Jenny Lane talks investing with philanthropic dollars

For this week’s episode, Marcia returns to discuss impact investing and Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) with guest Jenny Lane. Jenny has a background in equity crowdfunding and nonprofit fundraising with a passion for community development, and now, as the CEO of the Ohio Impact Fund, she is working on putting DAF dollars to work investing in early-stage companies. 

Jenny starts off by telling listeners how she became aware of private investing about 5 years ago. She worked for a company that built the first equity crowdfunding campaign before there were platforms like StartEngine to make it easier. She tells us how she did a lot of work for breweries and restaurants and touches on how those types of businesses perform well with equity crowdfunding. 

Although working in equity crowdfunding allowed Jenny to have an impact on who received funding, she wanted to have an even bigger say and be able to uplift underrepresented founders and business models. She explains how she was introduced to someone who runs multiple impact funds and how DAFs can be used to provide capital to startups and generate returns that can be used for charitable purposes or future investments. 

Jenny now runs the Ohio Impact Fund, with a focus on putting capital into startups that solve social, economic or environmental issues through their product or service. The fund has already invested about $1 million in 10 different companies, and provides us with a few examples of companies they have invested in. 

Marcia and Jenny go on to discuss more about how investments into startups through the money in DAFs can be used to elevate for-profit companies while also making the world a better place. Jenny tells listeners because there are no laws stating how or when DAFs need to give out money, many funds continue to grow as the donated dollars sit dormant. Ohio’s 6 largest cities have over $1.7 billion sitting in community foundation DAFs. Jenny is working hard to connect national organizations that know how to move this capital legally and safely to the managers of the large foundations/DAFs. 

Marcia and Jenny end the episode by touching on how Ohio is looking to help startups grow through programs like SSBCI (State Small Business Credit Initiative) and JobsOhio, and how the driving force is collaboration over competition. This episode is packed with great information on how DAFs can help both private startups and community development through charitable returns. Listen in to learn more!