mobilizer role, committed to co-creating and learning alongside our movement partners.
As we move into 2025, we embrace a year of shared learning, deep investments in relational infrastructure, and fearless action. Even as we navigate through the storm, we continue our fight for justice, knowing that transformation happens through partnership, trust, and bold, collective action.
We invite you to join us and support our journey with an annual contribution or investment in BII Fund II
With gratitude and determination,
Betty Francisco
CEO, Boston Impact Initiative
Key Accomplishments in 2024
I’m proud to share that in 2024, we raised $15 million out of our $20 million goal from 192 investors for Fund II. We also deployed $2.3 million to nine companies, bringing our total Fund II investments to $5.8 million across 22 companies. Our commitment to field-building reached new heights as we completed our fourth Fund Manager Cohort program, training 18 leaders from eight funds across the U.S. and Canada, and released our Fearlessly Funding Racial Equity report with an actionable road map for investing in impact fund managers.
Favorite Moments This Year
Fall Community Reception, where 70 of our investors, donors, and partners joined us to recognize our BII enterprises and Hispanic Heritage Month
Featured six of our climate-focused portfolio companies at our Summer Community Gathering Event at Eastie Farm
Hosted our inaugural CEO Roundtable with 30 portfolio founders for a day-long learning and collaboration event
Convened BII fund manager cohort alumni during a 3-day gathering in Boston to build a community of practice for the field
Supporting Small Businesses
We made programmatic investments to build sustainable businesses through technical assistance and social capital – from bringing on Keyur Patel as our Portfolio Manager to expanding our Accelerate Your Impact Program supported by MGCC. Key accomplishments:
Hosted inaugural CEO Roundtable with 30 portfolio company founders for a day-long learning and collaboration event
Helped secure $7.5M for Mass Growth Capital’s Small Business Technical Assistance Program through the Coalition for an Equitable Economy
Small Business Spotlight
“Working with BII to secure the MGCC BizMPower grant has been a game-changer for MeiMei Dumplings. We are investing in new equipment that will improve our efficiency and increase our production capacity. This means we can now produce even more of our signature dumplings to meet the growing demands of our wholesale clients. The process felt seamless, thanks to the guidance and expertise of BII. Their belief in our mission and business has not only empowered us to grow but has also reinforced our commitment to delivering high-quality, locally-made products. Thank you, BII, for helping us take this exciting next step in our journey!”
Building the Field of Impact Investing
We made great progress towards our goal of moving $100M in capital to entrepreneurs of color by 2030 through funder and practitioner learning to advance racial equity and economic justice. Through our fund manager cohort program, convenings and addition of Savannah Johnson and Shavon Prophet, we’re building the relational infrastructure for mobilizing catalytic capital to fearless fund racial equity. Key accomplishments:
Completed our 4th Impact Fund Manager Cohort program, training 18 leaders representing eight funds across the U.S. and Canada.
New Team Members
We made key additions to the BII team, welcomed new board leadership, and invested in technology and infrastructure to build our capacity as an emerging CDFI!
We welcomed Juan Leyton as Board Chair, Lisa Owens as Vice Chair, and Ivy Jack to the Investment Committee. We also thanked Deborah Frieze and Geeta Aiyer for their board service.
A special thanks to our 2024 interns Baani Sethi from Northeastern University and Eshan Vishwakarma from Harvard College.
Policy and Research
We participated in several research studies on our small business and investor ecosystems.
BII was a lead contributor to the 3rd Massachusetts Small Business Survey, which was conducted by the Coalition for an Equitable Economy and MassInc.
We had some notable policy wins, too.
Recognitions & Awards
For the second year in a row, we were recognized as an ImpactAssets 50 Emerging Fund. We were included in the Financial Times list of impact investors curated by the GIIN. In September, we received citations from the City of Boston, Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development recognizing BII’s contributions to the small business community. We’re also grateful to have been recognized by our community partners:
Thanks to our Partners and Supporters
We could not do this without your commitment to our mission.
Our 2025-2027 Strategic Priorities
INVEST
Scale and Innovate Integrated Capital
SUSTAIN
Strengthen Portfolio Supports and Performance
Build sustainable businesses and real estate models through business support programs, coaching and social capital
EDUCATE
Field-Building Through Learning
Build the impact investing field through funder and practitioner learning to advance racial equity and economic justice. Develop a community of practice to move at least $100M in capital to entrepreneurs of color by 2030
MOBILIZE
Movement Building & Leadership
Influence systems change and flow of capital through advocacy, public policy and movement-building to unleash $500 million in catalytic capital
BUILD
Build Organizational Excellence as an Emerging CDFI
Grow a resilient and sustainable organization team and board to be responsive to our community
